Locations: Victoria River, Saddle Camp, Timber Creek, Kununurra, Wyndham

Regions: Katherine NT,

Dates: Saturday 27 July – Sunday 28 July 2024

Temperatures: 18 – 34 degrees, sunny, overcast, scattered showers.

Saturday 27 July 2024

Katherine to Saddle Rest Stop 339 km’s (100 East of Kununurra).

Total Trip kilometre’s: 4144

Temp 19 – 31 overcast, some showers

We set off about 9am with a longish day driving. Not far out of Katherine on the Victoria Highway west we pass several convoys of army vehicles.

The landscape is dry with sparse trees and termite mounds. I look up and see a Bustard right on the side of the road, on the left! Darn missed getting a picture. He was a big one too. Not long after on the other side of the road I see two more. Missed again!

As we approach Judbarra NP it starts to drizzle and we see puddles in the roadside. The air becomes sweetly scented by the native grassland, trees and a hint of ozone. Escarpments rise majestically as we come into Victoria River and the views are breathtaking beautiful. The teasing rain bringing the outback colours of ochre, russet, yellow and green to life and we start to see lots of Boab trees

We cross the Victoria River Bridge and stop at the Roadhouse to admire the ranges around us.

We continue on as we have for another 100kms or so to our camp for the night, Saddle Rest stop

We stop again just past Victoria River as the landscape is one escarpment after another and the views are non stop. The dry land has returned to grassland with many trees small and tall and some of the Boab trees are double, some triple with the girth of a small silo and the Victoria River is beside us on the right.

The rest stop when we arrive is nearly full but we fortunately find a spot and our backdrop is yet another towering escarpment.

Rob gets out the Starlink to watch the Lions v Gold Coast in the second Q Clash for the season and I bake a loaf of bread and some sourdough crackers while we watch the game. A win for the Lions 🦁 yay! Eighth in a row I think?

Dinner is a pasta and salad as I use up the last of our fresh vegetables before the border crossing tomorrow.

Sunday 28 July 2024

Saddle to Kununurra 110 km’s

Total trip km’s: 4154

Temperature: 16 – 28

A hot night, eventually cooling with a breeze around 4:30am and we wake up to a cool drizzle gray morning. Not what I expected for up here.

We have a leisurely start with coffee, bacon and eggs before doing a final check on all things fruit and vegetables and I find a packet of slightly dried “fresh” basil hiding in the fridge. Darn I could have used that last night in the pasta sauce! Oh well.

We set off and the escarpment we were parked under continues for some way and morning showers again bring all the colours to life.

We cross into WA and the border quarantine check is quick and easy.

The only thing I didn’t think about was some frozen Thyme in the freezer which is a no no due to the woody stem. The officer appreciates my efforts though so no fine thankfully and then she offers us an extra 1.5hours today due to the time change!

Our first views on Kununurra are a Croc Wise sign and then a wetland as we come into town

We are staying in Kununurra for four nights as Rob has organise two tours, one to Mitchell Falls and a second to the Bungle Bungles. We check in, then do groceries and return and set up the van and as it’s still not quite midday decide to drive to Wyndham, another 200km’s there and back for the afternoon.

Wyndham is a port town in the gulf and the juncture of five rivers and we are told well worth a visit.

Molly Springs

22km from Kununurra towards Wyndham and down a rough 3km track is a lovely spot to swim with a little waterfall. Rob swims then gets out to take photos and moments after I get out of the water a fellow in the water start screaming “snake in the water”! Rob manages to get a photo when it clears the water at the tree just behind me in the third photo below and it looks like a brown!

Oh the fun of the outback!

We continue on and our next stop is The Grotto, a waterhole surrounded by 80m vertical cliffs. It has 140 stone and concrete steps you can take down to view it and of course we do. Imagining all the while what it would look like with waterfalls around all sides during the wet.

The Grotto

Back in the car, Rob and I both find an odd similarity in the landscape with Scotland! The road undulates through soaring hills that are sparse and dry, similar to some of the valleys we passed through in Scotland on the West 500 in 2019. The difference is the lack of wet green that you see in Scotland but it’s still eerily familar?

Maggie’s Valley

Approaching Wyndham we come around a bend and into a stunning Valley known as Maggie’s Valley. I can see why she loved it here so much.

The Big Croc

We arrive Wyndham and find the big croc! What a beauty!

The Big Boab

This tree is over 2000 years old!

Wyndham Port

Our next stop is Wyndham Port. Gazetted in 1886 the port serviced the cattle industry and gold prospectors and at one point was home to the biggest abattoir in the Southern Hemisphere at the time.

Five Rivers Lookout

Our next and last stop on our whistle stop tour of Wyndham today is the Five Rivers Lookout and a must see if you visit the area. The lookout is high with nearly 360 degree views of the surrounding area and it’s stunning with views over the Ord, Durack, Forrest, King and Pentecost Rivers.

A great place for sunset but very overcast today.

Wow we have had a busy weekend and we are both delighted by what we’ve seen so far of the Kimberley and we are both looking forward to our tours this week very much.

We hope you all had a good weekend too. Stay safe and take care of each other.

Love Maryann and Rob xx