Half-lap Day 59: Kununurra

Caitlin and I were up early as we needed to be at the horse place by 7am. The others were up when we left and happily waved us off. Caitlin was extremely excited (and pleased that her jodhpurs still fit her – she’s grown so much since we left home that there was a chance they’d be way too small). We drove out to the Yeehaa ranch, and the owner met us at the gate. He was very friendly and welcoming, and I felt quite comfortable letting Caitlin go on a trail ride with him. He introduced us to his 2 workers, young men who’d been through the training program he runs, helping boys get an agricultural certificate. It felt like a fantastic place.

Caitlin rode an appaloosa called Dollar. They ride Western style here, which she hadn’t done before, but she adapted quite easily. The boys took her out on the trail, and I chatted to the owner then sat under a huge boab tree and read my book until she came back. She loved the ride, they trotted a lot, and rode to the river and along the base of a big rock called Elephant Rock (although she didn’t see the elephant side). When they got back they had a bit of time left and tried to get the horses to canter in the arena – her horse was more interested in coming over to look at me instead… She dismounted and while the boys put the horses in the stalls we chatted to them about the training program and riding and rodeos etc. It was a really lovely morning and Caitlin had a great time.

On the way back we called in at Coles to get a few more supplies, and then to the op shop to get a jumpsuit Caitlin had seen the day before. Back to camp where we had a bit more breakfast and then Tony and the kids went for a swim, while I got ready for our day out. After they came back we had a bit of lunch and then headed out of town.

Our first stop was the Zebra Rock Gallery – with zebras being one of Millie’s favourite animals it was too cool to pass up. The zebra rock is only found in this area of the world, each rock has unique markings, stripes or blotches, and look so incredible. When we got there we met 2 dogs in the yard, and the owner introduced us to them. We wandered through the gallery and looked at all the different types of rocks, some shaped like animals, some just pieces of rocks. We made our gold coin donations and took a piece of bread each down to the jetty where we were able to feed the fish – catfish again, so many that they formed a kind of carpet on the top of the water. As we walked down to the water one of the dogs (a kelpie like dog) came with us, and headed straight into the water, he kept swimming through the group of fish and scattering them everywhere, it was hilarious. There were archer fish there and if we waited long enough without throwing any bread in, the catfish would move away a bit and the archer fish would come in and shoot their streams of water at us – we all got squirted and then happily gave them our bread. The girls used their bread up fairly quickly, LiAM was very frugal with it and spent a lot of time patiently waiting for the archer fish to come in, he really enjoyed it. There was a great view along the river of Elephant Rock – it really did look like an elephant.

Back up on the lawn near the gallery, LiAM and I played totem tennis. Caitlin bought a mango smoothie (it was $8!!) and we all shared it (the gallery is on a mango farm). Millie browsed the rocks trying to decide which one to buy. One of the dogs came and sat between Caitlin’s legs, he really seemed to love her. Millie eventually decided, and the owner gave each of the kids a small piece of zebra rock for free. We went out the back and talked to the corellas and cockatoos in cages there, and met a couple from Silvan (not far from our place). We played some more totem tennis, had a play in the playground, browsed the gallery again and eventually tore ourselves away – such a great place to hang out.

We drove from there up to Wyndham, past a lot more cool hills and escarpments. The land around the hills is very dry, lots of boab trees, kapok flowers and some gums, all quite spread out, with straggly grass in between. We drove across a huge flood plain – a very wide flat area that had a creek or two through the middle of it, that would flood completely in the wet. As we approached Wyndham we started to see large areas of mud flats – dry, flat, white areas leading to a bit of green foliage on the edge of the rivers. In the wet I suppose all those mud flats would be under water.

The buildings in Wyndham looked very old and fairly rundown. There was an old hospital that looked like it was falling apart, later we saw a newer hospital building. There were several rehabilitation centres and a sobering up hostel. Lots of the houses had bars on the windows, or were boarded up. We drove through town, reading a few of the historical signs, then continued on towards the wharf. There were some old trains on display, and lots of discarded machinery around. We could see a wide expanse of water to our left, which would be the gulf that leads up to the Timor Sea. We reached the wharf area and saw a large conveyor belt leading out to the ships, and some large ships anchored in the water. There were mud flats on either side of the road and it felt like no place we’d ever seen before. We drove back to the foreshore once the wharf road became unsealed (it felt pretty desolate out there, the least bustling port we’ve seen). There was a community jetty which we walked out on, and were amazed at the speed of the water flowing underneath. The tide must have been going out and the water was swirling past the jetty at a fairly alarming rate. Anything that got dropped in there would be out of reach very quickly. The water was slightly choppy and there was no clue as to how deep it was. There were mangroves along the edge of the river and we could see where the waterline had come down a little recently. The end of the jetty was a pontoon that could float on the water no matter what its level. There were a few people fishing out there, and we hung out for a while, watching the water and imagining what might be in there.

On the way back to the car the kids found a large dead fish, LiAM examined it quite closely. We drove back through town and up to the Five Rivers Lookout. The view was phenomenal. We could see the 5 rivers (Ord, Forrest, King, and two others) which empty into the gulf here, all winding through the flood plains between the escarpment and Wyndham. Each of the rivers was flanked by a large expanse of mud flats, especially the Ord. It was cool to think that yesterday we were swimming in the lake that feeds the Ord, and we’d fed fish in it early today. To the north there were more mountain ranges on either side of the gulf. There were a lot of people up at the lookout, and everyone was blown away by the view, which was made extra beautiful as the sun set. One guy I was talking to said it was the best thing he’d seen so far, in part because it was unique. Tony and I had said the same thing, that this place was like nothing we’d ever seen before.

We prowled up and down the walkway of the lookout, watching the sun set from different angles. Once the sun was down we got out our stove and boiled some water for cup-a-soup and cup-a-noodles. A couple of other families stayed up at the lookout and had dinner as well. The sky continued to get a darker orange before finally fading to black, it was gorgeous, and the rivers kept changing colours as well. We could see fires burning out on the flood plains of the Ord river, which became brighter as the night got darker. We had a lovely picnic dinner and eventually packed up and headed back down the hill.

We stopped once on the way home for a toilet stop and marveled at the stars – we were a long way from any sort of light source so the stars were extremely bright. We got back to the tent around 8pm and quickly got ready for bed, everyone was exhausted after 2 huge days. We read Inheritance for a while, and closed all the tent windows, it was quite cool (17 degrees), then went to sleep fairly quickly.

Half-lap Day 58: Kununurra

Our plan was to leave for our Lake Argyle Cruise at 6.30am – with the sun coming up around 6, that wasn’t a problem. We all had a quick breakfast, and packed swimmers and sunscreen and snacks, and drove out to the lake, about 70km from Kununurra. The road in from the highway wound between tall rocky hills with scrubby brush. As we got closer we caught a glimpse of the Ord River down in a valley, then spots of blue as we saw the lake.

We pulled up at the Resort/Caravan Park and they said to wait outside for the bus. We had a bit of a wander and looked out over the lake – so big and blue! – and at the infinity pool at the resort – the water flows over the edge so it feels like you are actually swimming right up to the mountains and the lake. The kids browsed the gift shop and Millie bought a curly straw with a crocodile on it.

The bus came (with people already on it from Kununurra – that would have cost extra) and took us down to the boat ramp. We had a view of the dam wall as we drove, then the bus went down a steep (13% grade) road to the boat, we all got out of the bus and onto the boat while the driver reversed back up part of the road, turned around, and reversed down again so the bus was ready to go when we got back.

After a quick safety talk and letting us know that there was a toilet, as well as tea, coffee, biscuits and water available at all times on the cruise, we set off and went around the first point to see some wallabies. They were quite small and extremely agile, leaping around on the rocks in huge bounds. The driver threw some food onto the rocks and a couple of them came down close to the boat – the kids were so excited and the wallabies were very cute.

From there we went around closer to the dam wall – a very impressive structure, made of a clay core and then rocks (no concrete). The dam was built in the late 1960s to give a permanent water supply to the farmers in the Ord Irrigation Area – the Ord River before that would dry up a lot in the dry season. Now it is at a constant level year round and provides enough water for everyone in the region. The lake is 21 times the volume of Sydney Harbour – really massive. The islands throught the lake are the tops of more of the hills like the ones we drove through coming in. Some are just little rocks sticking out of the water, some are still massive hills in their own right.

We went to the deepest part of the lake (42m at this point), seeing a freshwater crocodile on the shore along the way, and heard a bit about how they’d decided where to put the dam wall. Then we moved on to some of the islands, where we saw several crocodiles and the boat was able to get quite close to the shore where they were sunning themselves. A couple of times one of the crocodiles slid into the water – so silently and gracefully we wouldn’t have noticed it move if we hadn’t been looking at it. The boat moved around into a little bay where we are able to feed the fish – holding out bread above the water so that the archer fish could shoot it with their little jets of water (lots of fun and something I’d been so keen to do ever since I heard about it) and dropping bread into the water for the archer fish, catfish and black bream. At one point I was standing and taking a photo of a freshwater crocodile and the driver sneaked up behind me and grabbed my leg. I shrieked and fell onto the seat – everyone thought it was pretty funny.

We continued further into the lake, and soon came to places where we couldn’t see any land in a couple of directions. During the tour we covered a quarter of the lake’s distance and we didn’t ever see the ends even on the horizon – it is massive. We cruised past a male jabiru standing on his nest up on top of a little rocky island, and saw lots of pelicans, cormorants, kites and other birds. We saw a wallaroo on one of the islands, much bigger than any wallaby we’ve seen anywhere up in this northern part of Australia. Before the dam was flooded, people came up and removed as many of the animals from the hills as possible, with some of the bigger hills that would become big islands, they left the animals as their island would be big enough to sustain a population.

The lake was so massive we couldn't see the end of it

Cruising to a few more parts of dam we learnt more about the history of the area and the farms that were here before the dam. People made cups of tea as they felt like it, and the kids had several biscuits from the tin. LiAM also had a cup of tea. Millie got her fingers jammed in the toilet door – she had indents in both sides of her fingers and they swelled up quite quickly – luckily I had my first aid kit with me and a bit of arnica and strapping helped them to feel a bit better.

Caitlin had been worried about the idea of a swim as part of the cruise – on the shore of one of the islands would feel risky because of the crocodiles, but swimming out in the deep part of the lake would feel scary because of the unknown nature of all that water below us. This cruise stopped in a deep part – around 22m deep – for us to swim in an area safe from crocodiles –they don’t come out that deep. Tony was the first person in off the back of the boat. Caitlin was still unsure and I suggested she just jump in and climb straight back out. Once she’d done that she felt more comfortable and was able to go back in. They provided pool noodles so we could hang on to them and feel even safer, not having to worry about the depth of the water. About half the boatload went in for a swim (there were only 10-12 other people on the cruise). LiAM went in and loved it and I joined them – the water was beautiful temperature and it was amazing to be swimming in this large lake with all the rocky mountains around. Millie was unsure about whether she wanted to swim or not. She ended up sitting on the top step of the ladder and putting her feet in, and she was happy with that. LiAM was the last one out of the water when it was time to get back in the boat, he really loved the experience.

We heard a bit more history of the area then headed back to the boat ramp and back onto the bus, which took us to the resort again. We all loved the cruise and were happy that we’d chosen this one instead of paying more for the sunset one. The driver was funny and friendly and so knowledgeable about the area (and the owner of the cruise company).

Back at the resort we wandered around and looked at the views a bit more. We enquired about the day use fees – they were $25 for the family, which felt like a bit much to pay just to use the pool, as cool as it would have been. Millie was extremely disappointed when we decided not to swim there – I forgot that she hadn’t swum in the lake and so was really wanting a swim, and it was such an incredible location. I do wish that we’d just spent the money and let at least Millie use the pool.

Looking at the Infinity Pool and Lake Argyle

After we looked at the view and explored the grounds for a while – and saw a helicopter take off on a scenic flight, and dip excitingly down into the valley immediately after takeoff – we drove down and over the dam wall, which was pretty incredible. There was a picnic area alongside the Ord River on the far side of the wall, so we sat in the shade at a table there and had some lunch, then the kids and I went for a wander down to the river where some people were fishing. They soon left and we had the area to ourselves. There was a great view of the base of the dam wall and the outlet pipes, and along the river between the very tall cliffs. We watched the river and the fish in it for ages, then LiAM discovered lots of tiny little frogs jumping around on the edge of the water, which kept us fascinated for a while. Eventually the sun got too much for us and we headed back up to the car. On the way out we drove back down to the river’s edge so Tony could see the view and the frogs – LiAM caught one and as he was showing me it jumped into the car, it took us a little while to get it out.

We drove back into town and went to the op shop, catching it just before it closed. LiAM bought a water bomb set – with a bottle and spray nozzle to fill up the water bombs, and the girls and I found a t-shirt each. Tony checked at the post office but his wine still isn’t there. We went around to Target because LiAM wanted to get more of the cheap Skylanders – he and Millie bought some each, Tony found a t-shirt, I bought more swimmers for myself and LiAM as ours are starting to disintegrate, and we bought more of the cheap bags of lollies, great for in car snacks. We also went to the discount store next door and got some paints (Caitlin wants to do more dot painting), snorkels and masks to replace the 2 of ours that have been broken, and a box of cup-a-noodles at a third of the price we can get them, on special, at Coles.

After our very satisfying shopping trip we went back to the caravan park, and I asked if anyone wanted to head in to the National Park to see if we could get up to the top of the rocks and see the views. Millie wasn’t keen, and I’d been a little way in the day before, so Tony went with Caitlin and LiAM. Millie and I went for a swim, then went back to the tent to play some games. The others were gone until after dark, then went straight to the pool to cool off. They had made it up to the lookout and seen a cool view across Kununurra – the path to the lookout was a long walk through the National Park from our tent, so it had taken them quite a while and they were pretty tired.

 Back at the tent the kids played on the computer for a while. We had pasta, bacon and pesto for dinner, and Caitlin was very keen to get to bed quickly as she was getting up early for a horse ride in the morning. We went to bed and started to read Inheritance, until Caitlin fell asleep in her tent.

Half-lap Day 12: Flinders Ranges

I was keen to see sunrise in Wilpena Pound and no one else wanted to get up that early, so I got up at 6 and quickly drove in to the National Park. It was getting light as I began the walk in to Hills Homestead, and I could see the sunlight hitting the tops of the cliffs occasionally as I walked. It was an easy walk at first along a cleared road, with amazing gumtrees – huge, with lots of massive branches – and lots of undergrowth. The creek was mainly dry until I reached a point where there was a lot of standing water, and some of it was flowing further down the creek. There was a large pond further along, with great reflections of the cliff and the trees. After a while the track became more undulating and narrower, and wound past Sliding Rock and then over a bridge over the creek. There were massive gumtrees which had fallen across the creek, crashing in to the other side and throwing branches everywhere.

As I walked in to the pound I could see the sun was on the far ridges and starting to peek over the edge on the side I was on. It was only a short walk up to the lower Wangara lookout, and from there I could really see that the mountains formed a contained circle around a flat area in the middle. The mountains were like cliffs on the outside (what we’d been seeing so far) and smoother hills sloping to the middle on the inside. I climbed up to the Upper Wangara Lookout – it took 20 minutes from the Pound floor up to the top, and it wasn’t steep but it was a good climb. The view from there was amazing – I could see right around the pound to all the mountains, and the sun was shining on the tips of all of them. It was so quiet – I could hear birds singing and that was it. There was dew all over every surface and it was quite cold. I checked the log book of walks when I came out and no one else started a walk until 8.30, so I think I was the only person in the pound at that time – a pretty cool feeling. The whole experience was exhilarating.

I stayed up the top taking photos and drinking in the view for half an hour, had a bit of a snack then headed back down. As I arrived at the Hills Homestead at the bottom of the lookout a tour group arrived. I chatted to a couple of the women who had chosen not to walk up to the lookout. While we were talking a rosella was in the gum tree above us and whenever it shook the leaves we had dew rain down on us.

I walked back along the track – it was a lot warmer walking back now that the sun was out! – and drove back up to camp. We spent the rest of the sunny morning hanging around again, doing logic puzzles (Sudoku and similar) and soaking up the sun. The only real drawback to this campsite is the tiny little burrs that stick to anything that falls on the ground – I feel like we spent half our time picking them off things. It was a small price to pay though for a fantastic location. Millie even felt brave enough to try out the pit toilet for the first time, and it wasn’t quite as scary as she’d thought (as long as I was with her to hold on to her, she’s a bit worried that she might fall in).

We had eggs and kabana for lunch, then Tony and Caitlin rode their bikes to the Visitors Centre. I was a bit nervous about Caitlin riding on the main road, but she was nervously confident and Tony said he’d ride behind her so she’d be safe. They enjoyed the ride and found it challenging though doable. Caitlin increased her confidence enough to be able to ride over the cattle grids instead of walk her bike across them.

LiAM, Millie and I hung around for a bit longer, watched the eagles some more and then tidied up a bit and drove in to meet the others. We’d decided to do the same walk that I had done in the morning, now that I knew that it wasn’t too hard (LiAM and Millie were still reluctant to do walks – even today, it was easier to say we’ll just explore the creek a bit, and they were happy to do that, rather than ‘we’re going for a walk). It was interesting seeing it in afternoon light instead of early morning light, different aspects were noticeable, different trees and rocks and features. I noticed in particular that though the creek was mainly dry, it had obviously been full of water and overflowing at some stage, judging by the debris that was caught up in the trees.

The kids really enjoyed looking the pond, and trying to spy creatures in there – we could see lots of bubbles but didn’t find out what was making them. We saw several wallabies and lots of burnt tree trunks that looked like different creatures, including one that was like a puma. When we reached the Homestead we sat and had a snack, then walked up to the lower lookout. The sun was heading down so the light was fantastic again, and I loved seeing the pound for a second time. Tony, LiAM and Caitlin headed up to the Upper Lookout to see the full view, while Millie and I stayed in the sun in the lower lookout and played animal games. Millie also took some photos of me in front of the mountains – almost the first shots taken of me this trip.

Once everyone came back down (and they were all glad that they’d gone up there) we read about the dreamtime story of how the Pound was formed (2 big serpents) and the history of the homestead – a tough place to live and try to make a living. It was getting cold and the light was fading so we tried to walk back quickly. The kids had a bit of a play on Sliding Rock (the side of it did look like a big slide) and Millie agreed to go in the sling – not because she wanted to be carried, but because she was really cold and it was the warmest place to be. On the way back we saw one of the feral goats we’d been reading about.

We got back to the Visitors Centre just in time to buy some milk and use the flush toilets before heading back to camp. We lit the fire and had noodles and soup for dinner, and more marshmallows on the fire afterwards. Millie curled up on our double chair, under a blanket in front of the fire and quickly went to sleep. I got my tripod out and took some cool photos of the stars. We were all exhausted and the tent seemed very cosy and comfortable when we climbed in to bed. I put some extra blankets on LiAM’s bed, under his sleeping bag (I realised that his bed was made of mesh while the girls’ are solid fabric, so he was getting cold air from underneath as well as above) and he was much warmer all night.

Stars over the Flinders Ranges

Half-lap Day 10: Clare -> Flinders Ranges

It rained a bit overnight, and then continued to drizzle on and off throughout the morning as we packed up. I got up early and blogged and checked email etc (sitting in the car as we hadn’t put the annex up for a 1 night stay) then packed up what I could while the others were still asleep. When Tony woke up he rigged up a tarp between the car and the tent for us to sit under to have breakfast. While they were eating the kids and Tony played Grandma’s Undies (where you ask questions and the answer always has to be ‘Grandma’s undies’ and no one is allowed to laugh) and ‘I went to the shop and I bought…’ memory game. They started with 1 and were up to about 15 items (1 shoe, 2 elephants etc) when they stopped. Caitlin then practiced some gymnastics and the others ran around and then they played ‘Why are you late?’ and ‘Dumbledore’ – some of Caitlin’s youth theatre games.

Pack up was a little tricky because of the rain, but we eventually got it all sorted and on our way. As we headed north the rain started to ease. We drove over one very long stretch of roadworks which was slow going, and we passed several large harvesters being towed by massive tractors. The terrain changed a lot as we travelled – out of wine country and back to cleared pastures with lots of sheep or grain, then low hardy looking trees, then lower grey/green bushes which made the hills look like they were covered in hair.  We saw several wild emus, including 2 who were crossing the road and we had to slow down for. Lots of wallabies, kangaroos and wallaroos too.

We stopped in Jamestown to grab fuel and groceries, and had a quick look at the river that flows through the middle of town, and has a fountain in the middle of it. The pedestrian bridges across the water were really well designed and attractive too. From there we headed to Orroroo, which my dad had (rightly) thought we would enjoy because the name has only 2 distinct letters, with 4 Os and 3 r’s. Everyone thought it was worth stopping at taking photos of us with the entry sign. The buildings through the town were beautiful too, very old and ornate – although there were hardly any people around, all the towns we drove through felt a bit deserted.

We also saw many many ruins of stone houses and barns – I’d really love to know more of the history of this area, as every farm seemed to have ruined buildings on it. As we drove we listened to Wild Born – the first of the Spirit Animal series, another book which is keeping us all intrigued.

As we neared the Flinders Ranges the terrain became rockier and the hills higher. I was very excited and also a bit anxious – my anxiety always increases when we go somewhere that I REALLY want to see – I worry that the others won’t like it and will be annoyed with me for taking us there, or that it won’t be as good as I was hoping and I’ll be disappointed, or that no one will want to do any of the cool things to do…. Once we saw the ranges though I felt much more relaxed, excited to finally be here (I’ve wanted to come here for a very long time) and happy that I could enjoy my time here. Tony and I were increasingly impressed at the red layers of rock in the ranges around us.

We stopped at the Visitor Centre and looked at pictures of animals we might find and at some of the walks we could do (kids are happy to do easy walks but don’t want to do another hard one…) then carried on through the park to Upalinna Homestead. Mija met us at her gate and gave us a map to the campground – Upalinna is a sheep farm which has an area set up for bush camping, only $15 a night. It was fun chatting to her and seeing her animals – black chickens, golden chickens, a dog and a cat – exactly what we’ve got at home! We headed over to the campsite and were able to pick the site with a view straight across to the ranges – I was so relieved, as I’d started to worry that by staying out of the National Park we wouldn’t have the full experience of being at the Flinders Ranges.

It was a bit of a challenge to find a flat enough space for our tent, then when we put it up we discovered that the tent had shifted on it’s poles a little (probably during the storm on Monday) and so the poles were not lining up properly, and combined with the slope it was hard to get it tight and flat. Caitlin and I had similar problems with the annex while Tony cooked tea and LiAM chopped wood. Eventually we had everything set up well enough, ate spaghetti bol for tea, then into bed to read Brisingr. It was a cold night so we snuggled with hot water bottles and were happy to go to bed as soon as we could.

(I'll try to get back to this post and upload some photos once I've got them on the computer)