Month: May 2021

Monday, 31st May 2021

Check out day. We must make haste as we have been in contact with the Deegs and we now have a prescribed rendezvous date and time. We will meet them this very day at 10.30am western standard time at THE border. 9.55am and the dash is on.

We travel the 34 km from Lake Argyle to the Victoria highway.

I guess about 10km to the border.

The clock is ticking all paperwork in order for the border control and we land at exactly 10.28am. The Deegs are waiting BUT we are NOT late. There are Border control officer on the entry to W.A. side but nothing on the enter N.T. side. So glad I spent all that time on the internet preparing the passes. Any way, we are convoying to Victoria River Roadhouse.

Rocky outcrops all about.

We get to The Gregory tree recording the camp site of the famous and very clever, Augustus Gregory. Arrival date is carved into the great Boab Tree. on the rivers edge.

We record our presence thus adding to our collective record of self adoration.

Yes. The seed pods of the Boab are edible.

On, on to the Bradshaw Bridge. It was a Station but purchased by the govt/army as a bomb test site as I understand it.

A nice bridge entrance with the far side securely locked.

T guess they do all sorts there. We are assuming all these trucks are going there.

Then at a stop for lunch in a way side stop is a salute to the past.

Then on, on and … more trucks.

More rocky outcrops …

… then we arrive at the roadhouse which is apparently under new WIFE management.

Settled in, we decide to have a splurge and attend the roadhouse eatery. Not half bad with good burger and a ‘parmy’ which Anne and I share.

Wine? Yes. Red or white or perhaps the only wine available in the whole place? Pepperjack Sparkling Shiraz. $9 a glass. Can we have a bottle? I’ll ask the manager. Yes. $30. Sold. New management seems switched on.

What a fabulous group of fine people.

Baned Drinker Register. I’m not on it. That’s a relief. You never know.

The burgers …

… and the parmy slightly obscured.

I don’t know what this was supposed to be.

I’d say anyone passing that way in a month or so, will have a better choice of wines.Over all, it’s a very good stop.  Stars, stars and more stars at the  outside  night drinkies. Call it a night. Nice night.Showers etc.

zzzzzzzzzzz       zzzzzzzzzzzzz            zzzzzzzzzzzz

Sunday, 30th May 2021

Must be up early. We are going on our Lunch Cruise today. Be ready and waiting by ‘Lone Ranger.’ (British rhyme come play on words. Ten to ten, ten to ten, ten to ten-ten- ten.) Bus arrives at the beer garden promptly. Onboard  and down the hill to the waiting boat.

All aboard. All girl crew of three. Tracy the skipper, Claire the info come entertainment officer and the last lady didn’t have a name tag but was hands on and earned her pay.

A short hop from the start and there is the wall that holds all the water back. The concrete block has as much height again and under the water. That holds the machinery for the hydo-electricity. I think it is something like seven tonne of water per second and is enough to power Kununurra, Wyndham, 60% of the Argyle mine when it was operating and does all the irrigation.

Gratuitous, self adoration shot.

The boat. There are 50 of us.

Dodgy cat fish. They are blind but sniff out the bread thrown in.

Rock wallabies enticed by gluttony. The crew throws a few muesli granules.

a little island that resembles a turtle …. sort of.

Here is the info section. You’ll have to squint. Good luck.

We pull in for lunch and a swim.

The ‘water baby’ finds out it’s a little (lot) cooler (colder) than what she had expected.

Numbness sets in so pain is gone.

Soggy but refreshed. I ‘refreshed’ with two glasses of complimentary wine.

Motoring for home.

Another nobby outcrop

About to land. More self adoration.

Now on the bus and over to look at the ‘exhaust’ side of the dam.

There’s the exhaust. As I said, I think it is something like seven tonne of water per second and that is going into the original Ord River to irrigate and provide water for the whole area.

Then back home and to complete the day, The Princess has not yet done, but  must do/swim in the infinity pool. (Which she does.)

Yet more self adoration. Is there no end to it.

On the grass for sunset (we had our chairs and drinks) and the ‘stick’ on the right is a guitar player/singer. His closing song was about Derek and his double dong. Apparently Derek was about to cut one off to be normal till he met I think ‘Maureen’ with the multi muff. Pretty sophisticated stuff.

We get back to the van and BLOODY cane toads! Damn, damn, damn the things.

Showers, meat and three (we use a meat pie. It’s getting late.) Bit of TV. The photos for the blog will not load so must try again very ‘am’ in the morning. a couple of grape juices.

zzzzzzzzzz      zzzzzzzzzz       zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Saturday, 29th May 2021

As per usual, the morning sort of disappeared, but not entirely wasted. a small load of washing and a big base sheet. That got us to early afternoon when we took a short ride back up the road to the RELOCATED Argyle Homestead.

It was the home of the original Durack settler family but was due to be flooded when the lake was created. So given the historical importance and hence the tourism potential, it was relocated to not far but much higher ground. Painfully, stone by stone.

At the entrance are the relocated graves of family and other close associates.  as per usual when looking at old country grave sites, they tell the story of the hardship of settling a new land.  I haven’t shown all the stones but, amongst them are Annie Durack, died October 1898 aged just 14 years and Vera Durack who died September 1898 aged a very sad just 1 year old. Putting that in context, they lost a baby daughter and the next month and early teens daughter.

In those days the outback was hard and unforgiving.

The house is well appointed and displayed. Even though it is full of memorabilia and historic items, the floors are marked up with original usage item locations. Below is a book showing the saving and relocation.

Though not clearly seen, this huge map shows the amazing cattle drive from Queensland to the W.A. station.

Memorabilia

The dining room was always the biggest room as that was the entertainment for the evening.

Near the entrance is a notice about the local bower bird, asking people to not approach it, so we stayed our distance.

The bower is there in the bottom left of the shadow area.

What you can’t see in the photo above is the bird lurking in the shadows.

Back to the park. We have extended yet another day in order to do the lunch cruise tomorrow. (Sunday.)

We take our drinks and chairs to the lawn area to watch the setting sun, or rather it’s reflection on the cliffs opposite and run into, not one, not two but THREE couples we have at some stage in the last month or so, run into and or Beer O’Clocked with. As is often the case, they will all leave tomorrow and we will stay. Such is the way of the full time traveler. It’s a never ending story but one that grows on you. Like something nice that is. Not like a rash or something that leaves marks.

Sun done. We do not stay for the singer who is doing a very good job by the way. We think he is the chap that performed at 80 Mile Beach. He will probably bob up somewhere else.

Home, showers, another drink, a bit of the blog, food, bed.

zzzzzzzz      zzzzzzzzzz          zzzzzzzzzzzz

Friday, 28th May 2021.

We are just not destined for early departures.

We are hitched, said our farewells and in motion by about 11.30am and someone was eagerly waiting for our departure so they could snaffle our spot.

Farewell Kununurra. I will always remember you and also how to spell your name because it took a bit. That third ‘U’ really should have been an ‘A’ in my books.

We also farewell your wet patches …

… and your boabs a plenty.

Bikers going from north to south. I wonder if they know how to spell your name?

We must be nearly at the NT border, but now a sharp turn and move further away from it.

34km and all bitumen, though varying widths and qualities.

A few witches hats approaching a creek bed and a little bit of broken road suggests it must have been a bit soggy here not that long ago.

We literally race another late arrival for the last powered site and park up.

Free WiFi in the beer garden and café 4.30pm to 7pm, exactly the time most are lining up and getting seated for the sunset. Pick your priorities.

Nice neat little ensuites. Makes it a bit homey

… all in a row ….

… and in an ideal lush setting amongst flora AND fauna.

Fauna. That is, on the way to the toilet at the bottom of the rock stairs shown below, Anne spots a little, two foot, black snake at the bottom. The good news is it was sunning and when it saw Anne it immediately decided to head for the shrubbery.

Our patch. We are park F3, which stands for Footrot Flats 3, referring to the undulating, unused scrub area to the left of the pic.

Our neighbor. The most snappy privacy screen I have ever seen. Sort of defeats the purpose of ‘privacy.’ Everyone passing looks at it.

Sun is lowering at the infinity pool. Fact is the sun sets behind us but the sunset highlight is the sun on the red cliff faces.

Fine looking hound which I referred to as a ‘Bluey.’ They insist it is an Australian something-or- other and it’s not my dog so I guess they are right?

The sun sets lower, which is what we are all here for. Anne’s hat is very practical from a shade point of view but also makes her much easier to spot in a crowd.

The infinity pool is much more impressive from the wet side.

Great scenery

This is the tiny tip of the lake. It goes on and on.

I hear the food is good here. FYI if you cant read it, Grilled Salmon $36, Barramundi spring rolls $18, Curry $30.

Boat.

Us.

FYI

Helicopter 12 minutes, $139.

Helicopter approx. 25 minutes, approx. $250

Sunset cruise roughly 3.5 hours $95

Lunch cruise roughly 3.5 hours $120

Nice evening. We extended just another day at this stage. Back to the van. Very dark. Mental note, take a torch. Showers, a couple of drinks, chicken pasta, movie (Mr Right) Bed.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz          zzzzzzzzzzzz          zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Thursday 27th May 2021.

Early bed last night so up at 7am AND still got 9 hours!

We  have yet another lazy day, although we do plan the next step or two of our trip and make a few phone calls. It got so close to lunch, we stayed in the van for that and eventually got going mid afternoon, sort of when we should have been heading home for a laydown. Anyway, we had two goals for today. Sandalwood and ‘Hoochery.’ So off we go …

Rocky outcrop with obelisk or marker of some sort. Trig point?

N.B. A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they are generally known as trigonometrical stations or triangulation stations in North America, trig points in the United Kingdom, trig pillars in Ireland, trig stations or “trig points in Australia” and New Zealand,^[1] and trig beacons in South Africa. Triangulation pillar is the more formal term for the concrete columns found in the UK, however, the informal term, “trig point”, is used more often.

Well I’ll be! Another Boab.

Taking into account, the tourist map was not to scale, the GPS decided to show us just how much it hates our guts and a few miscalculations, we miraculously find the Sandalwood shop. It is almost ‘Chinese Dentist’.

They had a curtained off café area. I asked if coffees were available and was told ‘No. You’re too late.’ It was a throw away line from me. We had been told back at the Information Centre two days earlier that they had closed it a while ago, so she was indeed correct. We were too late. Probably about a month or two.

N.B. ‘Chinese Dentist.’ (2.30 … ‘Tooth Hurty’. Is this politically incorrect or just a little English humour? Who cares? To give accreditation but respect privacy, I heard it and had it explained to me by a young Brit I will call S.G. about four years ago.

Anne focuses on the products and the bouquets.

I focus on the process of getting Sandalwood Oil and why it is so expensive. It is quite a process. To start with, they use Indian Sandalwood trees as they only take 15 years to mature for use. 12 metres high. The Australian Sandalwood takes 80 years and must have a colder climate so are grown down south. Even then the Australian product is cheaper as not so desirable or dynamic. The Indian is not just a nice bouquet but also a pharmaceutical product.

Sandalwoods are parasitic and leech off other tree roots, so they are grown between rows of other ‘host’ trees which eventually die off as they are ‘sucked dry’ by the Sandalwoods. If you have amazing squinting abilities, you can see this on the sketch below. The photo below shows the Sandalwood ‘suckers’ on the host tree roots. They go from host tree to host tree one after the demise of the other. Bottom line is if you planted one in your garden, after 15 years you entire garden would be one sandalwood. From a layman’s point of view, (mine) what a bastard of a tree!

At $130 for a tiny little, I think 10mil bottle, Anne decides she doesn’t need any. She has her beauty therapy essential oil collection stored and thinks she has some anyway.

On down the road just 1km to the ‘Hoochery.’

N.B. hooch. Informal   alcoholic drink, especially inferior or illicit whisky.

Time limit. 5 minutes to close time? Time for two tastings only, so skip the whisky (Ouch!) and straight to the two Gins. A white and a pink The white has just been released. (What? For good behavior?)

These are the two we taste. ‘Argyle Pink’ on the right, described as an Australian Dry Gin, distilled with East Kimberley native botanicals.  The new one on the left cheekily named ‘Out of the Ord’ is described as Australian Tropical Gin distilled with botanicals and fruits from the Ord River Valley.

For those who are anally retentive when it comes to details, squint like you have never squinted before and lap the details up. To those less ‘focused, they are both good but different so we bought the one with the Kitch-iest name. FYI Out of the Ord was $82 and the pink about $87 or $89

N.B. Kitsch (/kɪtʃ/ KITCH; loanword from German) is art or other objects that, generally speaking, appeal to popular rather than “high art” tastes. Such objects are sometimes appreciated in a knowingly ironic or humorous way.

Here’s the guy we chose and I have called it Anne’s Gin. N.B. I have bought Baileys and Lemoncello for Anne. They sit there ‘still’ unopened after I have lost count of how many months. Therefore while it is ‘Anne’s Gin, let it be known, I figure two months grace, then the ‘Anne’ tag is removed. So I will drink some as from 27th July this year. Now …. Anne is forewarned IF she reads the blog.

I asked what the significance of the painting with the three naked girls at the pool. When I did not receive an answer, I suggested, ‘Maybe the owners daughters?’ Apparently Gin Distillery employees are born without senses of humour. Very sad.

I was driving so I let Anne have most of the tasting. I think she was a little ‘on the way’ by the time she got to the visitors comment book. I suspect she probably put how much she liked Sandalwood Oil.

We are thinking this sort of ex-car probably belonged to an over-taster.

Things growing. Wonder what it was?

Someone who actually DID have a sense of humour has painted up an old car with flowers etc. and popped a dummy in it. That’s the trouble with the world today. Too many ‘stiffs’ with no sense of humour.

This triple turned in front of us about 300 metres before. I think he felt bad about it and turned off to let me pass.

Yet another rocky outcrop.

Back to town. Fuel up for tomorrows departure. Coles for last minute un-necessaries. Home. A beer, a short chat to the couple next door, shower, Gin, nice piece of steak with veg, glass (three) of red. bit of TV, bed.

zzzzzzzzzzzz           zzzzzzzzzzzz         zzzzzzzzzz

Wednesday, 26th May 2021

I have seen this before but this chap has put it on his car.

Good concept. NEVER Give Up!

Now, as per normal when visiting a town, we dropped into the Museum.

If or when you are here, DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR and go meet ‘Andrew’, who rides shotgun on the desk. Not that he stays at the desk. He points, draws attention to, explains the classic who, what, when, where and why on just about any and every item in the 10 deep displays and shelves.  He’s an oracle, and an enthusiastic one at that.

Apparently, when he rocked up in the late 80’s, research took off like a rocket  and all sorts of info was hunted, compiled and recorded. AND … he’s a volunteer. I told him he should be paid. He does the work of three. Surely they could pay one of him?

Now I can’t possibly remember all we were informed of, so I will generalize as required. Also, forgive the odd incorrect statement.

A miner handed him a cracked rock and said, ‘Polish that. It’s silver.’ It was. Here’s the rock.

Old Stromatolites found under 3 metres of sand and 20 metres above the level of the Ord River. They were the START of life on earth creating oxygen.

Check the ancient fossils.

This is a Tektite.

N.B. Tektite is a unique type of natural glass formed during ancient meteorite strikes on Earth. It’s a high silica based stone that reminds one of small gravel pebbles, which can vary in size of a few centimeters (Tektites measuring in millimeters are called Microtektites).

Occurrences in Australia.

Endless history  on all levels and sources.

Forced landings and heroic search and rescues.

Celebrating the Ord River Dam opening on 30th June 1972.

Details of relocation of facilities as the Dam grew.

Here are the two German fliers who got lost coming from Bali (or Timor?) to Darwin and ended up in the Kimberly.

A copy of the Germans record of landings, starting in Germany and missing only Australia, because they didn’t land in Darwin.

Kym Durack.

N.B. Kimberley Michael (Kim) Durack (1917-1968), agricultural scientist, was born on 17 May 1917 at Claremont, Perth, fourth of six children of Michael Patrick Durack, pastoralist, and his wife Bessie Ida Muriel, née Johnstone. Kim’s sisters (Dame) Mary Durack Miller and Elizabeth Durack became a noted author and artist respectively. Educated at Christian Brothers’ College, Perth, and Muresk Agricultural College, Northam, he moved in 1936 to the family’s cattle-stations on the Western Australia-Northern Territory border. The properties were heavily indebted and, after fifty years of open-range grazing, new approaches were needed. Durack, who brought the first plough into East Kimberley, advocated the introduction of irrigation for pasture management, complemented by agricultural crops. His ideas were sharpened by the abortive scheme to establish a Jewish homeland on the Durack properties in 1938-39. He experimented with lucerne at Argyle before establishing an experimental plot at Ivanhoe on the Ord River.

In 1941 the Western Australian government sent the experienced engineer-administrator (Sir) Russell Dumas to accompany Durack in selecting the site for an Ord River dam. Between 1942 and 1945 Kim and his brother William grew successful trials of sorghum and millet at Carlton Reach, publishing their findings in the journal of the Department of Agriculture. Impatient for progress, in March 1947 Kim Durack stood as an Independent for the Legislative Assembly seat of Kimberley, his manifesto, ‘A New Deal for Kimberley’, urging an integrated irrigation programme for the entire district. Although polling respectably, he failed to shift Labor’s hold. About 1948 he visited Rhodesia and was impressed with cattle husbandry there.

https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/durack-kimberley-michael-kim-10075

Anne with an Olympic 2000. Also a gas cylinder. Apparently they ate more rare than the torches as they were kept by the organizers but someone snatched this one.

The route the flame took.

These skulls of examples of bad luck. These two bulls had their horns grow into their eye sockets. One with both and the other just one.

A fab poem. Go have a look.

Info goes on …

… and on.

Just before it was bulldozed, a few Faraway Downs souvenirs were grabbed. plastic and fibre leaves from the false flowers, paper Machete chimney etc etc.

Patrick Durack

Durack and his brother Michael trekked across the north of the continent from Thylungra at Coopers Creek in Queensland. They left in 1879 with 7250 breeding cattle and 200 horses, heading for the Kimberley region of Western Australia near Kununurra, arriving in 1882. The 4,800-kilometre (3,000 mi) journey of cattle to stock Argyle Downs and Ivanhoe Station is the longest of its type ever recorded.^[4]

In 1885, he retired to Brisbane. Later that year he purchased gold-crushing machinery from Sydney and began mining on the Kimberley goldfields. In 1889 he learned that financial disaster had overtaken his Queensland interests. He died in Fremantle on 20 January 1898.^[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Durack

Too much to fully record in a couple of hours. We left when dusk came.

Amazing.

Home, drink, shower food movie Bed. No surprises.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz          zzzzzzzzzzz            zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Tuesday, 25th May 2021.

An early start. Just as well. I did the tyres. So, sensors off the valve stems. Half the gear out the back to get to the compressor etc etc etc.

Fill the half full water tanks as we will be off into the unknown. Well … unknown quality of water.

Time to move on, from our prime spot next to the office.

Heading back towards Kununurra (100km away) We pass a sign, ‘Grotto”. Anne says, ‘Will we have a look?’ I look in the rear vision camera monitor, notice a multi tray semi about 30 metres off the back bumper and say, ‘NO!’ No time to stop. Turned out he was a quad (4trailers) and he was on a mission. We ended up chatting him a la two way and helping him pass us. N.B. You tell them you are on board for a pass. I am doing 95km. They can only do 100km. They cannot pass easily because there is only 5km per hour in it. So I / we tell them, ‘you swing out when you are ready, I will slap on the skids’ and he sails past easily. This we did.

We get to Kununurra and look for a coffee source. My second favorite food group. We find this place and while we appreciate and agree with it’s positive sentiment, they are closing for the day. Then … I notice the name of the place. Armageddon  Food.

I light heartedly confront and ask the staff, ‘Do you know what that means?’ Answer? ‘It’s a movie.’ Yes. It is, with Bruce Willis. In the movie, they are going into space to blast a meteor before it crashes into and wipes out earth. However, I give them the FULL/true description and I quote Mr Google.

N.B.  Armageddon  /ˌɑːməˈɡɛd(ə)n/  noun …

• (in the New Testament) the last battle between good and evil before the Day   of Judgement.

Knock out stuff. Cheap earrings at only somewhere between $600 and $1000 . Seems that pink diamonds are more expensive that dirty old white ones.

And this little ring about the same, mais ce diamant est petit. (but this diamond is small)

This little honey below is not so ‘petit.’ $450,000 . (!!??!?!#??#!!)

As luck would have it, we get a van site at the show grounds. Toilets/showers and 240 volts for $30 per night during Ord Valley Muster without a booking!! The lord moves in mysterious ways.  Have a look: https://ordvalleymuster.com.au/

A bit cosy/squeezy but a well kept toilet’bathroom with code door (we have the code) just 20 metres away and a good bunch around us.

The grounds are administered by Kevin, a dynamic, colourful and hard working individual. Always a pleasure to deal with moderately (or seriously) eccentric people. He’s a gem.

Night falling. A lady will be playing guitar about 80 metres away in the park at 6pm. It is dark at 5.30pm and the local team footy practice is on. Top right light is the moon. Been a bit of a day. We won’t be attending the guitar lady.

We chat with and consume beer with neighbours. Look at bugs!! We also have a resident owl that swoops the bugs from time to time.

Our near, almost private bathroom. Turns out it comes with it’s own frog in the shower. There has to be a more Monty Python reaction to this?

Nice little guy. (or girl)

The adjacent mini bathroom. Anne blocks view of the toilet. Not on purpose.

Good spot.

Food, showers, TV bed.

zzzzzzzzzzz          zzzzzzzzzzzz           zzzzzzz

Monday, 24th May 2021.

Slow morning. (again) Fossick around. Finish yesterdays blog. i.e. I did all the days before yesterday but then realized I hadn’t done yesterday. Plus a few management problems. Website management that is,

Then …. shopping in the only non descriptive but well stocked supermarket in town.

Then to the Crocodile Bakery for our Crocodile pie.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

They have their own butcher shop within the market.

The only servo in town but fair. $137.90 per litre. Lots cheaper than elsewhere we have been.

Boozerama next to the big croc. Opens 12 noon. Some restrictions but unless you are a total ‘P’ head, you will recieve ample.

The BIG Croc.

Old Wyndham with wharf.

The museum. Top TOP place.

History.

1932, two Germans crashed on the north edge of the WA. There saving is the stuff movies are made of. All info here.

This is historic records of the Caravan Park Tree.

Endless history and relics here.

Then up to the look out for a magnificent view of the old town and its operational facilities and of course, sunset.

WYNDHAM.

Totally undervalued and an historical piece of not just W.A but Australia. Do NOT bypass it. Come and have a look.

By the way, bloody nice caravan park and run by nice people. Do not question whether to come here. Just do it.

Showers, Barramundi pie from croc pie shop today plus salad, movie, (Shooter) red and a little port (any port in a storm) … Bed …

zzzzzzzzzzz        zzzzzzzzzzzzz        zzzzzzzzz

Sunday, 23rd May 2021

We really are having a catch up day today.

I create history. I rise at 5.30am and compute till 6am. That’s not history. This is. THEN I announce that I am going to put on the first load of washing which was one of the main reasons for stopping here. I did this because I noted the park had quite a few visitors. I also noted, of the two amenities blocks, we had only visited one and the laundry had two washers only.

I bounce over there with all but the bed linen, because it was still being used by my dozing Diva. One machine is for staff/Park use only and the other is already being used.  At 6am! Shit. I go, fingers crossed to the other block and find just two more machines. I grab one and one minute later a guy comes in and grabs the last one. If I hadn’t thought to go over there at 6am, who knows how long we would have had to wait. It’s Sunday. All the locals would have a Saturday or Sunday wash day.

I return and  because a nob on the machine is in the wrong position it didn’t cycle. So that is fixed and I start again. The other guys machine has finish but he has gone back to bed I guess. I wait 15 minutes then empty his machine and use it for the bed linen leaving a note saying we waited 15 minutes. Need not have bothered. We finish all washing and head for the line and he had not been back for 45 minutes. Pig ignorant when there are limited washers.

My main job today is to bring the blog up to date as 6 days behind. Long story short I actually manage to load a couple of videos for the helicopter day. It took forever so no more vids till we get better internet. Damn shame. I have drone and all sorts. Bummer.

End of day, we go for a walk around the park. We find this monster BOAB tree. It is described as ‘the largest boab tree in captivity.’ I guess that mean not in the wild.

Have a look at it!

The fruit/nuts are edible.

It is also suggested that ‘The tree is estimated to be OVER 2000 years old.’

That’s us hanging out onto the road. Some people are so thoughtless.

These Kites are everywhere.

N.B.  The Black Kite is a medium-sized raptor (bird of prey). From a distance, it appears almost black, with a light brown bar on the shoulder. The plumage is actually dark brown, with scattered light brown and rufous markings, particularly on the head, neck and underparts. The tail is forked and barred with darker brown.  (Black Kite | BirdLife Australia https://birdlife.org.au › bird-profile › black-kite)

ALL sorts of campers and vans. Never ending.

Even a helicopter parked in the grounds of the park.

Now this is on the roof of the gazebo next to the van . Know what it is? Neither do we, but we are curious. I should get a young person to climb up.

We will extend a day to shop and be tourists.

G & T’s tonight plus a red with meal. Yet another great stir-fry. This time marinated chicken with capsicum and other things. Great. Shower. Movie.

zzzzzzzzzzzzz            zzzzzzzzzzzzz            zzzzzzzzzzz

Saturday, 22nd May 2021.

N.B. POSTED 23RD. WE HAD 6 DAYS WITHOUT INTERNET GOOD ENOUGH TO USE BLOG.

N.B. 2. WE ACTUALLY MANAGED TO LOAD A FEW VIDEOS EVEN THOUGH THEY TOOK HOURS, LITERALLY.

Up bright and early for our big day. Van all packed up. Up the slope for farewell toilet stop. Then to the bins. Then the short hop to the BBCP.

We are taking a half hour ride in a Robinson R44 Helicopter. Good little Helicopter.

N.B. Googled it.

Aviation attorney Joseph Anderson, who has represented victims of several of these fatal crashes, lists four major problem areas with all versions of the Robinson helicopters (1) mast bumping, where the aircraft’s teetering (see-saw) rotor system contacts the mast causing rotor system separation, (2) delamination of the rotor blades where the blades actually come apart, (3) aluminum fuel tanks which split open on impact causing post-crash fires, and (4) low inertia rotor system which allows for rapid loss of rotor rpm during powered-off situations.  “Because the aircraft are all similar dynamically and structurally with the same rotor systems and, until recently, fuel tanks, they all pose the same risks to their pilots and passengers,” Anderson states.

Robinson Helicopters: Inherently Defective or Improperly Operated?

OUCH! Still. We lived to tell the story.

Rugged beauty.

Chasms

Knobbly bits

Lots of knobbly bits

Even more knobbly bits with layers.

Dry rivers and waterways that carved the terrain out.

Landing, the entrance to the park

The BBCP

Over the road, the upper bitumen level of Spring Creek RA (rest area) with slope at right down to the shady grove.

They call the golf buggy ‘The Departure Lounge.’

We hit the road. First stop to refuel is Warmun (Turkey Creek) roadhouse. Good choice of food including Vili’s. Barista coffee. Many locals come in cars and community busses. I asked the waitress what the barcode band was on her arm? She said, anything for the community people goes on that bar code.

How do you get to join a community?

On, on to the halfway mark. Doon Doon.

Not a good plug for using it.

Still, a place to drop any spare cane toads you are carrying but don’t need.

… but excellent roadhouse. Big book section, even with the also excellent John Martinkus book, ‘A Dirty Little War’ regarding the invasion in East Timor.

… and some Australian classics.

Everyone stops here.

But, on, on another hour and a quarter and the sun is sinking fast.

Kununurra, 45km to the right and 55km left to Wyndham.

We are going left and we have 40 minutes or so to go. We pass the El Questro turn off on the left about 10km in and finally arrive at 4.50pm. sun is set/setting. By 5.30pm it will be pitch dark up here.

Check in for two nights and on the site next to the office. 240 volts, water, guaranteed by the park boss to be top quality with no calcium build up or taste.

Yes. We have had a big day and we have big showers and a nice meal of Chilli Con Carne again. I could live on it. Plenty of water. Air cond. Local TV. Hogs heaven.

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