Kununurra

We had been looking forward to arriving in Kununurra! And here we were! Finally! The town itself was smaller than we thought it was and was not as caravan friendly as we thought it was going to be. However we were just glad to arrive and booked in for the weekend at Ivanhoe Caravan Park. Beautiful pool there and a place to catch up on washing and cooking and shopping.

The first place we went to see on the weekend was Lake Kununurra. Lake Kununurra is actually part of the damned Ord River. It does not have Saltwater crocodiles in it as they try to keep them out of the damned section. It does have plenty of Freshwater crocodiles though. We planned to hire a boat out on the Lake but it never eventuated. We simply enjoyed its shores, bird life and fish.

BUTTONS CROSSING

After spending the weekend in Ivanhoe Caravan Park we looked for a place we could spend a couple of weeks in for free camping. We found this beautiful spot called Buttons Crossing, 25 minutes from Kununurra. The reviews for the camp spot were really good except for the constant mentioning of a really big saltwater crocodile that was in the place. We decided to go anyway and remain vigilant.

The spot was very beautiful. We camped on a rocky beach by the river, keeping in line with the Crocwise awareness campaigns that recommended staying 5 metres away from the River. The birdlife was amazing! Rainbow Bee Eaters, Herons, Stony Curlews, Kingfishers, Kites, Ospreys, and some strange huge bird that we could not find the name for. There were lots of beautiful stones there, very red ones, some green ones. A Zebra stone was found there as well.

We stayed at this camping spot for 10 days. Most of the campers we talked to had seen the crocodile and some described him as 3 metres, some as 5 metres, but all of them described him as huge!

We were pretty keen to see him and the first opportunity was when Gerson took Priscilla to the toilet tent in the middle of the night. The Crocodile, who we named Crunch, was sitting there with its eyes out of the water looking at our caravan. Gerson tried to convince Priscilla to do a bush wee closer to the caravan, but she wouldn’t, so he took her to the toilet tent and the Crocodile followed him. This caused no end of excitement the next morning.

The next night was the same. The Crocodile would sit and watch us from the middle of the river. This was towards the end of our stay there and at this point we were very ready to leave the place. He watched us for four nights in a row and then we left to head into the Northern Territory, none too sorry to leave our Crocodile friend, especially as it appeared he was stalking us and we often had to get water from the river for washing and cleaning.

Molly Springs

Only a short 25 minute drive from Buttons Crossing was Molly Springs. It was a small little place with a very cute swimming hole and little waterfall. But very child friendly. A short walk to the spring and easy for kids to swim in. It was here that the kids had a scary adventure. Ezra nearly stepped on a long, black snake right in the middle of the pathway. He froze in his steps and motioned to the rest of us to stop. Hadassah, Ezra and Priscilla all stayed very still although very frightened. I (Catherine) was quietly reminding them what to do when confronting a snake (we had often gone over this scenario) and hoping that they all managed to stay still and quiet until the snake went away. The snake was slowly looking and making his way closer to the side of the pathway. He did turn around at one point and started to head towards the feet of Priscilla. I was a little concerned Priscilla would lose her courage and panic and start to scream and cry, however she simply whimpered and thankfully (Ezra and myself were praying) the snake turned its head and made its way back up the bank. We were very grateful and the kids were given lots of congratulations on their mature dealing of the situation.

Mirima National Park

Just two minutes drive from Kununurra is Mirima National Park. It has some interesting little walks in it. No water holes or waterfalls, but it is somewhat similar to the Bungle Bungles with its rock shapes and formations. We explored all of the walks in a couple of hours. At the end of two of the walks there was a good view of the town of Kununurra.

El Questro Station

Another place that we were very much looking forward to seeing was El Questro Station! El Questro Station is located at the beginning of the Gibb River Road, Kununurra side. The Station’s wilderness park is famed for its beautiful gorges. Unfortunately, a lot of the walks and gorges are very long and therefore only a few of them are family friendly. We went to explore the place on a Sunday and arrived early. Our plan was to complete Emma Gorge and Amaliah Gorge, both of which were about 1.5 – 2 hours long and you did not have to take the creek crossing, which you can only go through if you have a snorkel on your car. Our car did not have a snorkel. You can park your car and walk an extra kilometre, however this was not going to be achievable in the one day plan we had.

We started off with Emma Gorge, the day being quite hot already. A large part of the walk was unshaded and climbing over rocks and sand. We had brought a good amount of water, which was fortunate as it was consumed very quickly by everybody. There was some complaining along the way from the kids because of the heat and it took effort to keep everybody’s spirits up. The closer we got to the gorge, however the more tropical and rainforest-like it became with some bigger pools of water forming along the creek. The people coming from the Gorge would be encouraging everybody along the way, letting them know that the reward at the end of the journey was worth the walk. This cheered us all and reminded us of heaven and how sometimes the journey to heaven can get hard and tiresome, but it will all be worthwhile at the end of the journey.

We could hear the falls as we were almost there and the last part of the walk was the hardest. When we turned the corner, there it was! One of the most beautiful rock faces and rock pools we had ever seen! The water was cold but because we were all so hot the water was just a refreshing delight!

We all plunged in and just had the most wonderful time there. When our bodies began to feel the cold we went to the side of the rock gorge where there was a hot waterfall coming out of a hot spring. The hot water ran into a little pool that we could put Priscilla and Sophia in to paddle around in and keep warm. It was a most amazing experience.

We did not want to leave but eventually the sun was creating shade and we wanted to visit the other gorge, however by the time we got back to the start of the walk we realised that Amaliah Gorge was not going to be attempted that day with the tiredness and grumpiness of the little ones. That was going to have to be the end of our El Questro experience. Definitely something we will attempt when the kids are all much older and we can do all the wonderful gorges at that beautiful place!