Pirate Sasha threatens sunburn in the beautiful Bungles

Up early the next morning, Hannah, Kate and Zara decided to walk into the Mirima National Park behind the caravan park for an early morning stroll. The park was beautiful with Bungle Bungle like formations and views back over Kununurra.Wished we had spent more time there...

Later we packed up in the heat, rewarded ourselves with a last swim and a frozen mango and headed into town. We had decided to spend a few days in the Bungle Bungles but being us we didn’t get away until about 2pm – doing school, shopping, farewell lunch with Hannah and Michael etc etc. Therefore we didn’t make it to the Bungles by nightfall so did an overnight camp near the turnoff to the national park.

In the morning, we headed down the bumpy Bungles road. We had been warned how bad it is but we thought it paled in comparison with Kalumburu Road! We checked out the visitors centre and then set up at Walardi campsite in a shady spot. Bill set to work trying to fix our inverter but with no luck. Eventually Kate managed to drag him away to driver a short way and walk to Cathedral Gorge and the Domes walk. This was our first real taste of the Bungles and it was stunning – layered rock in the domes famous to the area. All the pictures we had ever seen of the Bungle Bungles were taken from the air so we had been a bit nervous that the formations wouldn't be so spectacular from the ground, but it is a truly magnificent place full of Livistona Palms, orange-red rock which glows in the sun, weird warm currents of air, and honeycomb rocks. The walk ended in a massive cool ampitheatre with a lake. On the way back the sun started to set and it was cooler and the light was amazing. Sash showed us how deeply he has the slip slop slam message ingrained when during a pirate game Pirate Bluebeard (aka Sasha) threatened to punish his prisoners (Bill and Zara) by not putting sunscreen on them and taking their hats off so they get sunburned! He then suggested to his first mate (Kate) that they skip to the prisoners in order to capture them (Sasha skips everywhere these days - through shopping centres, down gorges, into campsites...).

That night it was warm and lovely. We lay down on the tarp and watched for shooting stars. We stayed there until we had all seen at least one and it was one of those moments that makes us remember why we ever set off on this big adventure. Just magic.

Next day we headed off early and did the Mini Palms walk which was hot and exposed at first, then shaded and rocky. We clambered over boulders and in between mini chasms and admired the contrast of the palms against the blue sky and rust orange cliffs. We arrived back at the carpark hot and sweaty, but the walk had been so lovely that we decided to tackle the Echnida Chasm walk. We walked into a 200m chasm which had no resemblance to an Echidna and to a lookout over the nearby ranges. These walks were really some of the best we have had all year. We picnicked at the table in the carpark and then returned to our campsite to relax during the hot afternoon. At sunset we drove to a nearby lookout to enjoy the soft light and pink sky. Being us, we missed the actual sunset but it was a lovely peaceful way to end our lovely day in the Bungle Bungles. 

Postcards and puzzles back at camp

Lovely blue-winged kookaburra visitor

Night-time shenanigans

Canoeing the Ord River - a baby crocs, massive spiders and sunset on the Crocodilly

We had decided to do an overnight canoeing trip down the Ord River and were thrilled when Hannah and Michael decided to join us. We were all picked up very early one morning by Macca - a relaxed and friendly guy who owns the Eco-canoeing business. Macca helped us stow all our belongings in waterproof tubs and dry bags and talked us through the camping equipment for our night on the river. We then drove for a while until we reached a lookout over Lake Argyle (well a teeny tiny part of it) which was pretty spectacular - it's massive. We sat in the shade in a park and Macca showed us a map of where we would be paddling, talked us through the difficult spots and pointed out our camping spot. Then it was time to jump into the canoes and prove to Macca that we could steer ourselves away from danger. When he was satisfied we would survive, we strapped all of our equipment into the canoes and off we went - Bill and Sash in one, Kate and Zara in one, and Hannah and Michael in the other.

We had a lovely day - paddling 24kms and making it through the difficult bits in one piece. The birdlife on the river was pretty incredible. It was cooler on the river and currents helped us along in some places. Zara read her book and dragged a handline through the water while Kate did all the work. Sash knelt up on his seat and sang canoeing songs while Bill did all the work. Hannah and Michael shared the work and hence had energy to take fabulous photos (note all pics below were taken by Hannah)! We ate lunch on a lovely little sandy beach and swam in the cool waters. By around 5pm we had reached Cooliman Camp where we would stay for the night. We set up dome tents on little wooden platforms overlooking the river. The site was lovely - set on a hillside and very leafy and peaceful. There was a BBQ and gas cooker, a cupboard with basic cooking gear, an eco-toilet and a sink. We made a campfire and cooked a simple pasta meal for 6 hungry paddlers. We were pretty exhausted and so went to bed early and fell asleep looking at the stars and listening to all sorts of strange rustling noises in the bush around us. 

Next morning, Bill and Michael headed out on the canoes with their rods and lines in an attempt to catch a fish. They eventually got a catfish which was wrapped in a bag and put in an esky for later consumption. Once we were packed up, we headed up some of the little streams coming off the rivers - negotiating overhanging trees and sticking up logs. On the way out of the first stream, Hannah spotted a baby freshwater croc sitting on a log and Sash was thrilled to find a massive spider hanging on the underside of a log - he called it Aragog (from Harry Potter) and got as close up as possible whilst the rest of us backed away slowly. We had a much shorter distance to paddle - only 9kms - but spent a lot of time exploring and fiddling around so still didn't reach the Cooliman Camp until 20 mins before Macca came to pick us up in 'The Crocadilly' - a green boat with a hideous toothy grin painted on the front. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset cruise up the Ord and back to Kununurra. Brave and tolerent Macca allowed both kids to sit on his lap and steer the boat - slightly nervewracking for the rest of us but heaps of fun for Zara and Sash.

We would totally recommend this trip to anyone visiting Kununurra. It was a beautiful way to see a stunning river system and plenty of birdlife. Macca was relaxed but very professional and efficient. And it was reasonably priced!

All pics below taken by Hannah.

Michael steers through choppy waters

Zara catches up on a bit of canoe-reading

Sasha's portrait of Michael

Baby croc

Bowerbird nest

Sunset from 'The Crocadilly'

Lemonade, science circus, friends and Hanz the Croc

Our first day in Kununurra was spent dealing with car problems, shopping and doing other odd jobs. But we also found plenty of time to swim, hang out and plan the launch of Zara's very own lemonade 

stall in Hidden Valley Caravan Park the following afternoon. Lemons and sugar were purchased, profit margins calculated, marketing strategies developed, key performance indicators negotiated...  Carefully designed posters were put up all over the caravan park with the support of the lovely caravan park staff. Next afternoon, Zara's stall was open from 2pm-6pm. It was a great success earning her a profit of $25 - big bucks for a 6yo! Zara was suddenly awoken to the thrill of business success. Watch out world!

All lemonade profits disappeared at the Kununurra market next morning. She may love making money but she has no love of saving it! We enjoyed the market and found some amazing fish cakes to munch on. While we were there we heard about a science circus that was in town. Sounded cool (?) albeit a bit weird so we headed on down to the civic centre, payed our couple of dollars and went in. It was totally cool - like scienceworks in a hall. The kids had a great time playing with all the stuff and then watching short plays about science every 30 minutes or so. In the last performance a dude set his hands on fire (on purpose) which was the highlight of the day!

Arriving back in the caravan park, we were pleased to see our friends Hannah and Michael set up next to us. We hadn't seen them for ages so it was a happy time. They had given two travelers, Chantelle and Emily, a lift from somewhere in the Kimberly where their car had given up the ghost. We played cards that night and ate delicious crepes, cooked by Emily who is French and knows how to do these things well. 

Next day was Father's day - the kids had made cards but otherwise we were completely hopeless. Still, grabbed some rolls and chicken and salad and lay in Celebrity Tree Park (famous for trees planted by 1980s celebrities - Rolf Harris, John Farnham, Harry Butler) and ate a picnic and watched the kits soaring above our heads. The kids made friends with a charming little boy who did endless enormous disgusting burps - eventually driving us from the park...

Once we had a hire car we did a day tour back to the Gibb to visit El Questro - one of the more famous stations in the Kimberly (visited by Nicole and Keith and famiy during the filming of Australia). We started at Zebede Hot Springs - a thermal spring which feeds a series of small rockpools at the bottom of a small waterfall. It was heaven. We lounged and luxuriated until 12pm when the pools are closed off to the hoi polloi allowing the rich to pay big bucks for private access... After lunch we decided to tackle El Questro Gorge - one of the more famous gorges in the station. We enjoyed the walk to the halfway pool where Bill and Zara had a dip, then we decided to hoik ourselves up over an enormous boulder to tackle the second half of the walk - despite ominous warnings that it is only for the serious adventurer or super-fit! It was pretty challenging, but the gorge was spectacular and it was fun hauling each other over rocks and splashing through rivers. Unfortunately we didn't look very closely at the time until near the end when we realised we had to turn back and rush home so as not to be late for a pre-arranged dinner with Hannah and Michael. So, without even reaching the end, we turned and tripped, jumped, stumbled and dragged each other back through the gorge. It was a hair-raising journey and we were all lucky to get through unscathed. We arrived huffing and puffing and scratched and bruised back at the car and sped back in the direction of Kununurra. As soon as we got phone reception we rang Hannah and Michael only to learn that the dinner had been cancelled because the restaurant was closed...

The following night we ate dinner at the Pumphouse - Kununurra's premier eating establishment. It is a lovely place right out on the river. Hundreds of creepy catfish squirm in the water surrounding the dining area and once a night one of the waiting staff comes out and throws some bread into the water. As soon as he hears the splash, Hanz the freshwater croc comes zooming into the writhing mass of fish grabs one in his jaws and is gone before you can believe what you have just seen. Cool. 

Zara the lemonade entrepreneur - with her underpants-clad assistant

The lovely pool at the caravan park - many happy hours spent here

El Questro Gorge