Blogs from Kununurra, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 11

Before heading to Kununurra, we had one last day in Darwin. Hillary and I made sure to get as much done as we could while still in the city. I deposited all the pocket change I had been collecting over the past few months, we sent home a box of extras we wouldn’t be needing during our travels (but couldn’t part with), did some laundry and enjoyed some very rare rainfall. We were in bed pretty early that Wednesday night in order to get up bright and early the next morning. And bright and early we did wake up. September 10th was the real start to our backpacking adventures again. Back on the Greyhound, we’d be in for some pretty long drives. The west coast is pretty spread out, so unlike the east coast most drives ... read more

At the crack of dawn we drive into Kununurra...well we arrive at the visitors centre at 9am and John had even had time to have a shower using our portable solar shower(really not worth it but it came with the van!) so yes it was an early start for us! The town sits on Lake Kununurra on the River Ord and is a relatively new town. It was developed in the 1960’s to service where the river had been dammed to form a storage reservoir to supply water for an irrigation scheme. A 1 million acre cattle station was flooded to create the biggest man made lake in Australia, Lake Argyle. As we drove into Kununurra we crossed over the diversion dam, Lake Kununurra and the river Ord...all very impressive! Kununurra’s other claim to fame we ... read more

27-8-09 Left Timber creek about 9am as going into WA we have to put our clocks back 1.5 hours, so that means we are 2 hours behind the eastern states. The scenery is still amazing me. Lots of mountains & rocky outcrops, land that has been burnt for fire control, which is a good idea. We saw lots of Boab trees on the way to the border as well. We stopped at saddle Creek Rest stop for morning tea, it was a nice spot. The temperature is up to 30 deg & it is only 10am, the dogs & I are feeling the heat. We crossed the WA border & had to go through Quarantine , as you cant take any fruit, vegies, honey, nuts etc . Den thought he was going to loose his bags ... read more

We had to be outside the caravan park at 8.30am today to be picked up and taken to the airport. There was a crowd and once more five were chosen to board each small aircraft. It was a bit of a worry when the engine wouldn’t kick over first time, but after a little wait, it finally did. We flew over Kununurra - great views of all the agricultural growth below - mangoes, sandlewood, etc. Where there is sunshine and plenty of water, you can grow anything! Then we were over Lake Argyll and the Argyll Dam. It is huge, 23 times larger in volume than Sydney Harbour and up to 63 times larger in floodtime! (they measure water capacity in SydHarbs here). We were flying over very remote country (there were food rations on board ... read more

Hi all Terrible computer coverage here, but will try to send a report! We crossed to Western Australia on the 6th July, going through a quarintine checkpoint. I'd sliced some lemons and frozen them for my drinks, used all our fruit and veges, but we weren't allowed lemons , even frozen ons with peel on, so had then taken off us!! We will spend 9 days here, as there is lots to see and do around here. We met up with our Victorian friends again, but they move on west tomorrow. We had 3 nights ay Jabiru, in the Kakadu N.P. The uranium mine tour was very good, and we went up to Ubirr Rock and watched the sunset one night, with about 300 - 400 other tourists!! We did some walks and saw some very ... read more