Timber Creek NT to Kununurra WA

                                      Victoria River.

Leaving Mataranka after breakfast, the 160 klms drive to Katherine was an easy one. We got some groceries in Woolies in Katherine, the unwashed body odour of some people is pungent in the enclosed arcade. One group of men asked John if they could take the shopping trolley back, he said “no thank you”, there was a $2 refund to collect on the return of the trolley, they of course knew this. Hello, you are dealing with an accountant here, every $2 counts. After encountering a man in an unlocked toilet, we got the hell out of Dodge! ( as the saying goes).

 Kimberley Escarpment

The Victoria River Roadhouse sits on an impressive acreage overlooking the river of the same name. We stopped for a half hour, we wanted to get as far as Timber Creek, it has crocodile feeding at 5pm and wanted to get settled in before then. The Victoria River region is very picturesque; the Kimberley escarpments start to appear closer into the WA border.
As we approached Timber Creek, flames were licking almost to the road, the air was thick with smoke. The aboriginals do frequent burn offs, they believe the undergrowth comes back more plentiful. They own vast properties throughout Northern Australia. I don't know how they would have managed if the fire had got out of control. I'm sure an evacuation plan wouldn't have been part of the equation.
We booked into the caravan park in plenty of time to watch the “freshies” getting fed. The sites are shady, a big Boab tree sits majestically at the bottom of the park. These trees are common to this part of the Kimberley, the only other place they are found is in Madagascar, on the same latitude.  The boab are plentiful in this area.

                             Boab trees

Sea Eagles

                          

 Salt water cocodile

A Victoria River cruise is something we missed out on when we came through last time, luckily we booked for a sunset cruise on a fast boat and it was well worth it, along with about eighteen others. The guy who ran the cruise was a local, who had invaluable knowledge of his backyard. We saw crocodiles, sea eagles, kites, little wallabies and cattle, along the river banks. Light refreshments and soft drinks were included, we stepped off the boat onto a pontoon equipped with toilets and croc feeding equipment. The sunset was beautiful, the ride back fast and cooler, luckily we were told to bring jackets.

 Kimberley Sunset.

We are now in Kununurra, crossing the border into Western Australia at a quarantine station. Fresh fruit and vegetables aren’t allowed into the state and luckily I remembered and didn’t stock up when I went to the supermarket. I cooked the apples and any vegetables up the night before. Of course, the first thing I had to do was restock the fresh fruit and vegetables when I got into town.

We booked into a nice caravan park not far from town on Lilly Lagoon. We have a view of the water from our window. Sightseeing is on the agenda for tomorrow. I enjoyed a plane flight last time over the Bungle Bungle Range, very impressive. Kununurra has a large river and dam system, we will drive out to the irrigation farms for a look.

My cousin has a daughter living here but she is in Perth for work. I left a message for her husband, a journalist on the local paper, if he is in town he might ring us, we have yet to meet him.

Pretty gum blossom.