Sunday 6th June - 'Mt Ranford' - Kununurra 258KM (160 miles)
Awakening at 6 .30am no longer gets us up before sunrise like it did near Perth - we missed it by at least 30 minutes this morning. 3 hour journey through lush mountainous landscape - events of note included a very big bouncing kangaroo shooting accrossin from of us, meet 5 (!!) cars together coming the other way and crossing a creek that actually had an inch of water flowing accross the road! Straight into the tourist office to book our trip to the Bungle Bungles that we'd set our hearts on doing. Found a nice camp site near the town centre, feasted on beans on toast, tea and fruit cake and showered for the first time in 2.5 days! Good job we don't meet too many people along the way then! As we'd seen the brochure for Zebra Rock with Chris's photo in it we thought we'd better not miss it. Good job we didn't as we purchased a flower vase and a set of beer mats and holder for them - all beautifully formed and crafted. Got the lot posted back to Wiltshire for 135 pounds all in for everything - a bargain (especially considering that Zebra rock can only be found in this part of the world and nowhere else)! We said hello to Chris's Mum and left a message for Chris . Home to an evening of chicken fajitas (again!) and phone calls - Sue's Mum and Dad, Jayne, Donal & Rachel and John Mc. Warm tonight but the flies seem to be on holiday at the moment thank God!

Monday 7th June - Kununurra - Lake Argyle/River Ord
Up early at 6am in time for boiled eggs, toast and marmalade before catching our bus at 8am. First stop was a boat trip for 2 hours around lake Argyle which is the largest 'consistent' fresh-water lake in Oz (and 8th largest in the world). It was built very cheaply in the early 70's over 3 dry seasons. It holds enough water for every person in a world population of 6 billion to have 1500 litres each - that's a lot of water! Lake Argyle was formed by damming the Order river in 1972. Covers an area of 1000 sq kms and is the largest constructed lake in Oz and classed as an inland sea. 70km long and 40km wide. Our 2 hour boat trip this morning showed us only a very small part of the lake in the north near the dam. Of the 25,000 and 6,000 in the lake and river respectively, we saw a grand total of 3!
We first spotted some rock wallabies and then we had a look at the fish farms mainly barramundi and also silver cobbler (aka catfish) . A feeding frenzy took place when we lobbed bread over the side. Off we went to look for some freshwater crocodiles -we briefly saw one and that was it! Typical for us on this trip (though we did see a couple later on the Ord river) We dined on a huge portion of silver cobbler and chips for lunch before the trip down the river. We had pictured some kind of leisure cruise boat but what we got was more like a speed boat. We both loved it and our guide was very informative about the river's recent history and how building the dam at lake Argyle has created a totally new ecosystem in the last 30 years. Along the way we stopped to look at some black flying foxes, some crocs (at last!) and some beautiful riverside scenery. Got back at 5.30pm. Haven't had much tea as our afternoon tea on the boat was plentiful - more a feast than the famine you get at home. To cap our day off one of the bulbs in the van has gone. Still a day we both really enjoyed.

Tuesday 8th June - Another warm night again so no need for blankets never mind newly bought sleeping bags! Our big trip to the Bungle Bungles (aka Purnululu national park) Bus pickup took us to a small airstrip at Kununurra where we checked-in with about 30 others . Then we met the pilot and jumped on our 6-seater plane accross the fertile flood plain, Ord river and Lake Argyle to the Bungles. They looked great on first glance and got better after that. Sue was in the co-pilot seat on the way there - good job the pilot was conscious! The orange colour is due to the iron oxide in the rock whilst the grey part is sandstone which contains algae that act as a protective coating. Next, we went on a 3 hour hike through the gorges and rock formations of the Bungles. Thought the guide was a bit disinterested and lacking in knowledge. Had a provided salad lunch in one of the massive ampi-theatre like gorges (Cathedral Gorge). Back to the heli-pad for the next stage - our helicopter ride. Only allowed to bring meagre possessions, i.e. a camera as it got windy up there due to the fact that the doors were missing! As soon as we took off we were loving it and it was brilliant as we swooped high and low over the deep gorges and bee-hived domes in a 35 minute flight - money very well spent we agreed . No sooner were we back on the ground than it was time to board the 6-seater plane again back to Kununurra - about 1 hour and 15 minutes flying time - this time we landed without Derek feeling queasy or Claire who flew with us throwing up into the provided sick bag - quite a journey and a day! Tonight we had the worst curry in the history of cuisine - straight out of a jar it was very hot and completely flavourless - Derek still ate his but surprisingly turned downed Sue's leftovers!
The Bungles were formed over 360 million years ago and are striking bee-hive dome-shaped sandstone towers and gorges. It was only made public in 1983 and in 1987 was established as a national park - it's now a world hertiage listed site. Only 4 of us on the trip jumped on the helicopter trip but it was well worth the extra cost and was the highlight of the day - total cost $632 - about 240 pounds each.

Wednesday 9th June - Our 3rd full day here makes it the place we've stayed the longest in Oz so far . Bit of a lie-in this morning till nearly 7am! After yesterday's dash to get a new bulb to light the van's interior today was the day we had to get the windscreen replaced - the crack in in had moved another 2 inches - probably due to the heat - anyway we paid $230 to get it sorted within an hour. Whilst waiting we wandered off in seperate directions for some shopping. Derek spotted some cheap tapes so we bought 4(the Beatles, Blondie, the Byrds and Madness) greatest hits combos to enhance our mood on the road from now on. So finally we set off on our self-directed local tour about 11am. First stop was Barra Barra fruit plantation/farm where we relaxed with a couple of banana and mango 'smoothies'. We bumped into Fred and Chris again who we met 2 weeks ago on the roadside and we also ate half their dinner. They were surprised to see us as they thought (as we did then also) we'd be flying from Broome to Darwin. It was nice to chat to them again. Onwards we headed to the Ivanhoe river crossing. If it's this wet in dry season then only boats could've crossed it! On to the local 'Hoochery' distrillery which has been in operation only 4 years and produces rum and liquer for the local market. The sugar mill factory was next on the list bus as soon as we drove in we got the distinct impression that tourists were not welcome so we left in a hurry! We passed a large rock formation in flat countryside (the 'city of ruins' they call it) before stopping for a walk through the Hidden Valley national park which is also known as the 'mini Bungle Bungles'. A walk to the top of a lookout point made us realise why - similar rock to yesterday though not quite the same brilliant bee-hive like formations.