KING OF THE KIMBERLY - KUNUNURRA

Prison Tree

Lagoon right next to our van!

'Bungle' like formations at Hidden Valley

Mysterios red rock face in the early morning light.

Ivanhoe Crossing

Hello again, I am writing this on our last day in Kununurra. What a delightful surprise packet this place has been. The only draw-backs have been the extreme heat and the smoke! Oh the smoke!!!!! Ever since we hit Katherine, we have been inhaling smoke. Initially we were advised that this is just what happens in the Territory in the dry. Immediately after the ‘wet’ they do light burns – this means burning off selected small parcels of land – this eliminates heavy growth of native and introduced grasses and diminishes the possibility of ‘wild-fires’. Sounds fine and sensible doesn’t it – well, it went on and on and on and.............well I’m sure you get the picture. Darwin was fairly bad and I may have mentioned that my plane trip over Arnhem Land was spoiled somewhat by the heavy smoke haze. We were hopeful of leaving all that behind once we reached WA, but sadly it has been considerably worse. This time however, it is arson. Many of these fires have allegedly been lit by young indigenous men, sometimes for hunting purposes and sometimes just for the heck of it. When we were at Lake Argyle we could see fires all around us and at night the hill immediately across from the lake was a fiery furnace, the gullies running red – quite spectacular at night, but disastrous for the local flora and fauna. It seems from what we have been told, some pastoralists also burn in order to promote fresh growth for cattle fodder. It seems that many of these fires also get out of control. It seems incredible when you are looking at this enormous quantity of water, that they cannot or do not do something to quench these wild-fires. From the caravan park at night for the first 5 nights we were here, we were looking at a ring of bushfires surrounding Kununurra, the scene at night looked for all the world like some alien volcanic scene. Last night there seemed to be smoke billowing from the local National Park, Hidden Valley. The smoke pall around the lagoon here is thick and very visible. From a purely personal perspective, I have had to resort to antihistamine tablets and eye drops, and even with that I have had terrible trouble with my eyes for around the last 2 weeks. The constant smoke pall has made good photography nigh on impossible, although in some rare cases we have achieved a mysterious hazy effect that looks quite good.
The temperatures since we arrived have stayed in the high 30s and have really defeated our desire to do much of anything that requires strenuous outdoor effort. It seems the season has caught up with us and is chasing us down the west coast. We have decided to opt out of any excursions to “The Bungles” or for that matter any other major sight- seeing events. We would rather return to the Kimberly another year in May/June and really do it properly. It would be a shame, we think, to rush thru’ due to the heat. Of course, speaking with so many ‘off-road types’ we are made to feel guilty for not doing all the bits and ticking all the boxes, but hey, we are self-confessed cream-puffs and we will do things our own way.
We have fallen under the spell of Kununurra however, and can readily see why some folk make this their ultimate destination, staying here for the duration of the dry season. In fact, we feel that we may just do that ourselves at some other time. There is just so much to do from this centre. The town itself is situated right alongside a huge lagoon and is very pretty. Vast ranges pretty much surround the town and the overall effect is one of space and beauty. Admittedly, there is not a great deal here in the way of shopping, but it is sufficient. The park we are staying at, Lakeside is also green and spacious and we as usual have been fortunate in our site, we are right on the lagoon and TBBITW, as I am writing this, is outdoors with a big torch tormenting the ‘freshies’ by shining the torch on them. When you run the beam across the water of the lagoon, 20 or so pairs of baleful red eyes glare back at you. It doesn’t press my buttons, but it seems to excite a lot of other people.
There are so many wondrous things here. Every evening hundreds of small birds take to the sky, wheeling and turning on the thermal currents above the lagoon. Nobody has been able to tell me what they are doing there, perhaps ‘bugging’, perhaps preparing for a journey, perhaps just celebrating the blessed cooler air that starts to come in at that time of the evening. It is spectacular to sit outdoors watching these small fairy-like creatures making patterns on the darkening sky. As the wee ones finally settle for the night, the bats start to cruise overhead. We are told that the local colony of fruit-bats numbers around 2 million! It is fantastic to watch the seemingly never-ending stream of bats flying across a blood red Kimberly sunset. Many cruise right over our heads on their nightly search for fruit and blossom. We are told that they are an essential part of the eco-system, spreading seeds and pollinating flowers. Of course, nobody wants them for immediate neighbours, but they are an integral part of the country here. As the bats peter out, a pair of barking owls that roost in the boab next to the van start up their nightly chorus – a lovely soft musical barking that continues throughout most of the night. During the day the Whistling Kite nesting in the boab behind us calls to her mate while the water fowl forage at the lagoon edge. Little crimson finches flit from branch to ground on their daily hunt. Next to us a striped lizard sits sunning himself on a rock. Once again, we are reminded of the abundance of life in the north of our wonderful country. When you are up here you can really see what we have lost in the more highly populated parts of the country. This place just throbs with life – it is wonderfully refreshing and spiritually renewing to be so close to nature in all its glory.
There is a beautiful little National Park right here in town, called Hidden Valley (or Mirima). It is like a mini-Bungles. Similar beehive structures abound, albeit older and more time-worn. We visited the park in the early morning when the sun had not penetrated into some of the deeper chasms. I found the experience almost eerie, the high red rock face seemed to be silently watching us as we moved around the gullies. A large rock wallaby stared us down from a high vantage spot on an almost sheer rock face, before casually ascending to the sundrenched summit. Some ancient force seemed to be resident there. I felt we were there only by their careful consent.
Kununurra is now often described as a ‘fruit-bowl’ – certainly, thanks to the irrigation canals etc. made possible by the creation of Lake Argyle, fruit production is in full swing here. They are in the process of opening up more land for agriculture. Not surprisingly the price of real estate has escalated dramatically. They have been through a process of elimination here with the types of crops attempted, amongst which were rice and cotton. Local conditions including local fauna proved to be incompatible with some of those early efforts. Now tropical fruit production, like mangoes and bananas have become widespread. Grapefruit production is also popular along with a whole host of other crops. Interestingly, one of the newer enterprises here is Sandalwood. They grow an Indian variety here, as it has proved to be the most suitable for the prevalent conditions. Interestingly, the trees take some 12 years to reach production levels, and as they are parasitic, host plants have to be grown alongside them. They have sensibly opted to use plants that occur naturally in the area, one of which is the very attractive Dragon Flower. Unfortunately, this plant does not live long enough to support the Sandalwood throughout its full growth period, so a second host plant greater longevity needs also to be planted. The overall effect is very green and luxurious. We drove and drove trying to find the extremity of the growing areas, and in the end gave up as it seemed just go on! In the process of exploring the outlying orchards, we discovered The Hoochery – as the name suggests they brew a very nice thank you very much rum. They naturally produce several different types of rum and some very delectable liqueurs as well. Needless to say, we acquired a nice little bottle for late evening consumption. We also discovered one of the local ‘prison trees’ when we were out exploring. These are huge old Boabs, hollow on the inside. They used these to imprison unfortunates in years of old.
Another local attraction is the “Ivanhoe Crossing” – this is a spectacular spot where traffic literally drives through the lower reaches of the Ord River. Being self-confessed wimps, we were not about to drive our precious vehicle thru’ this torrent, but watched in awe as others forded the river. The very fast moving waters came up to the running board on most of the cars that braved the water. As the cars swished thru’ the waters, a large salt-water croc watched from a rocky vantage spot right in the middle of the river.
Some of the more suburban sections of the town were to say the least, depressed looking. Poorly maintained and very run down – sad to see the children dispiritedly playing in the front yards when they should have been at school. Everyone seems to see something different when they come to these towns – I found that the towns thru’ the Territory displayed some really good signs for our indigenous brothers and sisters, and I have seen a much poorer representation here – yet I have met several people whose perception was just the opposite.
While we were here we drove up to Wyndham and also took a wonderful tour which included Lake Argyle and the Ord River – I will deal with both these excursions as separate issues.
Today I had an absolute spoil when I visited a local art gallery. The resident artist was Nadine Lovell. As a would-be artist I was completely blown away by her work – I cannot possibly find the words to describe the vibrant and exciting work that she presents. She was in residence when I was there and offered to sign a copy of her book which I purchased. She also shows other artists work and some of it was the best I have ever seen. If you are at all interested in art, be sure not to miss this gallery when you pass thru’ Kununurra. There is also an Aboriginal Art Gallery here, but I confess I didn’t venture in – having been up thru’ the centre and spent some time in Darwin and surrounds, we have perhaps seen enough for a little while.
Well tomorrow we leave here and head south to Halls Creek. It looks like being a long and hot day so we will get an early start. We have truly enjoyed our stay in Kununurra and look forward to the day we return here.
Please love your families as if there was no tomorrow, and be gentle with yourselves – Stephanie.
At Kununurra we stayed at the Lakeside Caravan Park – this is a Family Park and as such is dog friendly. We found the sites to be grassy and well sized. The amenities were fine and the swimming pool excellent (a daily must in this heat). Despite being situated right on the lagoon we had no undue problem with bugs, that is until tonight. Being full-moon they are a little plentiful tonight. We strongly recommend the park.