5 April 2013 - Hidden Valley Caravan Park, Kunanurra, Western Australia

We were not happy with the camp management last night. We accept that young people will be noisy and selfish and negligent about following what may seem to be silly rules, however the camp noise curfew of 9.30 pm came and went, and then 10 pm (which is a far more sensible curfew) and no one seemed prepared to settle down. And worse was the music which was that frantic electronic variety that (on films) seems to accompany the frenzy of Ecstasy fuelled dance. We phoned the camp manager and complained. After about ten minutes, there was relative peace however the volume crept up again after the complaint. I did manage to sleep after that however tonight, even at 7.15 pm as I start this, the base has kicked in and Friday might be party night as well!

Needless to say, we will not be staying after tonight, the last paid for. We intend to move across town to another park where we hope to have better conditions. Hopefully it won’t be a case of better the devil you know than the one you don’t. We are still hoping that we will be able to get into Purnululu National Park next week.

Despite all the negativity about this camp, we did spend an excellent day out exploring today. We set off for Wyndham, one hundred kilometres to the north west, situated on the Cambridge Gulf, an “inlet” of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf which in turn, is part of the Timor Sea.

Unlike Kununurra, Wyndham is much older, reflecting early European settlement. The town came into being when gold was discovered in Halls Creek and was gazetted in 1886. The gold did not last long but the cattle industry became well established to such an extent that the pastoral industry lobbied the government for an abattoir, construction of which commenced in 1913. War and other sundry disasters delayed the process and it was not until 1919 that operations began. The export of meat from the port sustained the town’s economy for many years however in 1985 the meat-works was closed. As the Ord Irrigation Scheme grew, Kununurra took up the slack of the surplus population. Today Wyndham is very much a small outback town with a very under used port facility.

The whole port area seems to be a big waste of space however I did learn at the museum that it is the only deep water port between Broome and Darwin and that exports include live cattle and nickel concentrate. Imports include fuel oil, ammonium nitrate for the mining industry and general cargo. The opening of the Savannah Nickel Mine in early 2004 provided over 100,000 tonnes of nickel exported to China every year. Current expansion of the Ord River Irrigation Area at Kununurra has the potential to create further agricultural exports for the port. Much of this could be wishful thinking.

Sculptures in Warriu Park

But I am ahead of myself. The road to Wyndham from Kununurra is every bit as picturesque as that through the Gregory National Park although the escarpments are at a greater distance from the road. We stopped frequently and photographed the pastel palettes of nature and the great variety of boab trees.  We also pulled into the information area at the beginning of the Gibb River Road, Australia’s worst and most famous 4WD drive. This former cattle route stretches almost 660 kilometres through the Kimberley between this cross roads and Derby. Checking out a map without too much attention to detail, it would seem to be the most obvious and direct route from Kununurra to Derby instead of the longer route on the Great Northern Highway via Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing, the route we shall have to take when we eventually head off again.

Arriving at Wyndham, we drove up into the Bastion Range to the Five Rivers Lookout, a practice we follow whenever possible. Today however this was an error. Wyndham should be viewed from sea level first rather than from 330 metres ASL. The Cambridge Gulf and great mess of mudflats and estuaries is simply too confusing to take in and the view directly down on to the port, most unattractive. The five rivers which flow at various points of the Gulf are the Ord, King, Durack, Forrest and Pentacost. 

We descended to the town, such as it is; a general store and post office cum news agency, and were met by the town’s mascot, a 20 metre long crocodile statue made up of 5.5 kilometres of steel rods, 50 kg of welding rods, 10 rolls of chicken wire and 5 cubic metres of concrete. Quite frankly, it is just hideous! We are not great appreciators of the mascot statues to be found all around the country; bananas, lobsters and the like. However as crocodiles go, the one in Normanton is far superior to this.

Behind these few stores is Warriu Park, long neglected and overgrown. And situated in this wilderness is a collection of well-formed bronze statues depicting an aborigine family and a few animals. The statues have not been neglected, but given the wrong kind of attention. They have been covered in unseemly graffiti . The tourist brochure explains that these “are a proud reminder of Wyndham’s rich Aboriginal heritage”; not too much pride shown here I am afraid.

One block further deep within the lovely caravan park, we found “Australia’s largest boab tree in captivity”. It is hardly one tree but about three, all fused together, but still quite spectacular. This one is over two thousand years old!

Wyndham' prize boab

We headed around the shoreline to the wharf area where the police station, pub and museum are to be found. We wandered up onto the new community wharf, opened just last year and today being used by half a dozen locals trying their hand at fishing. From here we checked out the pub which had been recommended to us by the chap in the Information Centre in Kunumurra, as having excellent barramundi and chips. With no cut lunch in the eski, it was our intention to shout ourselves lunch for a change and without a special occasion too! We found our way into the family bar, a shabby dismal place. Christmas decorations from a decade ago were still hanging from the ceiling, a pile of laundry sat on a chair in the dining area waiting for attention, paint was peeling from the walls and various cuttings and decorations hung haphazardly from here and there. I had expected “old” and “character” but not this. This was the 1966 replacement to the original building, and it seemed that no maintenance had been undertaken since its opening.

We soon learned that it had just been sold, that the owners had been here for twenty two years and had virtually given it away as health issues had become more important than financial gain. Obviously the stress and troubles of their private life had blinded them to the fact that the hotel was also in need of tender loving care.

However, we were served up the most delightful lunch; baskets of superbly cooked barramundi and chips with a fresh side salad, all washed down with a most irregular beer and wine.

Waiting for our lunch

Feeling well fed and rather mellow, we wandered over to the museum where we found a sign explaining the museum would open in May. A woman was cleaning and invited us in so we were able to enjoy the museum after all. It has an excellent collection of stories and information about the immediate area and the exhibitions are few, simple and do not overload the senses as so oft the case.

From here we made our way home, the trip much longer than going in. We should not drink midday; a nap becomes essential at this age.