9th July - 14th August

We spent 9 days in Kununurra which we really enjoyed - lots to see and do. We then headed straight to Darwin with just two overnight stops as we had organised to fly back to Perth for 12 days - I needed a Grandma fix. We had a great time in Perth mainly catching up with the family, but didn't enjoy the cold weather. We needed a few days after returning to Darwin to thaw out. We were in Darwin for another week, and then travelled south about 80 km to Tumbling Waters caravan park, near to Berry Springs.




Hidden Valley national park in Kununurra

Ivanhoe crossing which used to be the main road to Wyndham

Some people have a death wish - there are crocs in that water

Brian at Ivanhoe Crossing

We took a two hour flight out of Kununurra which went over the Argyle Dam, Lake Argyle, Purnululu and the Argyle diamond mine.

Our Cessna

Ord River dam

Bungle Bungles

Argyle diamond mine

Lake Argyle

Ord River irrigation scheme - Stage I

We did a river cruise which first took us by coach 70 km to the Ord River dam where we transferred to a boat which took about 48 people and had two Yamaha 5.7 litre 4 stroke outboards and the boat was capable of 65 km per hour, but we were only doing 55 - still fun!

Overlooking Lake Argyle

On the boat cruise down the Ord River to Lake Kununurra

We stopped for afternoon tea along the river - fresh pumpkin scones and carrot cake - very good. This natural rock formation needs to be viewed at a particular time of day - hope you can all work out what it looks like.

Sunset over Lake Kununurra at the end of the boat cruise - great day

We visited a wetland area just south of Wyndham called Parry's Lagoon which was fantastic. Lots of bird life and a small saltie. We spent about 2 hours in the bird hide here.

Whistling ducks taking off - the noise was awesome

A great boab tree

We arrived in Darwin on 20 July before flying back to Perth on 22 July. We were able to store the car and van at the caravan park.

On return to Darwin we visited a lot of the WWII museums, etc. There is a lot of history and we were amazed at the actual number of bombings that Darwin suffered



The Aviation Heritage Museum housed a B52 bomber which virtually took up the entire hanger (which was purpose built). There were lots of smaller planes and memorabilia surrounding the B52. Well worth a visit






WWII oil storage tunnels under Darwin. By the time they were completed the war was over

The diesel in this tunnel would get us around Australia a few times - 38,475 million litres

While we were in Darwin there was a welcome home parade for the Defence Forces from Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor. Steve and Ann, a couple we met on the road, were in Darwin as Ann's son had just returned from Afghanistan and he was in the parade. It was the first welcome home parade for our Defence Forces since WWII.

From Darwin we headed about 80 km south to Tumbling Waters caravan park - very peaceful and we are enjoying it. We booked for 3 days and ended up staying a week. Nearby is the Territory Wildlife Park which is absolutely fantastic and worth a visit - we spent over five hours there. Also nearby is Berry Springs Nature Reserve which is a natural spring forming three separate pools - water is the perfect temperature for just cooling off and the setting is very beautiful. We have spent a couple of days there floating around on our noodles - a great invention.

This is a man made monsoon at the wildlife park - hoping we don't experience the real thing

A small Wedge Tail Eagle at the wildlife park

Brian under the waterfall at Berry Springs











Ditto Helen








Heading off to Litchfield National Park tomorrow, then Kakadu and Katherine.

We will try to blog a bit more regularly, but from here to Queensland we may not have a lot of coverage.