Katherine to Kununurra



 We spent two nights in Katherine and had a lovely time. We stayed at the Boab Caravan Park and of course it had its own Boab tree. Boab trees are all over the place in the Northern Territory and Northern WA. On our first morning in Katherine we went out to Katherine Gorge for a swim. We made brekky on a barbeque in the picnic area with some friendly agile wallabies for company.

Then as it was getting pretty warm we went in for a dip. The water was very deep and we went in off a small pontoon. It was lovely.
The same afternoon, just down the road, from the caravan park, we found another 'hot spring'. It wasn't actually that hot, the temp was about 32 degrees, but it was the most beautiful place. There were lots of people there as it was about 5pm when we arrived. Anyway we stayed for a while and cooled down and decided to come back in the morning.

We had a forgettable dinner at a pub in the town and then retired to the van.  As planned the next morning we got up really early and went down to the spring and had the whole place to ourselves. It was just lovely. The water is so clear and surrounded by lots of beautiful trees. I was floating around on my back and just getting moved around by the currents. I had the best view of the canopy of trees above. There were large round leafed trees, small leaved trees, fluffy leaved trees, big spiky Pandanus palms all together hanging over the spring. You can see them in the picture below. It was amazing that there was nobody else there as it is just about 1km out of town.

From Katherine we travelled to a place called Timber Creek. Some people we met in Katherine told us there there was nothing to see on the road between Katherine and Timber Creek however we found it really interesting.

We took lots of photos along the way. We stopped at a place called Sullivan Campground where we went down to have a look at what turned out to be a billabong. We climbed down to have a look at the water and took some photos.

From here we travelled along until we came to the Victoria River in the Gregory National Park. Its a is a huge river with a huge bridge. There was also a roadhouse where we bought some ice blocks as it was really hot. We walked back to the bridge to take some photos.

We then continued on to Timber Creek and stayed at a lovely caravan park behind the roadhouse. It had huge trees with a carpet of leaves underneath. An added attraction was that they had Kite and Croc feeding sessions each afternoon at 5pm. The Kites were amazing. They would swoop down for a piece of bread thrown into the air then deftly place it in their tail feathers so that they could continue to fly and look for more. We saw our first crocs in the nearby river. They were 'freshies' which have a narrow snout. The biggest one called 'one eye' for obvious reasons was the boss and kept the other three away from the meat which was being lowered into the river on a hook.

The next morning we left Timber Creek and found a fantastic lookout just outside town. It was a very rocky place but had great views of Timber Creek and the Victoria River. There was also a monument there to 'the Nackeroos'  who assisted in the protection of the north of Australia during WWII. I have included a poem which appeared on one of the plaques.

As we travelled towards Kununurra, which is in the east Kimberleys, the rugged mountainous landscape became more obvious. It was a very interesting drive and the official photographer was very busy!!

Kununurra is a nice town with great rocky outcrops right next to residential streets. It also has a beautiful lake. Kununurra was established as part of the Ord River Scheme. The Ord River was dammed creating Lake Argyle and providing irrigation water for large tracts of cropps.

This morning Mike climbed right up the top of  a rocky outcrop called 'Kelly's Knob' which overlooked the caravan park and
had great views of the whole town and lake beyond.

After that we travelled out to Lake Argyle which is an enormous lake. It was almost like looking out at the sea with small islands dotted in it. The mountains around it are so spectacular that words really fail me. Even the camera does not do them justice. Its an awe inspiring part of the country.

We stopped at the old Argyle Homestead which was owned by the famous Durack family. They once owned millions of acres of northern Australia as cattle properties. The homestead had been moved from its original location, which is now underwater due to the dam, and relocated to its present position. It was a lovely place with a beautiful garden and some interesting artifacts in side, including two antique sewing machines.

As I said before, everything up here is huge. We stopped by the river on the way back to town and saw lots of fish swimming around. Mike also saw two turtles swimming around. We also checked out the lake on the way back to town.

From Kununrra we are off to El Questro Wilderness Park via Wyndham.