Kakadu to Kununurra

Today

we said goodbye
 to

 Beautiful

 Kakadu!

We are heading to
 WA

not sure when we will get there
but that's our plan!

Not far into our trip & we heard on the ABC news that
Darwin is on catastrophic alert & there is a total fire ban in
all surrounding areas

Wow that is bad!!!!
As this is being broadcast, we are about a 100 kms out of
pine creek and the smoke is thick in the air, the wind is
blowing & as i am writing this,

there is black ash floating all over my page!

This is apparently the first time a catastrophic fire warning has been issued in the NT....

Goodness gracious it all happens up here!!!

We will be in Katherine 
 soon & for the first time in a long time
we will be saying goodbye to the Stuart Hwy!!

Wow!

We haven't been off this massive stretch of road
 since way back in April when we were in
 South Australia!

Well, tonight we are hopefully going to free camp!

We love it!
 Not just for the fact that it is free!

It is just nice to get back to basics for a short time,
connect with nature & live without the luxuries
 we have become so dependant on!
Plus

  Most of the camps we have stayed at
 are fantastic!
Some of which have the best 
spectacular million dollar views!!!


Well,
 after saying all that & looking in the camps 5
 we decided to stay @

Timber Creek
for the night, even though this is not a
 free camp it looks good!

Once there, we went into the pub to book in! 

As usual Mark quizzed the young girl behind the counter

about......
 What was to be done in timber creek if we chose to stay a few days!

She rattled of a few simple attractions, none of which sounded too exciting, then she went on to tell us

we have crocodile feeding down the back in the creek in 10 minutes!

Yep this sounds good!!!

 Oh quickly i said we have to park the van 

grab a beer, pour a glass of wine & get down there!
Then with a strong voice as we were
walking out the door she said...Forget the glass take the bottle!

Oooh yeah!....I like her!!!!

Cameras & Bev's

in hand & off we went down to the
Creek like Sheep!

Along came the feeding girls, they definitely were not Australian!
As we soon found out!
 When sadly, they were un able to answer a simple question
 Are there many crocodiles in this creek!

Um well i don't know was her reply & every one
sort of looked around a tad bemused?
She went on & dangled this sharp pole into the water, which had a big thick hook on the end of it,
this deadly looking hook held a big hunk of meat!
It was awful really, i felt for this croc as she dangled this above it's nose!

Clearly the croc was so not hungry.....
But i suppose he was scared
if he didn't perform he
may not get his next feed???

We still watched on!

 

Feeling sorry for them though!!!

These little fresh waters were more

like little pets to us!

Especially considering, we are now such experts on

Crocodiles,

 after our Kakadu experience!!!

Hahaha!!

Back @ The Ranch
with our new found friends!

 Happy Hour
 was much more fun!!!  

Good night!
Tomorrow will see us crossing the border in to
WA
that means no fruit or vegetables on board!
So i made tomato & onion cooked most of our veges, used up the granny smiths, made apple sauce, and Mark
made a big fruit salad 
which we will polish off
for brecky!!!
The rest we gave away to our neighbours
heading
in the opposite direction!

Next morn we were ready to hit the border,
with a couple of stops
along the way, one of which was
The Gregory Tree.....Now don't laugh
This is Serious!!

This is where Marks relo
Augustus Gregory
The
Western Australian Explorer 
set up camp in 1856
under this massive boab tree 
he used this area, as a base for a couple of years,
whilst exploring the region!

Haha!
This is the result 100 years later
to the year!!!!!
The birth of
Mark
Gregory

From there we passed through
Gregory National Park!

Gregory's certainly rule up here
In this them hills!!!!!!

This also was the beginning of our introduction to the 
BOAB TREE!

WOW!!!
These fascinating trees are every where here!!!!!
Mark just told me as he spotted the first one!
 Apparently they grow upside down & their branches are really their roots!!

I love them!!!
 To me they are like a......
Floral Arrangement
in their
Own Vase!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are now about to leave the 

Northern Territory
and cross over the WA Border!

WA is the only state in Australia disease free!!!

That is a shame, because every state in
Australia should be
disease free!!!!


We pulled in to the security check point & as usual
 i was doing my usual
 paparazzi stuff!

While i was filming, i heard the 
border guy, say to
Mark
I don't want to be photographed!

Oh OK!

To cut a long story short....

I did have good photos but, i wont be using them

as i cant show his face on here!!!

We couldn't understand why???.......He is not even a Dentist!!



 Change of pace
&

40 kms from the Border

We have nearly reached...

LAKE ARGYLE~~~PARADISE IN THE KIMBERLEY'S!

This place is absolutely beautiful

The caravan park has this magnificent lake
right next door & boy she is big!!!

Apparently it holds 50 times more water than
 Sydney harbour & supplies surrounding areas

including Kununurra
with it's drinking & and irrigation water!

Mmmmm...Well

To me it looks like there is so much water
 they could supply the whole of
 WA!

Lake argyle is

Home to 25 thousand fresh water Crocs, 

 thousands and thousands of birds, reptiles, marsupials 

and has 90 islands spread around it!!!,

Us on the Dam Wall!

Us Doing a bit of advertising!

Us....NO!

Hahaha

Oh well, at least he looks the part!!!!!!

While mark was fishing 
 I came across this very dead Croc!

Looks like he was left high and dry in the dry!!!
Poor thing
missing the water by ......That Much!!!

It is now

Good by Argyle

 hello Kununurra

Today was a big drive.... A whole 70 kms to Kununurra!

We arrived at our caravan park at 9 am!
That was different!

Once booked in we did the tour of town & then

headed straight in to Coles and liquor land followed on!

See this bloke in the middle........

As i was taking my trolley back to the trolley bay, to collect my $2

He was kind enough to offer his assistance & take my trolley from my hands!

Hahaha...I don't think so!

No i said to him..... You give me the $2 then you can have it!!!

With that, he was not so helpful & went about his way!!

Oh boy the rules on grog here, are similar

 to those in Alice!

They only sell light beer throughout the day

then at 5pm they open the bar

and full strength beer wine & spirits go on sale!

The limits are... 2 bottles of wine & a carton of beer

 per person per day!

So in the line we got and boy oh boy

that line stretched way out the doors and spilled over into the

shopping centre!

Every man & his dog were here, plus us!!!!!!

We stayed the weekend and did a bit of sight seeing!

 First stop was the

Zebra Rock Shop

 This place really is a must see & definitely bring your money with you!

This rock is apparently rarer than diamonds and is found in 

no other place in the world !

Only here in the
East Kimberly's WA
Australia!!!!

We were talking to the owner of the shop,

 she went on to tell us that they mine for it, they own the mine

 (or they lease it, i should say) and

they only have a window of a few months in the dry season,
which they can actually get it!!!

This unique rock is found in
Lake Argyle!

Wow!

Some of those pieces are just magnificent!!

I was lucky to get a memento of this unusual rock

Thank You
My Husband

I 

Love Them! 

From there we went out to the

Hoochery Rum Distillery!

As we walked in the doors it came to me,

what a great fathers day present for marks dad a bottle of this unique rum!
So

We picked a bottle and took it over to the bar,

the very friendly lady behind, asked us would we like a tasting?

 Oh yes why not!

OH BABY!

Why would you?!!!!

One little sip and Wow!

This is

very

Potent Stuff!!

All i could think was

Holy Heavens Above......

Where is the Ginger beer or Coke to go with it??

Once we composed ourselves
We headed  back to our van & started to pack up

as tomorrow we are on route to

Broome
&
spot of
 Camping @ Cape Leveque!!!

Till Next Time

Cheers & Enjoy!