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Published: December 29th 2009
Aquascene fish feeding
Beau feeding a batfish - this was the boys' favorite and always made them laugh.It never ceases to amaze me when things are timed perfectly. A one-off introduction to a family from Kununurra (at someone else’s house, mind you) led to a phone call offering their house to housesit over December. Not long after this, Grady received a phone call from a previous client back in Geelong who needed more work done to their house before Christmas and was willing to fly him back at their expense to do it. We were reminded of the verse in Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths”. How true this is in our own experience. To add to this, the day we packed up to move was the very day that park management was kicking everyone out of our area for the oncoming wet season. For us, it was further confirmation that we were heading in the right direction.
In the last few days of Darwin, we hurriedly visited tourist destinations that were as yet unseen: the B-52 bomber and the Aquascene fish feeding in the city.
The B-52 bomber is on permanent loan from the US
Build up
Leaving at the start of the wet season...hot, humid and then pours with rain in the afternoon. Quite an experience! Air Force and was quite remarkable for us to see. On display are a number of other aircraft and war memorabilia as well, and we really enjoyed seeing and learning about the different crafts. It was interesting to us that the B-52 is cleaned every two years - quite a job, you can imagine! One year, the plane was moved outside (for cleaning I think), the USAF spotted it on satellite and made a scathing phone call ordering to promptly move it back in under the hangar where it was concealed. Big Brother was watching!
The Aquascene fish feeding is voted the number one tourist destination in Darwin; a place where hundreds of primarily milkfish come in at high tide to be hand fed by the public. In response to their natural pattern, fishing in this area has been outlawed at high tide and gates and walls have been set up so that access is only granted through paying the admission fee ($35 for our family). Despite its popularity, we were never keen to go to the fish feeding, seeing the fish as glorified carp, really. We were so wrong! The milkfish are a beautiful blue/green sport fish and were
Cane toad busting
The kids have turned into Cane Toad experts and really enjoy being a part of Cane Toad "Busting". joined by batfish, trevally, queenfish, barramundi and huge mullet. We all had a fantastic time feeding and patting the fish - especially so because it is the beginning of the wet season when there are few tourists; where normally people are wedged into one spot, we were free to roam around to different areas. We spent the full two hours here and would highly recommend it to anyone. Thus completed our tours of Darwin - a city we had spent three months in and felt like we had truly experienced.
We bid farewell our dear friends the Lynch family and our new friends the Ellis family quite late in the day with the destination being Adelaide River, a bit over an hour’s drive. Arriving in Adelaide River we visited the Adelaide River Inn, which is home to “Charlie”: the water buffalo that featured in the “Crocodile Dundee” films. Until Charlie’s death, he was a placid animal who would give children rides. Now however, he is preserved through taxidermy and a feature of the Inn. This was a quick visit, but a bit of fun.
Our accommodation for the night was at the Adelaide River Showgrounds. I would recommend this
Seth and batfish
Some of the mullet also - they aren't the best looking of fish though...the milkfish are absolutely beautiful. accommodation for any travelers, especially those with children as it was a very cheap $20 per night (powered site, kids are free) - and there was a decent pool! The camp also had a huge collection of Caravan and Motorhome magazines which were free to take as long as you replaced them with something from your own collection. There were novels as well, but the chance of reading up on future destinations was most appealing.
The next morning we visited the Adelaide River War Cemetery - a solemn but worthwhile place. During the Second World War, Adelaide River was home to quite a large base, and the cemetery was created to house the bodies of the servicemen and women from the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Air Force, the Australian Merchant Navy and the Services Reconnaissance Department (Special Ops) who died in this area. There are some 434 graves to visit, and reading the graves leaves a real impression upon oneself - especially when reading the young ages of some of the servicemen. Other graves add to this feeling of sober gratitude: such as those in which brothers have died in war together, or fathers and sons, or the graves
Grady and the kids - Aquascene
Chloe was a bit nervous, mostly because like the princess she is, had chosen inappropriate clothes for fish feeding! marked “known only unto God” - someone’s son or father or brother killed and yet not recognized.
In another area are the graves of the post office employees who were killed in the bombing of Darwin (in which more bombs were dropped than on Pearl Harbor). What a worthwhile place it was for our children to see and learn respect for those who have served, especially after seeing the B-52 bomber exhibit in Darwin. We feel like they have learned so much about Australian History and hope they will remember and respect it for years to come.
From Adelaide River we traveled through Katherine, stopping only for fuel and groceries with the next destination being Victoria River Roadhouse. The roadhouse was another $20 per night (powered site - kids free), which suited us fine. It is next to the Victoria River - home to a number of saltwater crocodiles, so we made sure the children weren’t going for long walks to check out the rivers edge. We were chatting to some locals that night who told us not to go into Gregory National Park (a place I had been looking forward to) because the Parks management have closed a
The Big Barra (Aquascene)
Yep we are continuing the search for more BIG things.... number of the 4WD tracks quite a few years ago. These people felt it wasn’t worth the trip now. This is one of my continual frustrations with Parks managements - what has made Australia unique is its accessibility and freedom. Take that away and our country loses what makes it wonderful.
One of the locals was a crocodile hunter in previous occupation. He told us of an 18 foot croc he shot in Gregory, adding that he doesn’t swim in the waters there. I don’t blame him!
On leaving Victoria River the next morning, I mentioned to Grady from my traveling Gazetteer that Victoria River is a top barramundi fishing spot in the Top End. Additionally, in other areas close by, camel numbers are increasing to the point where hunting will be allowed soon. From his reaction, it seems that he will be organizing a mate’s trip to this area one day. I will have to try camel jerky first…
The day’s driving was an exciting one as we spotted our first of numerous boab trees. I had been particularly looking forward to seeing the boabs as they are iconic to the Kimberley and they look fantastic. We stopped
Me and the Just Cuts Girls
These are some of the girls I worked with at Just Cuts (I was reception - bottom right, they are all stylists). Top group - heaps of fun to be around. for a few photos and still haven’t tired of the sight of them. These trees are related to the baobab trees of Africa and Madagascar and are not seen in other countries. I am particularly looking forward to seeing the Prison Boab Tree near Derby.
We had been worded up on the rudeness of customs officers stationed on the border into Western Australia, but needn’t have worried. These guys were pleasant and so what if they look through your boot and van? It’s their job! We don’t want to be responsible for taking fruit fly or cane toads into the Kimberley, so were most happy for them to check over us. Just as well that they did too, as I had forgotten a few items in the bottom of the fridge (whoops) which were illegal. With carrots in the bin, we continued to Kununurra, not long over the border.
Kununurra is a beautiful town, too often passed over by travelers. As I knew I would be staying here a while, we first visited the information centre for ideas and came away with quite a few.
I was looking forward to seeing the Zebra Stone rocks of the area, which
Our Christmas Photo
Something different this year... are found no where else. To my disappointment however, we were told that unlike Coober Pedy (SA) where you can fossick for opals, in Kununurra there is no finding these rocks yourself; they must be purchased from shops. It was nice to visit the shop and buy a bag of rocks, but to me they lack a little something because I have not seen them in the natural environment.
Next stop was the Hoochery Distillery, where they produce Ord River Rum. We took the guided tour and were light headed from lack of oxygen - the fumes were overwhelming! The tour was interesting if only to see how much effort is placed into one bottle of rum. Afterwards we sat in the eating area for the Chocolate Rum cake and Mango Liqueur Cheesecake (fantastic) and coffee (terrible). Visiting the Hoochery certainly opened up discussion though: if people don’t climb Uluru out of respect for Aboriginals and their traditions, shouldn’t these same tourists refrain from drinking or purchasing alcohol in areas where alcoholism is a real problem for the Aboriginals? It is terribly sad to see how alcohol destroys people and families; its effect is quite obvious in these areas of
Charlie the Buffalo - Adelaide River
Me mucking around with Charlie - I am sure the bloke behind the bar thinks "Wow I have never seen that before". Australia (and more to come, I am sure). Yet, in areas where alcohol has been banned and is not sold, there are reports of turnarounds in the residents. It may seem backward, but perhaps sometimes we need to go backward in order to go forward.
A drive up Ivanhoe Road took us to the Ivanhoe Crossing - a concrete causeway built over the Ord River. This used to be the original road to Wyndham and is an iconic water crossing for anyone with a four-wheel drive. We left the Kununurra sights for after Christmas (blog soon to follow) as Grady was away in Geelong working for three weeks whilst I was house-sitting in Kununurra.
When your home has been an 18 foot van for the last 7 months, a house is a luxury! The kids have loved having room inside and Chloe has loved having a bed all to herself. I have been overwhelmed by the welcome of a number of Kununurra residents and can honestly say that I hope to come back here one day.
Grady was working hard and enjoyed seeing both family and friends over the time he was in Geelong. He worked hard and played
On the way to WA
Its funny seeing places which are so far away from home and knowing they are only 300 odd kilometres away... typical scenery here - beautiful. hard and when we picked him up from the airport, was quite exhausted (mind you, he had not slept all night due to a red-eye flight and morning connecting flight to KNX)! After a nap, we took him to our favorite coffee spot: the Kununurra Library!
Forget your Boab Bookshop Café (which set me back $35 when I took the kids there for a drink), for $2.50 you can get a cappuccino in the library and sit in their lounge area with the latest magazines (even the Boab Bookshop Café doesn’t have the latest rags). The kids were happy to read and choose books and DVDs, so for a little outlay, it was a chill out time like no other. For the traveling family, the library is the best place to visit and we have utilized the interstate libraries since we first crossed the border to South Australia.
I had been forewarned of the prices at the Kununurra supermarkets and had expected the worst but was surprised to see that prices are around the same as Darwin, maybe a little more expensive. As with everything, you watch your specials and if things are expensive, find an alternative. There are
Building blocks
Cody wearing Grady's hat made from recycled truck canvas... building blocks can be found anywhere - even on the side of the highway at a lunch stop! two supermarkets: Coles and IGA, so there is a little competition to keep it from being like Yulara (Ayers Rock resort), even though it is remote. The exception is giftware, which is terribly expensive - I feel sorry for the residents here and are not surprised that whilst working in the major shopping centre of Darwin I came across many Kununurra residents doing their Christmas shopping there.
Not only the prices, I had been forewarned about the Kununurra heat in the build up to the wet season. This was absolutely correct. While Grady was away, I looked at the forecast on the internet which read: 40C, 41C, 42C, 41C, 42C. It was disheartening to say the least! My bedroom was downstairs and I had to walk outside to get to the main living areas of the house; at 7am the heat was like a slap in the face (minimum temperature never reached below 30C). The heat is bearable when it is a dry heat, but coupled with the humidity in the build up of 85% (it gets worse), it was a week to be inside. Fortunately, this was not to last, as Cyclone Laurence had passed by, bringing with it
Border - FINALLY!
We are passionate about our border crossings! massive rains. For 5 days after, the temperature ranged from 26C to 34C. At 26 degrees, Cody said, “Mum its COLD!” and went and covered himself up with a rug. Priceless. I have noticed that every room in a Kununurra house has its own split-system air-conditioner. There is good reason for this.
The farm we house-sat was a fantastic base: with a pool, own football oval with night lights, lake with boat and even striped rocks to find, to the kids’ delight.
The cooler weather remained until Christmas, so it was nice to have a roast on the day (yes, we are Victorians); our first together in 7 months. Not surprisingly, the kids wolfed it all down. Just as well because now we are back to budgets (Grady was none too pleased when I served up kangaroo sausages tonight at $1 a tray)!
We will remain in Kununurra for six more days until we move on to Broome through Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. Hopefully I won’t be too late with my next blog entry and apologise to my family and friends who have been most patient!
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Selma Barton
non-member comment
Greetings
We enjoyed the continuing saga of your travels. Love, Selma and Carl