30th September 2012 (Kununurra)

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Days on the Road = 92
(13 Weeks & 1 Day)

Today is our youngest birthday, "Happy Birthday Sweetheart" XXXXX

We are now on official school holidays which the girls are really happy about and so is the home tutor. It has certainly been a learning curve, home schooling the girls but they are doing really well.

We started our day with a visit to the Mirima National Park with sandstone ranges that are approximately 350 million years old. The colours in the rock formations are just stunning and they have been liked to the "Bungles Bungles" and as such they call these the mini Bungle Bungles. We take a short walk along a track to the lookout that took us up to the top of the range where we see the spectacular views over the Ord Valley.

After our quick visit to the National Park we drove to "Celebrity Tree Park" which is where celebrities have come into Kununurra and planted a tree and then a plaque is erected with their name. Charles and I left the girls at the playground and we wandered around looking at the different species of trees and who had planted them. Famous names such as John Farnham, Kate Ceberano and even the HRH Princess Anne have planted trees here. It's certainly something to look at and the first park of its kind that we have come across.

Zebra Rock Gallery is next on our agenda for the day where this beautiful rock is hand carved into stunning gifts. We didn't buy anything as I thought the prices were quite steep but the rock is beautiful and the amount of work that goes into mining the rock through to the end product is quite lengthy so you can understand why they are that price. The gallery also offers feeding the cat fish down at the rivers edge, so we grab ourselves a couple of slices of bread and head down to the mini jetty. What an eye opener seeing these hundreds of catfish coming up to the water with their wide mouths gaping waiting to be fed. What a great experience.

We head one hour out of Kununurra along the road to Wyndham. Along the way we stop at The Grotto which forms a natural amphitheatre and has a spectacular water fall in the wet season, which we didn't get to see but I'm sure it's a wonderful sight.

Wyndham was formed in 1886 and is geographically recognised as the Top Town of the West. Upon entering the town we come across a massive Crocodile statue "The Big Croc" which stands at 20 metres long and has been colourfully painted, it's certainly worth a stop for a photo. We then head up a very windy hill to view "The Bastion Ranges and Five Rivers Lookout" this is where you stand 330m above sea level and see the five rivers that flow into the Cambridge Gulf all come together. Its abit hazy today and it looks like low tide so I didn't think much of the view.

Our last stop in Wyndham is "The Boab Tree" which is over 2000 years old and its girth measures 20m and 25m high. It is Australia's largest Boab Tree in captivity. You actually have to stand next to the tree to fully appreciate the enormity of it.

After an exhaustive day out we head back to Kununurra for a bite to eat and then to enjoy the beautiful birthday cake!

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