All 4 one and one 4 all

2022 – travelling to Northern Territory and WA

Day 14 – It was ‘Ord’some

Today, our travels went from being in the air to traversing land and water.

We began the day with a trip to the Sandlewood Shop and Cafe. The day before, we flew over these farms. Sandlewood trees require host trees for nutrients and to speed up their maturing.

Sandlewood crop

We all enjoyed a lovely brunch and Donna and I enjoyed some shopping both before and after our meal. What can I say? We were enticed back twice!

The bacon and egg wrap was delicious. The day before the cafe had been closed – no staff!
We bought a few items!

We stopped at Kelly’s Knob and climbed the smaller part. It was drizzling rain so did require some careful treading.

Good view despite the weather
Wayne was a bit nervous at the top

We joined the Triple J Ord River Discoverer with sunset tour. We were picked up in a very comfortable coach and driven the 70km to the Argyle Homestead Museum.

The resident bower bird’s nest
The Durack’s trip from Qld was quite incredible. They left in 1879 with 7250 cattle and 200 horses and arrived in 1882, losing half their cattle.

The bus then drove to the dam wall of Lake Argyle and the upper end (highest point) of the Ord River.

Lake Argyle
Hydro electric station
Fascination!

We joined the boat and our tour guide, Grant and began our 55km cruise back to Kununurra. The first 15km was an exhilarating ride through the narrowest section. It was freezing so each of us grabbed a blanket to help shield ourselves from the elements.

Wayne was very rugged-up – can you tell he doesn’t like being cold?

Every now and then we stopped and became ‘birdos’ as they were the main wildlife. Freshwater crocodiles were scarce due to the colder waters from 4 days of overcast weather.

Amazing rock formations
If you look closely, the rock formation at the left looks like a horse feeding

At one stage, we parked at the side of the river and Grant gave an in-depth talk about the Ord River system and its conception.

The map went up and down several times as Grant gave an information-packed session
A woven nest beside the parked boat
A smaller version of our boat whizzing by

Further upstream, we enjoyed an afternoon tea of pumpkin scones and sticky date cake with a welcome cup of steaming tea or coffee.

Look closely to see the shape of a digger and slouch hat
Where are Donna and Wayne?

We continued towards Kununurra, making frequent stops and nipping into a little estuary. We spotted a couple of freshwater crocs but they were little and elusive. We also saw an amazing rock wallaby.

Another bird

Closer to town, we stopped to view Elephant Rock

Elephant Rock – look at the right-hand side to see an eye and trunk.

Finally we came to a halt in time to view the sunset, which unfortunately only just peeked through. Another sunset cruise without the sunset.

We wanted to eat out but the only place available for dinner was the Kununurra Pub and it was totally booked out. We couldn’t even get a park. We went to Coles and got ingredients for Spaghetti Bolognese and settled for cooking in-house. It was an ‘Ord’some day!

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