May 14-15 – Kununurra

Monday May 14th and Cammy awoke before sunrise to his balloon surprise. A bit of fun and we cooked some pancakes as a special birthday breakfast. Our plan was to skip El Questro and head into Kununurra. Basically from ElQ’s front gate, the bitumen starts so it was easy going.

Before the bitumen though, there were two river crossings to ford – Durack River first which was straightforward and then the iconic Pentecost River which was pretty smooth sailing as well. Both very much in saltwater croc country though so the preference is to not make a simple mistake.

The east Kimberley landscape is very beautiful with cliffs and escarpments and steep gorges cutting deep into the ranges. After a week…?…or 8 or 9 days….(we’ll have to do a count-back) on the Gibb we eventually got back on the bitumen and got the tyres pumped back up to proper pressure. A few photos at the eastern end of the Gibb and we drove off down the highway and back to the big smoke – well….Kununurra anyway.

After a stop in the park we shopped around for some accommodation – hoping for a cabin to kick back for a few days and let Cammy enjoy his birthday with restaurant choices and a tv and a pool to play in. Very busy with the Ord Valley Muster on but we got a cabin and explored around town. Some shopping was done, a few festive drinks purchased and a few options for a birthday dinner investigated. Then a quick lunch at the pub and we were done in town. Cam chose pizza for dinner and we had a fun night. Happy Birthday Cam!

On Tuesday we took it slow catching up on school work and generally pottering around. Kununurra came alive in the afternoon when sirens were heard – a big scrub fire on the edge of town, plus a car on the highway not far from us managed to lose control and take out a light pole. Then a scenic flight from Kununurra over the Bungles crash landed and five injured people were flown back to town. All within about an hour. The three boys made good use of the pool having withdrawals from gorge swimming every day a pool was the next best thing.  The car wash bay also got a very red stain as the hilux got a long overdue washdown.