We arrive in Western Australia

Timber Creek  17/07/12

 It is great to be on the road again after being in the same area for a month or so. We left Katherine at 9.00am and headed west on the Victoria Highway towards Kununurra. The drive was unexpectedly beautiful with the road in the valley of cliff faced mountains and table top mountains. It was one of the nicest drives we have done so far. We pulled up for lunch at the Victoria River Roadhouse, and then drove onto Camps No. 204, Big Horse Creek Campground, which is a lovely campground on the banks of the Victoria River. The campground was full with 36 campers jammed in everywhere, but as usual we had lovely neighbours to talk too. We travelled 300km today, and the campsite was $6.60. We saw a nice 4WD towing a caravan that had both rolled over on the road today, but the people were out and in an ambulance heading back to Katherine. We feel so sorry for the people as their holiday has just come to a horrific end. Di cooked up a heap of vegetables tonight to freeze, as we are crossing the border into Western Australia tomorrow and are not allowed to take fresh vegies into WA.

Western Australia

Lake Argyle  18/07/12  WA Quarantine Checkpoint

We hit the road earlier this morning at 8.15am. We had booked into the Lake Argyle Village Caravan Park, but due to the amount of people on the road, we could only book an unpowered site, but if we arrived early they may be able to find us a powered site. It was again a pretty drive and before long we were pulling into the WA Border Quarantine Checkpoint. There was quite a line up of caravans getting checked for any fruit, vegies and honey. We were very surprised at how thorough they were, as they looked through the back of the car, in all the drawers and fridge. They then moved to the caravan to check the drawbar box and caravan boot, and then most of the cupboards in the caravan and fridge. Luckily they did as Di had left an orange in the fridge.....whoops. We set our watches back 1.5hrs and headed for the short drive to Lake Argyle. We found the staff here very friendly and efficient, and since we were there at 9.45am (due to the time change), they managed to give us a powered site. It cost $42 a night. We set up camp and had a look around the village, and the various lookouts over the inland sea. It is a huge man-made lake that was created by damming the Ord River, & is 2000 square km. We looked at all the cruise information on the lake, but decided we would give this cruise a miss so we could put the money into something that looked a little bit more inviting. The village had an infinity edge pool that was perched near the cliff top with stunning views over the lake. It was a very popular area for happy hour & watching the sunset. We were very disorientated with the time difference today, and the day and night seemed to go on forever.

19/07/12

We woke up bright and early this morning due to the time difference, and had a leisurely breakfast and day in general. In the morning we drove to the Dam Lookout, & then over the Dam Wall & down into a lovely picnic area. In the afternoon we walked the Ord River Gorge walk.  It had lovely views down the Ord River as well as over Lake Argyle.

Kununurra  20/07/12

We left today at about 8.30am & headed to Kununurra. We arrived just after 9.30am at the Ivanhoe Village Caravan Resort, but check-in wasn’t until 11.00am, so we did the grocery shopping & went to the Information Centre. We asked about places to leave our caravan   when we went on the Gibb River Road (we will be in the tent), & the lady at the Information Centre offered to leave it at her property, about 5 km out of town, for $5 a day with power. We went back to the caravan park, costing $44 a night, & got set up. We need to stay in Kununurra until Monday 23^rd because we have our vehicle booked in for its’ 20000 km service at the Toyota dealership. Besides having a look around the area, we will also get ready for the Gibb River Road. In the afternoon we had a look around the town, & went to the Celebrity Tree Park where Braydon had a play on the swings.

21/07/12

Today we drove out to Wyndham, 100 km north of Kununurra. On the way there we called into The Grotto. It was a short walk down into the Grotto with a lovely little swimming hole at the bottom. We had lunch at a local café, & then had a look at Wyndham Port. We then went up to the Five Rivers Lookout which had fantastic views. We returned home via a 4WD track. The first stop along the track was the Parry Creek Nature Reserve which was great for bird lovers. We then went to a lovely camping spot on the Lower Ord River which was apparently full of crocs. There were hundreds & hundreds of kangaroos along the track, so we had to drive fairly slowly as a result. We also drove into the Black Rock Falls & Middle Springs, but didn’t have time to explore either of these areas as it was getting quite late. It was dark when we finally got back on the bitumen. It had been a long day.

22/07/12

Today was set aside to pack & get ready for the Gibb River Road. So first of all we went grocery shopping. We needed to buy 3 weeks worth of food, & the bill came to just over $600. We only bought so much fresh food & the rest was in tins & packets. We bought wraps instead of bread & enough long life milk to last 3 weeks. Then it was time to pack. Craig found it very challenging to fit all our camping gear & food into the car. Luckily he left room for us all to come along as well.

23/07/12

First up this morning Craig dropped the car off at Toyota for its’ 20000 km service. He then walked a short distance to a computer repair shop to drop our computer off, as it has been progressively getting worse & worse over the last couple of weeks in taking its’ time to power up. It has started to take about 6 hours lately. He then walked back to the caravan park. Dianne got all the washing up to date & we continued packing. At about 4.30pm it was time to pick the car & computer up. Bad news with the computer – the technician couldn’t find the problem & it hadn’t turned on all day. We will worry about buying a new one when we get back from the Gibb River Road.