Today was our last full day in WA, after 5 months we will be crossing the WA/NT border tomorrow morning. It’s been an amazing 5 months, after crossing the border at Eucla on the Nullarbor in early March we’ve basically followed the coast all the way around WA. To be honest its all a blur at the moment but I’m sure later on when we look back over the blog posts we will appreciate where we’ve been and what we’ve done in WA.

So today we took a drive out to Wyndham which is WA’s most northern town. It was obviously a thriving town in the past, we know Wyndham had the largest meatworks in the Southern Hemisphere back in 1914 to 1918 but now its very quiet although there is still a port operating. Wyndham is where the 5 major rivers of the region all converge together and the view from the “Bastion” lookout above town is quite spectacular.

There is a 2,000 year old BOAB tree in the caravan park that is also pretty speccy as well. Unfortunately the BOAB and the River convergence is about all that the town had to offer us, although there is a very large croc on display in the centre of town that caught our attention.

We’ve driven about 10,000 km’s in WA, just under 15,000 all up on our trip. Darwin will be the halfway point in distance and time, so we might spend a bit longer there on R & R. This Grey Nomading gets a bit tiring, sort of need a holiday from the holiday. So goodbye WA, thanks for keeping us safe and hello Northern Territory.

Today was a very interesting day, as we headed out to Lake Argyle to do a cruise around the Lake. Like yesterday’s cruise up the Ord River, today’s cruise was just as inspiring. The size of the lake is hard to imagine and really none of the photos we took give it justice. The Lake was dammed in the early 70’s and now provides all Hydro power for the towns in the region and also supplies all water for the Ord River Irrigation scheme. In fact the Lake is so big they are looking to treble the amount of agriculture in the region.

The Lake is called Argyle because the founding family of the area had named their station Argyle Station after their home county in Ireland. The “Durack” family pioneered and then settled in the East Kimberley region in the mid 1800’s, after driving 7,000 head of cattle from the Queensland Channel Country to the Ord River area, around 4,500 km’s.

The actual Argyle Station is now deep underwater in the middle of the Lake and one of the station houses was disassembled and then re-assembled as a museum not far from the lake. The lake when full holds about 21 times the amount of water as Sydney Harbour. Back in 2011 after a number of heavy wet season’s it held 40 times Sydney Harbour and it has a maximum flood level of about 80 times Sydney Harbour. Currently its at about 18 times, as its in the middle of the dry season.

After lunch at the resort we headed off for the cruise. It was an interesting cruise as I got to swim in the lake with some of the local inhabitants of the lake (see photos below). At sunset we all had a drink and like all sunsets we’ve seen, this was just as unique as all the others. Our two days cruising the Ord River and Lake Argyle have been very enjoyable but also informative as well. Off to see Wyndham tomorrow before we pack up and cross the border into the Norther Territory on Sunday.

Today we did the Ord River sunset cruise. It’s the longest river cruise in Australia and it was “special”. Back in the late 60’s the Ord was dammed which resulted in Lake Argyle (more about that tomorrow) being formed. The Ord has over 6,000 freshwater crocodiles in it between the dam wall at Lake Argyle and the weir at Lake Kununurra which is at Kununurra itself. We saw many crocs today during the cruise.

It was a unique trip as the cruise started on Lake Kununurra where the Ord runs thru on its way to the ocean. The Ord traverses thru Carlton Gorge which in itself is beautiful particularly later in the day with the reflections. We finished the trip off with another sunset over the river.

No doubt about the sunsets in the Kimberley they are all great wherever you are viewing them from. The only cloud we have seen in over 3 weeks was back in Broome that gave us another spectacular sunset. We’ve had weeks of low 30’s and its not going to change when we get into the NT.

Here are some of the many great photos below that we took today.

Well we finally made to Kununurra, our last stop in WA before we cross the border into the Northern Territory. The last couple of days have been a little depressing, Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek are hard towns but already Kununurra has impressed us.

The drive up from the Bungle Bungles today was something special. The highway traversed thru huge red rock mountain ranges. It was what I had anticipated we’d see thru most of the Kimberley region but its been mainly in the eastern part.

What was unexpected was the rich agricultural industry here, leveraging off the abundant water from the Ord River. After 1000’s of km’s of nothing but red soil and dust, to see the lush green fields of various crops, it was like we were back in Victoria with the market gardens in Werribee. We are using Kununurra as a base for our travels over the next few days as we intend to visit Wyndham and Lake Argle and other sites around Kununurra. Unfortunately El Questro is closed and that’s been a constant theme during our WA travels, COVID has certainly curtailed a number of the activities we planned on doing in WA.

The Caravan Park we are staying in is one of the nicest we’ve been too on this trip. It’s extremely well grassed (rather unique in northern WA), nice pool and amenities and our site which is backing onto Lake Kununurra is great. They have a superb cafe and last night there was a singer songwriter playing for a couple of hours. Highly recommend the Kimberleyland Caravan Park.

Interesting few days after leaving Derby on Sunday. From Derby we travelled to Fitzroy Crossing, staying at the Fitzroy River Lodge on the Monday night and then onwards thru Halls Creek to the Caravan Park at Mabel Downs Station at the Bungle Bungles.

It’s certainly been an eye opener for us, with Derby, Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek heavily populated with our indigenous folk. Both Susan and I are saddened at the conditions they live in. We were very surprised to see Renal hospitals set up in these towns, as I’ve said in an earlier post its a difficult situation. I expect it might be similar in the NT.

We planned to stay in Halls Creek but decided to move on to the caravan park at the Bungle Bungles and we’re glad we did. It was a great park and we only wised we could have stayed longer and we met some very nice people around the campfire. Off to Kununurra tomorrow for our last stop off in WA before we cross over to the NT on Sunday.

After leaving Broome we headed further north, about 250 km’s to Derby, another town on the north west coast of WA. I can tell you that Derby on a Sunday afternoon is very quiet. There were a few indigenous locals wandering around and sitting on street corners but that was about it.

One small cafe was open so we went there for a bite to eat. The Cafe, the Pub, Woolworths and BP, that amounted to the only businesses open, so we did a bit of touring around (which didn’t take long).

One of the “things” that has stood out during our travels in WA and more in the northern part is the treatment dished out to our aboriginal friends back in the early days, it was atrocious. I know there is much comment presently re BLM and also the benefits our indigenous folk receive. I don’t have a solution but I can say that it’s disheartening to see the conditions some live in and more so, some are also happy to do so. It’s an extremely difficult issue and people in a lot higher pay group then me have that problem to sought out and good luck to them.

Hopefully we’ll see a bit more activity tomorrow being Monday but Derby would not be on my return list should I come back this way again. I have always wanted to come here primarily because RAAF Base Curtin is only 30 km’s down the road, so I can tick that off my list, like I did with RAAF Base Learmonth near Exmouth a week or so ago.

Well its with a double dose of sorrow that we left Broome this morning. We’ve really enjoyed our 5 days in Broome and bitterly disappointed that a number of attractions we wanted to do were unavailable, either all booked out or just not open.

Also we leave our travelling companions for the last 4 months, Steve & Vicki in Broome. They have a few more days here before moving on themselves. What started out as a drive together over the Nullarbor ended up nearly 5 months of touring together. It was great fun, I’ll really miss our morning teas and Happy Hours, so from Number 42 (Susan & I) to Number 41 (Steve & Vicki) thanks for being a part of the adventure and being great travel mates. We’ll all remember our “COVID” travels together.

Well after 6 long weeks I finally managed to get another game of golf in. So here is my CRAPP report, I know all of you have been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for my CRAPP to show up in your inbox!

I played in the competition at Broome Golf Club today and I was pretty rusty to say the least. They had a Scramble event on and it was the first time I have played such a game and to be honest I did not like it. You don’t get any continuity in your game at one stage I had only 3 tee shots in 3 holes, its very hard to get a good rhythm going playing Scramble.

The course was in reasonable nick considering its the middle of the dry season and there has been minimal rain over the last few months. The greens were a bit rough but still rolled true. Unfortunately the facilities are very minimal at the moment, with the golf club working out of the maintenance shed, whilst their new 6 million dollar club house is being built. Sitting high over the 1st tee, with views to “Staircase to the Moon” one side and the great Sunsets over Cable Beach from the other side.

I suggest once the clubhouse is finished the club will grow considerably, it will certainly be a sought after venue to view both attractions, with the club benefitting financially.

So here is my CRAPP report:

Design – 12 out of 20

Condition – 14 out of 20

Cost – 18 out of 20

Visual Appeal – 10 out of 20

Facilities – 5 out of 10

Ambience/Appeal – 5 out of 10

This totals 64, not a great score but still a pass mark. It would be interesting to play just after the wet season when the course has had a few months of rain.

Well that’s it for this report, I’m sure you’ll look forward to my next CRAPP.

Had a walk around town today and read up on the history of Broome. Funny thing is the Governor of WA at the time was against the town being named after him by the Surveyor General. He considered it a nothing town and did not want his name associated with the place, I’m sure he would be proud of it now.

Learnt a lot about its Pearling history which started after the industry left Cossack in the late 1880’s. It was Pearl shells that was in big demand not the pearls but that all changed after WW1.

Today its the Pearls that are in big demand and some have very big prices too! Susan bought herself a Pearl necklace today, based on the “Staircase to the Moon”, thankfully it didn’t cost heaven and earth to buy it.

Unfortunately for us we have not been able to partake of many of the attractions here in Broome. Everything has been booked out for weeks, so we are making the most of Cable Beach and its sunsets, also the odd drink as well.

Went to the renowned Cable Beach tonight to view the famous sunset. Cable Beach is the only Aussie beach that gets a guernsey in the world’s top 5 beaches. Having spent 8 weeks in Esperance surrounded by their magnificent beaches, its a big call for Cable.

I won’t go into how it was but I’ll let the photos below speak for themselves.