Kununurra

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A sightseeing day today in Kununurra, which meant a bit of a sleep in and time for some porridge for breakfast.

First stop was the Zebra Rock Gallery, which was about 9kms out of town. Zebra Rock is a sedimentary rock only found in the Eastern Kimberley, millions of years old, and as the name suggests looks like a zebra. They had some great pieces of work - vases, jewellery, plates, mini Bungle Bungles - and we found a couple of pieces to take home with us. Out the back we were able to go and see the carvers at work on the lathes in their workshop and a very friendly old fellow, who we assumed was the male of the owner couple, demonstrated to us how you could take a piece of the stone and "easily" drill a hole in it, sand & smooth it and then lacquer it up - ready made pendant. Very interesting and he let us into the back of the workshop so we could see all that was going on. The gallery also had a cafe - renowned for mango smoothies (which they also grew in their grounds) - so I sampled one (Grant the banana one) along wiht the homemade scones & jam. Yummo ! Whilst I was ordering the morning tea, Grant meanwhile had discovered a couple of cockatoos & some other caged birds in the grounds near the cafe also. Next thing he was playing his iPhone at "Popeye" - one of the cockatoos - who started bopping up & down and displaying his full plumage & getting very excited at hearing ACDC's "Thunderstruck". It was hilarious. The cockatoo in the adjacnet cage also seemed to like the music and started to hang upside down from his perch spinning round & round in circles. I bopped with the cockatoo also to Thunderstruck and he would move to the opposite side from where I was, which was pretty cool. He also managed a couple of "Hullos" - as well as "Captain" (the next door bird). They didn't seem to like to too much when the Fratelli's song came on next so we went back to Thunderstruck & had a few more laughs and some video clips with them, before deciding that we should leave them in peace. This place was excellent and definitely worth visiting.

Back on the road into town we passed irrigated fields using the water from Lake Kununurra. The area grows all kinds of fruit & veg - mangoes, melons, pawpaws, bananas, sugar etc - in the region. Yesterday, at the lookout above town, we met a couple of backpackes who were working for a melon farmer. Apparently the area is very popular with backpackers as they can get work for several months up here at this time of year, with the bonus that many of them then get granted a second year working holiday visa as they have worked 3 months in regional Australia. One of the backpackers was a 24 year old chap from Carlisle who told us what hard work it was on the melon farm. The farmer grew all kinds of melons - rock melons, honeydew, water melon - and they grow in furrows in fields with the fruit lying on the ground. From what we were told, the job seemed to entail following the slow moving tractor & picking up the ripe melons off the ground into a bin. Sounded a bit like potato "tattie" picking to me - which is pretty awful work (I remember only lasting about 2 days at it in my school holidays one year) - so I sympathasied a bit when he said it was hard work and very long days sometimes. Apparently him and his mate had been working for around a week on the farm & the English chap was debating whether to stay & do his 3 months so he could get his visa extended and be back on the east coast in Sydney to spend Christmas on Bondi Beach or move on elsehwere.

Next we headed out to Lake Argyle, the man made lake about 70kms out of town heading towards the east. As the Northern Territory border was only a few kms further on from the turn off the highway to Lake Argyle we kept going to see the border & crossed over into NT for all of 10 mins. The first thing we noticed was that the speed limit there was 130kms and not 110km as in WA. Funnilly enough there was no quarantine going into NT, but coming back into WA there was. Grant explained that we had just gone over the state border for 10 mins, had turned around & come back but the quarantine officer sitll had to inspect our truck & fill out his forms. We ended up having to surrender a carrot & onion to be let back in !!!!

Out at Lake Argyle we stopped off at the old Durrack homestead museum. The Durrack family are famous in the area as being the first settlers to establish stations out here and one of them, Mary Durrack, wrote some historical books about their lives having all emigrated from Ireland in the 1800's. It was an interesting place as the original site of the homestead was now under water due to the flooding in the early 70's of Lake Argyle so they relocated it, brick by brick, due to its historical significance. Whilst there a kamikaze bird - Sacred Kingfisher- created a huge thud on the window, and was stunned & dazed sitting on the ground. We thought it might have been injured (I think perhpas it did hurt the end of its beak) but eventually it got up & flew away.

Onto the Lake Argyle Tavern where we got picked up for an afternoon's sunset cruise on the lake. A bus took us down to the boat, which was similar to a troop carrier with seats. Great trip seeing rock wallabies, freshwater crocodiles, angler fish, catfish and also learning about some of the history of the lake and dam and the late 60's project to create it all. The angler fish were fantastic - we got to feed them with pieces of bread - and if you held the bread just above them, they would squirt you with water from their mouths (very accruate shot too). They use this method naturally to catch their prey - flies, mossies etc - from foiliage overhead. Whilst at the fish feeding spot a big freshwater croc (prob 3m - 4m long) came right up beside the boat & next thing had caught a huge fish, which he kept alive in his mouth for a good 10 mins before finally crunching it & finishing it off.
The end of the cruise culminated in us picking up a mooring & stopping in a bay to watch the sun go down, have a quick swim in the lake and either a beer or champagne. Awesome !!

Treated oursleves to lasagne, chips & salad at the Tavern - first bought meal of any kind in the past week - before we headed back into town. The lady at the Visitor Centre had suggested we spend the night out there as there is a caravan park, but facilities very good & clean at the campsite in town (Kimberleyland Holiday Park) so we re-booked for tonight. We had been warned about wildlife on the road and unfortunately after 5 mins driving on the way back hit a rock wallaby which hopped out very fast from the side of the road (hopefully not one of the ones we had taken photos of earlier). No damage to the 4WD as they're fairly small & no way to avoid it.

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Photos

Zebra Rock gallery
This was an awesome place

Popeye loves ACDC
He loved "Thunderstruck" but wasn't so keen on the Fratellis

Border Patrol, WA style
"We will only let you in if you surrender your carrot & onion"

Rock wallaby
Hopefully not the same one that we hit with the truck on the way back to Kununurra

Spder webs, Lake Argyle
Orb spider webs (some of strongest natural material in world - inspiration for kevlar)

Sundown swim
very warm, water temp around 27 degrees

Comments

[Paul]

Wow!
Sounds like you guys are having a great trip! Awesome photo's and blog - keep it up. I noticed you had lasagne for your first bought meal in a week! We went La Zuca on Friday but didn't have Roger's lasagne this time (shock horror). I see Grant fed the fish but didn't seem to want to feed the crocodile :-) Have an emu larger for me, stay safe and have fun.

[auld goat]

kimberley holiday
sounds really good, great photos - hope you enjoy the Gibbs Road section - look forward to your next blog when you get within blogging range again!