DAY 63 – A DAY TRIP TO WYNDHAM…

We wanted to be on the road just after 8am this morning as we had a few things we wanted to do today.  We were going up to Wyndham to check it out.  We had heard lots of mixed reactions about Wyndham,  some people hated it and told us it was not worth the drive and others thought it was great,  a step back in time..

We figured that since we were so close, we might be disappointed if we didn’t go.  We had a great day… Wyndham is only 100kms from Kununurra so we figured that we could do it in the morning and be back just after lunch.  

Kathy checking out the map of the area...

Steve shows us where we are ...

 We had a good drive up, stopped off at the information boards just out of town and saw the Afghan Camel Memorial, and then headed into town.  It really was a bit of a lost town.  Very old, almost turn of the century old. 

Steve's going  shopping

Not only do they have security grills and gates, then they have a roller door that comes down as well...

We stopped off at one of the Aboriginal Stores and had a look inside.  They sold everything other than food, but some of their stock was quite bizarre…  the sorts of things that weren’t really necessary or very colourful or quite blingy… Not the sorts of things you would find in an everyday store for everyday needs.  

Kathy was quite taken by these knives..

 Kathy was quite taken by a set of knives that had colourful flowers all over the blades….  I actually found a pair of shoes that I didn’t mind, but couldn’t really justify buying another pair when I already have so many pairs at home and they were a little expensive at $45 for the pair.  They were the sort that you would buy at Kmart at home for around $20.  

I did talk Steve into buying a fishing T Shirt there, and we were pleasantly surprised when he went to pay for it and the lady behind the counter told him he could have it for 50% off the marked price. 

Steve, Kathy and I with the big Croc

My turn to get up close and personal with him

 Just outside this shop was the landmark for Wyndham,  a giant crocodile in the park area.  Of course we had to all have photos taken with him.  

 

Looking across to the wharf

Checking out to see if the fishing here would be any good.

 

Hello

Enjoying a stroll out along the jetty at Wyndham

We then headed down to the town Jetty, where we went for a walk out along it to get a good view of the wharf, and fishing pontoon.  Of course Steve was always going to check this out.  We did see some fishermen returning from a morning fishing.  

 From here, we drove out to the wharf.  This wharf is still used today, mainly to send livestock across to Indonesia.  This part of town was a real revelation. 

Stockpiled wood at the wharf in Wynhdam

Stockpiled wood

Wharf Area

Wharf precinct of Town

  We did come across some lovely flowers growing wildly on the side of the road down here.  We loved them and thought they looked beautiful.  We have since found out they are weeds and a pest.  It is all in the eyes of the beholder.....

  It was as if nothing had changed from the turn of the century.  A lot of the buildings were made of corrugated iron, and still had hitching rails out the front of them.  We came across a really cool little café that actually looked like it might have been OK as we had seen several people drinking their coffee.

This coffee shop looked really good and seemed to be doing a good trade

Some of the buildings looked like they had been here from the turn of the century - still even had the hitching rails.

Town Museum

Some of the ruins from early settler days.

 Pixie’s Collectables was definitely a bit of a way out there little shop.  Just her name would indicate that it was going to be something very different.  Again, it was an old corrugated building with push out windows or iron.  This all made it very interesting…

Steve goes in and checks out Pixie's collectibles

The sad thing about Wyndham was the amount of houses that have been trashed, and the yards that were such a mess.  It was a bit of an eye opener.

One of the many trashed houses we saw in Wyndham

 We then headed up to the Five River’s Lookout, now that is Wyndham’s saving grace.  The Five Rivers Lookout sits on Wyndham’s Bastion Range at its highest point of 360 metres above the township.  What an absolutely amazing view is had from up here as you see the point where the Durack, Ord, Kink, Pentecost and Forrest Rivers meet.  The expanse of flat landscape and the scale of water is completely insane.  The Five Rivers Lookout might be a fairly drab name, but its wow factor is too hard to explain. You’ve got to see it for yourself, as it’s a sensory experience.

Views from the five rivers lookout..

 Steve managed to get some pretty good panoramic view photos also...

Views from the Five Rivers Lookout

We did stop and have our lunch up here.  Who wouldn’t want to spend time up here with views like they have.  

Lunch up at the Five Rivers Lookout

 Going to the toilet up here was a bit of an experience also, and we just had to take a photo of the sign hanging on the toilet wall.

How is this for toilet paper

We left Wyndham around 1pm to head back to Kununurra.  Steve still needed to get a gas bottle filled before we took off on the road again, and Kathy and I wanted to do a little shopping and stock up on our basics of bread, milk and a few fruit and vegetables before we were to leave in the morning.  

There were even fish in the water

The Grotto

 There were lost of burns offs happening along the side of the road and we passed several on our way home.  This would account for all the smoke and haze we saw when we were up at the Five River's lookout in Wyndham.

On our way home we decided to stop off and see “The Grotto” as it was only 2kms off the highway.   Well this was a little hidden gem.  You would have no idea it even existed as it is hidden down in a gorge and creek bed.  There were close on 200 steps to reach the bottom.   There was still plenty of water down there and lots of fish, but it really didn’t look as clean and as fresh as a lot of the other water we have seen these holidays.  I wouldn’t have swum in it.  It is really something to see in the wet season or early in the dry season when water is rushing over it and the water hole has a lot more water in it.  

Our last stop for the day before getting home was a place called “Molly Springs” which is just a little over 20kms out of Kununurra.   Now this was a nice little waterfall and swimming hole, and there were a couple of families in there enjoying the water when we pulled in. 

The car park is only about 150mtrs from the water hole, but you do have to scramble over quite a bit of rock to get to it.   We didn’t stay too long as it would be close to 3pm before we would get home and we still needed to do a few jobs and start the packing so that we could get away early again in the morning for our trek down to the Bungle Bungles.