Going West

We crossed camel creek, big mabel creek, honey bee creek, weaner creek and dead horse spring today.

We are camped in a free camp by the side of the road with a number of other travellers and will head in to the bungle bungles tomorrow morning. We had hoped to stay there tonight, but it was just too far from lake Argyle. We arrived in the dark and could find our way to the toilet by smell. It is just a cement pedestal over a hole. The kids are hanging on...

I made tuna casserole tonight with powdered milk, dehydrated peas and corn, pasta and tinned tuna. The only thing I used that needed refrigeration was the butter.  They all liked it, so that's good.

I had a lovely day, driving all the way from Lake Argyle.  The rugged red mountains in that area were spectacular.  Kununurra was a bit of a dive, but apparently it only began to house people building the lake, which finished being built in 1971. Most people live outside town on farms. One thing I found interesting was how many houses, old and new designs, were built entirely from corrugated iron. Looked incredibly hot, but they must use a lot of insulation.

Lake Argyle - the view from our caravan

 We met Steve this morning at the caravan park and he has moved over to Kununurra from just near Auckland to help his brother-in-law on his farm.  They grow chia seeds, among other things.  It sounded like hard work. Hel hasn't had a day off for months, and he works 12 hour days.  Nadine really enjoyed playing with his daughter Bethany. They go to an AOG church in Kunumurra.

View of the Lake Argyle Dam Wall

In Kununurra we found a sandwich shop that was open and had some hamburgers for lunch. Cooper needed the loo, and the toilet in the centre is locked, with the key held by a shop not open Saturday afternoons. I was directed across the car park to a heavily security grilled fried chicken place. In I went, Cooper in tow. Their toilets were locked too, and when I asked the Asian girl behind the counter if she would mind if Cooper used the facilities, she looked like I'd asked to fly to the moon. Toilets are very precious here in Kununurra! So she grabbed the key and went to unlock the male toilet for Cooper, but I protested and she again looked like I was asking a lot, but unlocked the female toilet for me. I don't know what happens to the toilets if they are left unlocked, but they were pretty foul for all the protection they got. Cooper decided he was going to have a 'sit', so about ten minutes later we snuck out the door, back to our lunch.

While we were eating, Mike and Linda said hello.  They were the couple from Victoria point in Queensland that we met a few nights ago at another free camp spot. We'd already bumped into them that morning at Lake Argyle.  Then in the supermarket, stocking up on fresh fruit and veg again, we ran into Anne-Marie and David, the couple whose caravan had lost a wheel 174km east of Kununurra yesterday.  They told us a bit more of their story - the tow truck didn't get to them until 7pm last night, and then they had to drive the 174kms to Kununurra. They had waited for hours in the heat with their three girls with very little water, because they'd used up a lot that they were carrying to put out the grass fire that started when the hot bearings sheared off their caravan.  The wind was blowing in the direction of the car and they had thought they would lose everything, even the car. Anne-Marie was very shaken by the whole thing and not sure how they were going to get the van fixed and home to the gold coast in a week.

So we took a little while to get through Kununurra and hence we are here by the road.
There was even a little rain tonight but nothing to worry about, I hope.
The scenery through this part of WA is quite different from the red mountains around Kununurra, here they are more grassy, or look like piles of stones from a mine.  A slag heap.  A few we passed looked like sleeping dragons, with spikes along the ridge, and rocky scales all over them.  One looked like they'd buried a giant and left his big toe sticking out the top.
Occasionally there are also some Brahman cattle wandering around beside the road, and you have to be careful in case they prefer the grass on the other side!