Wyndham

Thurs 9^th July 

Our drive into Wyndham was characterised once again by the variety of trees and bushes that covered the landscape, in particular, the boabs that ranged from very old ones with huge bulbous shaped trunks, to the young with almost straight and slender trunks, but all of them covered in a network of branches and twigs. In town we went to the local garage that also serves as information centre. As everywhere we checked the bowser for price. A young man was filling up and having a heart attack about the price – it was $700+, but he was told to look on the other side of the bowser, it was only $100+. That bowser has a 7 come up instead of a 1, however it does go to 2 next. We were told that the diesel in Wyndham is 20c per litre cheaper than in Kununurra so we decided to fill up. As there was a queue, the owner directed us to another bowser down the side. When we got our receipt we had only paid 131.9pl – the cheapest in Australia. George paid $179.9 at the other bowser. Most diesel up this way is in the range of $179.9 – 186.9 or more. We have seen it over $2 in a few places.

 

We unhooked our vans and left them in town while we drove up to a lookout. It was an extremely steep climb for a couple of km and we’d never have got the vans around some of the sharp corners. The view from the top was magnificent, looking down on Cambridge Gulf and the five rivers that feed into it – the Ord, Durack, Forrest, King and Pentecost. We could see the long pier that looped around to allow the trucks to deliver their loads of ore and live cattle to the ships. The tide was out so there were no ships in port. They would have to time it with the huge high tides, I guess. Even though it is supposedly high season and school holidays, nothing much seemed to be open – the crocodile farm that is open seven days per week according to its sign was closed, Mitchy’s Barra Bar was “Closed Full Stop”.  There was plenty of traffic at the Rehab centre with the red, black and yellow balloons at the gate and the sign that said, “No drinking, no smoking, no drugging.”  The sobering up centre in town was very quiet, although it was surrounded by shiny, new cars.

 

We enjoyed our day in Wyndham, and then hooked up and free camped at Cockburn free camp on the junction where the highway turns off to Wyndham one way or Kununurra the other. For the whole day and night huge road-trains with 4 trailers were hauling their loads past on their way into Wyndham.

 

 

Tues 8^th July

 

We are definitely slowing down at the moment. All we did today was drive north, through Turkey Creek and on to Dunham River which Is not far from the turnoff to Wyndham and Kununurra. Early in the day we passed the turnoff to the Bungle Bungles, but much as we would have liked to see them, you are not allowed to go in in a 2WD.  From what other people have told us, the prices of the tours are a bit prohibitive and would require more walking than we can manage. As it was we drove through beautiful country, mostly in the valleys between high rocky ranges. Boab trees were large and prolific in some areas and there were more flowering bushes than we have seen for a while. We arrived at our campsite before lunch and had a lazy day in the sun. Some people read and slept and I got a bit more of my embroidery done.