THE KIMBERLEY REGION, WA – 26 June 2023 – 14 July 2023
So many photos taken over the three weeks. So, I thought I’d split them into “interesting stuff we saw” and “awesome caving”. So, here’s some of the random photos that I thought you’d like to see, plus a little background on the three weeks.
I was booked on a flight from Sydney to Perth at noon, so thought I’d take the train to the Airport, almost a big mistake!
Getting there …
Unbeknown to me, the train running from Central to the Airport was not running because of track work (on a Saturday), so they had buses running. And it wasn’t very efficient, fortunately I got there as early as I did as if I’d been at the back of this line, I would have been cutting it very close! The audacity of it all was that for all this inconvenience (including quite a walk to the bus), they charged it the same amount as is usually charged on the train. Should have been FOC because of the inconvenience. Note to self, check further into the timetables.
I met Garry (aka The Tick Magnet) at Sydney Airport and we travelled together to Perth, stayed the night at a motel close to the airport,Note for those staying in the area, The Tavern (affordable menu), was “interesting”. I was the only female customer, there was one girl behind the bar, and the other girl working behind the bar was dressed in black lingerie and fishnet stockings, certainly eye catching … doubt Garry will be going back there.
Next morning, we caught a flight from Perth to Kununurra, arriving around 3pm. We then picked up our 4WD hire car – which we’d use to get out to the campsite, then it would be returned to the airport on the following day. At the end of the trip, it would be picked up from the Airport, driven back to the campsite to pack up all our gear and then take us back to the airport. It turned out this didn’t happen, but more about that later.
At Kununurra, we met up with Jim C (aka Dora the Explorer) and Bob K (aka The Boss) at the Lakeside Campground, set up our tents for the night then went off to purchase all the food that we’d need for the three weeks.
The logistics of food …
Bob had prepared a menu for dinner each night (and bought all that was needed for the menu), all we had to buy was breakfast, lunch and nibbles for the 3 weeks. Bob planned to do a “resupply” trip half-way through the three weeks and if we ran out of anything he’d be able to pick other stuff up for us. This turned out not to be possible.
As we had arrived on a Sunday, the liquor stores weren’t open, and even if they were, the limit on purchasing wine would have precluded us from having enough for the whole 18 days. Mind you only Jim and I drank alcohol, so that says a lot! A few months ago, I ordered 2 goon bags of wine delivered to Bob’s local Dan Murphy’s, he picked the wine up and transported it up to Kununurra in his caravan.
When John C (aka Santa) visited us a week into our stay, his wife Kimmy (back in Perth) insisted he bring us wine (“because they wont have enough”). As the only wine drinkers, by the time John arrived it was obvious that the goons weren’t going to last us … big thanks Kimmy! AND, when Les came back to cave with us on week 3, he bought both wine and the most delicious barramundi filets from a fish he’d caught – I’ve never eaten barramundi that was this good. Plus (for reasons you’ll soon discover), he did our re-supply shopping for us.
I was hoping to lose some weight on this trip – I mean who wouldn’t with eating camp food and exercising every day. Well, ME! Bob fed us so well that I returned to civilisation weighing more than when I left!
Travelling to the campsite …
On the Monday morning, after Garry and I had arrived, the four of us left the campground and started the 3 hour drive to the campsite (which is in a Conservation Area).
We stopped briefly at Carlton Hill Cattle station to “check in”. We’d received permission to drive through their property to get to the Conservation Area so it was polite to stop by to check in.
There were a couple of times when we had to negotiate our way through the free-range cattle.
The only part of the track that was dodgy, was this section, a load of road base had been dropped to fill the ruts, fortunately there was a “detour” that we’d used in the past so we could bypass this. Once the cattle trucks drove over this pile of road base, it would be nicely flattened out. Howevr, by the end of our 3 weeks, it was so muddy that you HAD to use the detour.
The campsite – home for the next 18 days
Bob always camps beside a creek for this annual trip. I like going to Ningbing area because of the creek, we can pump water out of it for a shower (Bob brings a shower tent), swim in the pool at the end of the day when we’re hot and sweaty, and wash our dusty cave clothes with water we pump up to the campsite.
We arrived at the campsite around 2pm, it was quite a hot day and we had to do a lot of work to set up camp. Bob’s caravan had a number of tarps for shelter, which in the coming week would be necessary as rain was predicted.
Bob had packed a hedge trimmer that we used to cut the waist-high grass at the campsite. Once the grass was cut we put up our tents.
We did all our cooking on the gas stove that Bob brought along, and he had a freezer in his 4WD, a fridge in the caravan and a cooler for vegetables. We’d also filled up about 5 x 20l goon bags with water in Kununurra. Bob had quite a bit of water in the caravan water tank too. We could use the creek water, but it would have to be treated.
We set up a trench (with a toilet over the top) for our lavatory. The toilet was about 100m from our campsite, and in an open area, this was a little nerve wracking for me walking to the toilet in the dark or at night, you had to watch out for snakes (they’re nocturnal). Was also interesting with another small group camped about 50m away, thankfully they were only there for 1 night.
The kitchen set up.
Daylight hours …
It hadn’t occurred to me that the sun would rise and set at different times to in Sydney. The refrain every night for pretty much the whole three weeks was, “what time is it?”. We usually got up around sunrise – 5.30am or thereabouts, and we’d be finished dinner by sunset – around 5.30pm. Once we’d finished washing up it was really dark, often chilly, and we were all stuffed. We were all surprised to find that it was only 6pm when we were thinking of bed, often we were in bed way before “big dog”.
Weather …
When Bob & Garry took the 4WD back to Kununurra, Bob got a weather update. Many of the roads in the area (Fitzroy River crossings & Gibb Track) were being closed with the expectation of a lot of rain. So, we prepared for the onslaught of the rain. We put up an extra tarp, that was about all we could do.
We also noticed that there was a lot of activity on the road near us. At least 3 if not 4 triple bogie trucks drove further up the road, filled up with cattle and then returned to the station. We expect this was in expectation of the roads not being passable after the rain.
On Friday 30th, it started raining around 6.30pm so we were all in our tents ready for the deluge. It rained until midnight and when we called up the locals next morning, they advised that there’d been 46mm of rain recorded in our area.
The creek was high, it had risen about 30mm!
This is where we usually crossed the creek to get to the water hole, too swift for crossing for the next two days. We had some depth measuring put in place, but it didn’t rise more than what it was that morning. Took about 3 days for the level to be back to normal.
What this meant for us, is that we were isolated for at least a week until the roads (mostly mud) dried out. However, on Tuesday John C, Donna, Steve & Les drove out to us in their 4WDs. They said the road was very “average”, lots of ruts in it, some of them 30cm in black mud. We were in awe of them but they are locals and a bit of mud wasn’t going to put them off caving! Four days after the rain, we all drove south to the 8 Mile Creek area to do some caving (normally a half hour drive but took 45 minutes), and we discovered just how bad the roads were, Bob wouldn’t be driving anywhere!
As Garry and I would be driving out at around 5am on Friday morning to catch our flight, with the roads as bad as they were, it looked like we’d have to be on the road by 4am (in the dark). Chatting over happy hour, Les came to the rescue, we decided than rather drive into Kununurra, pick up the 4WD hire car and then drive back, pack up and drive back to Kununurra, we’d cancel the hire care and Les offered to take Garry and me back to Kununurra in his vehicle. This worked well for us! Big thanks again Les.
The Creek …
One of the reasons we like to camp by the creek is that it’s 14k from the coast, and it’s assumed that whilst there might be small freshwater crocodiles in the creek (which we’d probably see because the bottom of the creek is sandy, plus they’re very shy), it’s too far upstream for saltwater crocodiles (Salties, the ones that would eat you). There’s not enough food for them as the creek’s very small and the fish are tiny!
After Garry and I had left, Jim took a walk 50m down our creek and found the skull of a crocodile. He and Bob measured it and took photos and then when they got to Kununurra, showed the photos around and what do you know, it’s a SALTY, probably swam upstream in the wet season and got stranded there, and there wasn’t enough food, OR, ate a cane toad and got poisoned. I think we’ll be a bit more vigilant about looking for crocodiles in the future.
Who would have thought? …
When Les drove us into Kununurra on the Thursday, we had a half day up our sleeves, so Les offered to take us to a “secret place”. It was a mere 15 minute drive out of town.
And a half hour of walking up hill. Look how dry the vegetation is.
At the top of a number of hills, we were looking down on the unexpected sight of Horseshoe Bend (I think the creek is called Packsaddlers but don’t quote me). Apparently, at the right time of day you can see a saltwater crocodile basking in the creek.
Garry told us that this interesting rock formation is what was once the bottom of the ocean and this pattern is caused by the waves on the sand. Looking down at the creek, it’s hard to believe the ocean was this high up.
By now we’ve walked along the creek and up many climbs and we’re above the waterfall. These are known as The Cascades. It’s still hard for me to get my head around the amount of water in this creek, we’re in desert country for goodness sake.
Garry in the distance, and more cascades. On a hot day it would be lovely just lying in the water flow.
The waterfall. Because we’re up above the waterfall, it’s a croc free zone.
Garry was up for a swim, although I was hot, I just couldn’t be bothered. Plus, we were running out of time, the sun is by now pretty low and we only had an hour to get back to the car in daylight.
Boab tree (Adansonia gregorii) – This tree was just outside of Kununurra and according to Les is the biggest specimen he’s ever seen. I think he measured it and it was 12m in circumference. You can’t see (because of the regrowth vegetation), but the tree is surrounded by its “children”, it’s a family of boabs, the seeds it has shed having grown around it. We saw quite a few boab families on the trip.
And so ended an amazing trip, I have a soft spot for Kununurra and the Ningbing area, I would love to get back there, who knows, maybe in a couple of years. Big thanks to The, Boss for organising the trip, Dora the Explorer and the Tick Magnet for their company and all the locals that joined us to go caving!
Wildflowers …
There weren’t that many wildflowers blooming, too early, but here’s what we saw …
Gidee-gidee or Crab’s eye (Abrus precatorius). We found these seed pods fairly early in the trip. I picked some and asked what they were, “oh, don’t touch those, they’re very poisonous, the Traditional Owners used to use these seeds, crushed up and put in a water hole to catch fish which would float to the top of the pool”. However, apparently the seeds are also used to make necklaces.
When Les drove in from Kununurra early in the trip he brought me some of these flowers from Rattlepod (Crotalaria L). The flowers look like birds with the white part the head and the beak. When the flowers turn to seed, and dry out, you can pick them and rattle them, I found some dried seeds last year.
Candelabra Wattle (Acacia holosericea)- in flower at the moment around the campsite, the candelabra is about 4″ long, almost 10cm.
Kapok tree (Cochlospermum fraseri) in flower. The seeds have a cotton like fibre around them, and in the old days the cotton was used to stuff pillows and mattresses.
Pink Turkey Bush (Calytrix exstipulata)
We found this grevillea on the way back to Kununurra, very nice specimens, flower stems are about 15cm long.
And we found this grevillea on the way to the waterfall on our walk with Les. I wondered if the flowers were filled with “honey”, so licked them and WOW, so much honey on them, was sticky for the rest of the day.