Kununurra and Wyndham

Campground 1: Cockburn Rest Area
Facilities: Toilet, Picnic benches under shelter, Dump point.
Good stuff: It’s free… The first time there we went it was quiet with a few grey nomads stopping off here too.
Not so good stuff:  The second time people hooning around the rest area at various times throughout the night, groups congregating with loud music, shouting and generally not being considerate but hey at least it was free… You can also get a bit of noise from trucks as it is by a major turn off but it isn’t too bad in that respect.
Price: FREE

Campground 2: Hidden Valley Caravan Park

Facilities: Toilet, Showers, Potable water, Powered sites, Laundry, Camp kitchen, Rubbish bins.

Good stuff: Relatively close to town.

Not so good stuff:  Odd feel about the place with the majority of the people there being residential or backpackers. The unpowered camping area is pretty uneven and all the shady spots are taken by long timers.  

Price: $28 per night for two adults. 

After a week or so of sleepless nights from fruit bats flapping and squawking and dingoes howling all night (which is bad complaining about hearing nature… but shush, it’s sleepy time) to people rocking up playing loud music, shouting whilst drunk and hooning it around a rest areas as well as hot temperatures at night- it was time to get a good nights sleep! We reluctantly checked into the Hidden Valley Caravan Park but it had everything we needed- especially a shower! Our hygiene standards had subsided dramatically since leaving Bell Gorge and our stench from only a week without a shower was rather pungent. Damn you heat! It was an odd place but the main issue was that backpackers congregated in the camp kitchen until quiet time making it their home for hours on end so it was hard to get some room to cook and some people don’t like to clean up after themselves- think student kitchen. The good thing was that unlike some places the backpackers here abide by the rules and dead on 9:30pm it was quiet. Happy times.

Kununurra is a hub for those going to Purnululu NP, travelling into or out of WA to/from NT and also the last place to get cheap supplies before heading West on the Gibb River Road. Their top end product to buy is the famous pink Argyle diamond! However, a 1 carat pink diamond is a little out of our price range at $1 million! Looking and admiring on the other hand doesn’t cost a thing. We aimlessly walked around Kununurra checking out the lookout points and having a good old nose around the place, it is generally a nice little town.

The lookout point at Kelly's Knob... Kununurra in the foreground.

Wyndham is like Kununurra’s neglected cousin who was forced to live in the basement. Their fire risk sign still has moderate on the display; normally they go from low to high risk and then so on! This one must have missed the Australia wide update from 1990. The Anton's Landing jetty is meant to be a hotspot for barramundi and is quite a substantial jetty over the muddiest water we have ever seen. No crocodiles were seen on this occasion! Our favourite spot here was the Five Ways lookout where you can see five rivers merge into one massive river that is impressive in itself. Oh and it is also home of the big croc (made of concrete) as you come into town.

One of the many massive rivers at the Five Points lookout...

...and you can also see that people have been creative with their doughnuts in these parts! 

Our highlights whilst in this area were going to the Ivanhoe River Crossing and heading to the Hoochery Distillery. We just had to try some of the rum but out of the 3 tasters we had (2 being rum and the other a liquor), the cane sugar liquor was our favourite. Their famous Ord River Rum cake was outstanding and the portion wasn’t too bad either! We would recommend getting a slice of the rum cake and the Cane Liquor cheesecake, a full slice of each was too much but half each was perfect-yes we are fatties.

Ivanhoe River Crossing which was unfortunately closed...

...but we saw a croc at least.

Cake and Cheesecake, need we say more.

And finally… it was coming up to the end of our 4^th month on the road, so it had to go out with a bang! Literally, when the batteries in Kyle’s head torch exploded luckily he wasn’t wearing it at the time. So 4 months in and 4 warranty claims- not bad!