We had arranged to meet with John and Steph at a free camp known as Ellendale Lagoon, situated on a private cattle station and a couple of hours drive south east from Derby.
It was a very picturesque spot and by lunch time we were parked at water’s edge next to John and Steph and becoming acquainted with ‘Millie,’ one of the locals.
There was abundant birdlife for Russell to identify and photograph and plentiful firewood for a camp fire that evening.
The next day saw us reaching Fitzroy Crossing which had been impassable for a couple of months due to flooding in the wet season which was then exacerbated by Cyclone Ellie. This had effectively cut northern WA off from the NT and forced traffic (including essential freight) to undertake a 7,400 km detour!
When we had left South Australia a question mark had hung over our eventual route home as there was much uncertainty about when a passable bridge could be completed. Happily though, a temporary bridge had opened literally days before we got there and it was all a bit of an anti-climax really🤣
Over the next few days we travelled steadily eastward, discovering (or rediscovering in John and Steph’s case) picturesque free camp spots and beautiful outback landscapes. We weren’t the only ones though, with Fitzroy Crossing now open, nomads were on the move and many of the free camps were quite crowded by sunset.
Our next destination was Purnululu National Park previously known as the Bungle Bungles. The park entrance is accessed via a 53 km rough 4WD track which traverses many creek crossings and is definitely not motorhome friendly! The nearest (seasonal) caravan park had not yet received the necessary permit from local landowners and so remained closed (and still is I believe) so the solution was to park up at Spring Creek free camp and spend the day in the Park with the tow cars.
The 53 kms took us two hours to traverse and necessitated occasional wading through creeks to check depth and best paths but once we arrived it was definitely worth the trip!
Purnululu National Park is World Heritage Listed and even before the 350-million-year-old, striped sandstone domes come into view you can appreciate why.
The Bungle Bungle range was only ‘discovered’ in 1983 when a (helicopter) muster pilot tipped off a TV crew in the region filming a documentary that he knew of an unusual geological feature in the area. The ranges had of course been known to the local people for much longer but their remoteness had largely kept them a secret from the rest of the world.
Huge public interest in the discovery meant that by 1987 the area was protected as part of a new national park before becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2003.
W. fitzg)
There is so much diversity in the park, from towering sandstone chasms, lush palm valleys, abundant birdlife, flora and fauna and then of course the postcard domes themselves.
Unfortunately, by the time we reached the southern part of the park and the Domes themselves, the shadows were growing long and mindful of the long drive back we made the decision to leave Cathedral Gorge for next time.
The drive back was relatively uneventful and we arrived back to camp to find the RV population at Spring Creek had virtually tripled whilst we had been out and we had a caravan almost parked on top of us 😒
On the road again the next day we headed toward Kununurra where we would spend the next few nights on the edge of Lake Kununurra.
If you are unfamiliar with the geography of this region, so was I and I had never fully appreciated the magnitude of this undertaking.
Lake Kununurra is a freshwater man-made reservoir located in the Ord River valley.
The lake was formed in 1963 by the construction of the Ord Diversion Dam which was built to supply water to the Ord River Irrigation Area. The lake stretches for 55 km upstream from the Diversion Dam towards the infinitely larger Lake Argyle dam (more on that later.)
We had a waterfront site and were set up in time to enjoy sunset and meet one of the many freshwater crocs that call the lake home. Initially it was slightly disconcerting to have a crocodile sitting about 10 metres away from our motorhome but as I became better educated about them (they are generally quite timid around humans unless acting in self defence and rarely go far on land) I figured we were safe for the time being.
Having both agreed that an opportunity to view Purnululu National Park from the air should not be missed, the next morning we were up at 4.30 am to catch the first scenic flight of the day and it did not disappoint.
We first flew over Lake Argyle, the scale of which can only be appreciated from the air. It is the largest man-made lake in the southern hemisphere.
Created by the Ord River Dam, it’s classified as an inland sea and at its peak in the wet season holds a staggering 32 million cubic metres of water. That’s more than 20 times the size of Sydney Harbour.
It was absolutely stunning and I’m afraid none of my photos do it justice.
It is widely used for recreational purposes in the dry season despite the 30,000 freshwater crocodiles estimated to inhabit it 😜
After about 45 minutes (which included flying over the actual Bow River from the Cold Chisel song) the Bungle Bungle Ranges came into view.
Once again my aerial photography is not the greatest but getting an aerial perspective after having visited on the ground was really worthwhile.
On the way back we flew over the Argyle Diamond Mine.
Rather fittingly, diamonds were discovered in the area by a female British geologist, Maureen Muggeridge, back in 1979 😉
The mine was decommissioned in 2020 but it is expected site rehabilitation will continue through to 2025.
“Argyle was at times the largest diamond producer in the world by volume (14 million carats in 2018), although the proportion of gem-quality diamonds was low. It was the only known significant source of pink and red diamonds (producing over 90% of the world’s supply), and additionally provided a large proportion of other naturally coloured diamonds, including champagne, cognac and rare blue diamonds.“
Despite the considerable outlay for this flight we both felt we had gotten great value for the $$ spent and we happily headed back to have breakfast.
Next up, billabongs and birdlife ….