Wyndham

 10 – 19 August 2022

We left Lake Argyle and drove back into Kununurra where we did some shopping and refuelled before having a picnic lunch at the Celebrity Tree Park. We then returned to the Victoria Highway and continued onto the Great Northern Highway into Wyndham. We found the caravan park and selected an unpowered spot with plenty of shade, but which we found later wouldn’t be so great for solar.

The caravan park manager gave Mick some information about local birdwatching spots so we made a fairly early start in the morning and were delighted to see the resident brolgas having a  bit of a dance near our camp. It was quite a treat to see this behaviour close up while eating our breakfast. 

After the morning’s entertainment we set off for the King River Road where there are a number of birdwatching spots along the river. After stopping at a number of these we continued on to the Prison Boab Tree. This is one of a number of boabs that were used as “lock-ups” by police when transporting aboriginal prisoners to Wyndham for sentencing. This grand old tree is a stark reminder of the harsh treatment Australia’s First Nations people.

The next morning we set off earlier to revisit the best spot on the river and Mick spent around two hours sitting quietly hoping for some great shots. On our way back along King River Road we turned off to visit Moochalabra Dam. There is a small picnic area with just a couple of tables but no toilets, and a lookout over the dam. We didn’t stay long, then drove back down the road and stopped to have a look at some Aboriginal rock art. This involved a short scramble up and then a walk along a rock shelf. Mick continued the scramble along the ledge. There is lots of art, including Wandjina Spirit ancestors, but no interpretative information. Much of it is faded and the overpainting made it difficult to identify individual pictures. It was, however, still worth the short detour and climb.

We returned to town via a shortcut across the mud flats – perfectly dry at this time of year. Late in the afternoon we drove up to the Five Rivers Lookout. At 330 metres above sea level this lookout provides a spectacular view of the five rivers -  King, Ord, Durack, Forrest and Pentecost – that flow into the Cambridge Gulf. It is hard to imagine what it would look like in the wet season!

On Saturday morning Mick went out early for a look around town for the Gouldian Finches that had been seen the day before. He did find them but didn’t get the perfect shot. The afternoon was hot - 36°- so a swim was in order. Thankfully the nights had been more pleasant. Mick made contact with a local who takes people to a water point and hide he had set up and arranged to go there on Tuesday morning so our original 3 nights on an umpowered site has turned into a week with power.

Mick arranged to meet another birder on Sunday morning to try to find the Gouldians again. It wasn't terribly successful, but after a quiet morning they headed out again in the afternoon. The Gouldians were about, but not well posed for photos unfortunately.

On Monday morning we drove out to Marlgu Billabong and were the only ones there - apart from a wonderful variety of birds. We had left it relatively late, and the light was a bit harsh for photography but it was still a great place to sit in the hide and observe the activity.

We left the billabong and set the GPS to take us to Telegraph Hill. That was a mistake! She had us driving on some very dodgy tracks - and in the completely wrong direction. We eventually found our way to the hill and the remains of the telegraph station. There is a short walk around the ruins and fabulous views of the billabong and wetland below.

There is a very good bakery in Wyndham and we had already sampled their fresh bread, bread rolls and cakes so trying out the pies was a must do. Mick settled for the breakfast pie - steak, bacon and egg - while I just had to have the garlic barramundi. Both pies were delicious and I was particularly surprised by the large quantity of big chucks of fresh barra. Yum!

On Tuesday morning Mick was up early - again - to go out to the Gouldian finch spot with "Bushy" (by name and nature) and another birder we had met at the caravan park. The finches were there as promised and Mick arrived home with lots of photos to go through.

After a lovely seven day stay in the caravan park in town, we headed off for a couple of nights at Parry Creek Farm, out of town and close to Marlgu Billabong. We stopped for some suppplies and arrived mid-morning. Despite the great reviews we were a little disappointed - after a lovely shady, grassy park, the dry dusty sites with little shade convinced us we had made the right decision in spending most of our time in town. To add to the disappointment the restaurant was fully booked for one night and the other was the chef's night off so only one menu item would be available. 

Because we were relatively early, we were able to get a spot with a bit of dappled shade for some of the day, although it was still very hot. We took a walk around the billabong, inlcuding along the elevated walkway before retreating to the shade created by the trailer.

During the night we could see the glow of a fire nearby and we woke to a very hazy, smoky morning. We drove down to Marlgu Billabong and along some of the many tracks the criss-cross the area, looking for particular birds. Mick spotted some on the road from the caravan park and again on one of the tracks. 

We finally left the billabong and headed in to Wyndham to fuel up and buy some extra supplies for our journey along the Gibb River Road.