Thurs, 16th June, 2022 Bush camp by King River (near Prison Boab), south-west of Wyndham to Bush camp by Ord River below Ivanhoe Crossing, Kununurra, WA (The Grotto & Lily Lagoon etc)

Not as cold this morning - 6am 22 degrees, nice. The tide is out again and the wind is back.

Packed up - 8am the tide is pushing back up. I missed when it turned!

Continued south down the King River Road which according to our map will connect back with the Gibb River Road. Unfortunately that track doesn’t exist any more. The Karunjie Track (an old stock route) starts here and is a ’4WD’ track (not maintained) that goes across to the Pentecost River but we will skip that. The other track leads to the station which is closed.

We turned around and headed back across the crossing and back towards Wyndham. Back across the salt lake - looking towards the hills around Wyndham.

Onto the Great Northern Highway heading south with the Erskine Range on our right.

Passed the turn-off into the other end of the old Halls Creek road. Across Grotto Creek then turned off and up the hill and around to the car park for The Grotto. It is a lovely waterfall just after the wet season apparently and still has a deep pool of water below it.

Had a cuppa and sat on the seats Mother Nature provided to enjoy the view and watch others make their way down the 140 steps to the bottom of the gorge.

The area has just been burnt off as there are a few trees below that are still smouldering. Read the info then headed to the top of the falls which is just black rock now. Tiered fall down to the pool.

Further around, Steve hung onto me as I leaned over for a photo of the pool below. Then back to the top of the falls. Quite a long pool area too.

Now for the steps.

Mrs Pigeon waited patiently on the rock for us to pass.

Interesting rock layers - thick then very thin layers stacked together. Only some modern ‘art’ on the walls.

Down to the pool. Steve climbed around on the ledge.

The water is cold so I won’t be going in for a dip. Bit rocky here to enter so you have to go around to the smooth ledges where the rope swings are. Chatted with a lady that had just finished the Gibb and she said the road wasn’t too bad. Watched her husband and kids swing from the rope and they all agreed it was cold water.

Little quails darted quickly between rocks as the whistling kites circled above looking for a cooked meal from the fire. Walked to the other side. Amazing boab growing up there.

Climbed back up. Plenty of yellow blooms on this tree. Forgotten what they are called already!

Back to the truck when the couple opposite us at Hidden Valley Van Park stopped by to say hello. Can’t miss us in a crowd. They are staying in Kununurra and were heading to Wyndham for a look.

Back down to the main road. The range continues.

Past the turn off onto the Gibb River Road though it actually when up to Wyndham as the ‘beef road’. It is bitumen now to El Questro Station so the adventure begins after that on the corrugation etc.

Past the turn off onto the road to Halls Creek which we have travelled over before. There is a rest area here which might be our first stop after topping up in Kununurra so we have the most time at El Questro as it is not cheap to stay there and you have no choice if you want to see the gorges etc there.

Past the turn offs for Molly and Valentine Springs - will do them on our way out to the Gibb.

Interesting name for the range of hills we are travelling beside - Bandicoot. I wonder what the history is behind that name. There is a Flying Fox Waterhole too - not a good place to go by that name.

Across the Dunham River.

We turned down Packsaddle Road which travels south on the west side of the Ord River. More farming area using the irrigation channels. You are supposed to see an ‘elephant head’ on a hill further over and from the park in town it is supposed to look like a ‘sleeping buddah’. Whether it is the trees blocking the views for the right place or we don’t have a good enough imagination that the only spot we could see the hill clearly it certainly didn’t look like a elephant. Oh well it was a nice drive.

Turned around and headed back out. Across the Diversion Dam. Will stop and check out the park beside it for more information. One of the irrigation channels.

Passed the airport that we landed at briefly in April on our flight back to Darwin. It was great flying in over all the farming land. One good thing about the new ‘drone’ age is the fabulous chance to view the land from above without needing to hire a plane or helicopter, but I don’t think I can be bother with all that technology - my photos will do me.

Around to Celebrity Park again for lunch. Uploaded my blog and FB updates though the internet was very slow so I only get a day done at a time. Wandered down to the boat ramp. The water is very clear. Lots of weed and a few fish.

Steve spotted a chap who walked down and fed this freshwater croc on the bank below the van park.

Sad to see all the rubbish around the viewing platform and the sign says about keeping the waterways clean. Obviously the trees have grown since they did this sign about the Sleeping Buddah. Can only see his fat belly from here.

Info about the dam - the rocky crossing is called Bandicoot too, the same as the hills we passed.

Wandered around the trees checking out the plaques and the names of the celebrities that planted them. This very unusual boab (adansonia gregorii) was planted by Better Homes & Gardens in Aug 2019. Dame Mary Durack planted this one (terminalia bulu) in Aug 1984. There was one planted by Harry Butler.

View across the end of the lake to Mt Cyril and Kellys Knob.

Made a cuppa and sat on the rock slabs as there aren’t any seats in the park. Rang Kaylene for a chat.

Popped into Coles for a few more fruit and vegies but the afternoon isn’t a good time as there wasn’t much. Will pop back in tomorrow morning and hopefully we will beat the ‘tourist’ rush. Filled up with diesel again, still $2.049 at the card place whereas the servo had climbed to $2.20.

Headed out to Ivanhoe Crossing then turned off on the other side before you climb out of the river floodplain. Followed a track, that Steve walked first, down to a rocky clearing beside the water. The river splits around an island so this is the side shoot.

No one else here. Just below some rapids so have our running water sound again.

Walked up a bit onto a rocky section. The water coming in is from the smaller crossing. Got a car driving across.

Further along the track I came to where the other water was flowing in from the smaller causeway. Looks like they drive across to the island.

I left the phone in the truck connected to the aerial and got a call from Louis. He is in Emerald for work so we had a lovely long chat with him. Jon rang too. Doing well, nearly 2 weeks gone from the 4 weeks stint and he is still enjoying it and Annalise is doing well too.

Cool air descending as soon as the sun set at 5pm.

Closed the main windows but there is a cold breeze flowing in from the pop-top windows so I closed up the bedroom ones. 10pm down to 16.7 degrees.