We're Back From The Bush

We're back from our taste of the Gibb River Road.

We hired a camper trailer from Kununurra and travelled to El Questro, Home Valley Station and towards Drysdale River Station. 

Our account of that trip will have to wait while I catch up with the blogs I have fallen behind on.

My last blog  concerned Kakadu. 

After Kakadu we drove to Darwin for a few days and while there caught up with my nephew Marc and his family (hi folks).

We then returned to Katherine and I again caught up with old friend, Bureau of Meteorology star, sailing legend, flash shirt wearer and ace forecaster Kenn Batt. 

We whiled away a Saturday afternoon with lunch and a few drinks at the Katherine Club - a fine establishment.

Then it was time to hit the road again and head west towards WA, with first stop being Victoria River (NT) and the first sight of one of my favourite trees- the Boab.

Short and fat slim and tall and everywhere in between, all shapes and sizes are there.

Often looking more dead than alive, the Boab is equipped to survive extremely harsh conditions.

Boabs are not always round and squat, many are slimmer and upright, many have a distinctively Entish look (LOTR afficionados will understand !)

Known by the local indigenous people as "godawon", the Boab is plentiful. It may provide them with a source of water in its hollows, its leaves are made into bush medicine and the white powder within its pods are used as food.

The Victoria is a substantial river and the reason for the loaction of the roadhouse and attached caravan park is that they are situated near the old Victoria River crossing. It must have been quite a difficult crossing when the river is up, but we found it to be relatively easy to cross the day we visited.

The old Victoria River crossing. After bumping across , intrepid motorists are faced with about 50 metres of track before it just finishes with bush. A wasted crossing these days !!

Today's high level crossing

Blue Mountains residents may recognise the Shaws Darwin Express truck. They are often seen coming and going on the Great Western Highway











We decided to stay for two nights so we could make another attempt to shoot the Purple Crowned Fairy Wren, found in the cane grass thickets along the river. We have previously tried and failed. The area is a known crocodile habitat, so that rules out exploring along the riverbank. Additionally, snakes are quite prevalent and the lack of any clearly defined paths / tracks through the cane grass makes walking through there a bit hazardous. 

Just driving in through the cane grass is interesting, although this trip the track was a little wider than previously.

Part of the home of the Purple Crowned Fairy Wren taken through the windscreen. When the river floods, the wrens take to the surrounding trees and return to the cane grass when the river drops.

We were unsuccessful once again, here is a shot of one taken from a captive breeding programme.

As you can see, a personal shot of this magnificent wren would be worth the trouble - 

Oh well, maybe next time !

No reason for this pic, I just like it. Taken on the banks of the Victoria river

Another shot of the Victoria River, looks peaceful, but don't even think about a swim!!

Having toured the area extensively we left Victoria River and headed to Kununurra WA via Timber Creek, a run of around 350 Km.

Timber Creek does not have a great deal to recommend it, there's a roadhouse with fuel and normal roadhouse type food and a servo,  a few houses and little else.

The servo's diesel was about 10 cents a litre more than the roadhouse, glad I chose correctly.

The border inspection when crossing into WA is quite strict. Absolutely no fruit or vegetables may cross! We'd been through into WA a few times before so we knew what to expect and had eaten our fruit and veggies down until we had about tow apples to declare (and lose).

Once, a few years ago they even confiscated a fruit box that I had packed some books in.

The inspection people are unfailingly polite, but quite firm

Kununurra's principal claim to fame is, of course, Lake Argyle and the Ord River scheme. The dam impounds some 18 times the capacity of Sydney Harbour (or 18 Sydharbs) that equates to around 8 million 600 thousand acre feet of water. If it was ever to floodto its maximum it would impound the equivalent of 70 Sydharbs

As a complete layman in these matters it does seem to me that there is a huge amount of water available but not the amount of irrigation / food production one might expect. 

Kununurra also features one of the largest Boabs I have seen, giving me another chance to publish a large pic that coincidentally shows the Patrol and caravan  as well.

One of the largest and healthiest Boabs we have seen, on the Highway at Kununurra (No, it's not a trick shot, the tree is huge !)

A couple more pics;

Kununurra also has a population of Comb Crested Jacanas. I don't kow they get around with those long legs and huge feet.

 

The Crimson Finch is also prolific in the Kununurra area. Its range is confined to the top of Australia

 An Azure Kingfisher in the early morning light. He was just outside the caravan

I'll post this now and get busy on the next blog which will deal with our adventures in a hired camper trailer along part of the Gibb River Road.

Regards

TJ