Kununurra
Trip Start
Dec 23, 2007
1
23
47
Trip End
May 30, 2008
Kununurra,
Australia
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Kununurra is an Aboriginal name meaning 'the meeting of big waters'. I stayed 2 nights at the Kimberley Croc YHA. Arriving late on the first afternoon, I just relaxed and didn't do my exploring until the following day. I headed off north toward Wyndham which was 100km away, the northern most town in Western Australia. On the way I went off road to visit a couple of waterfalls and swimming holes, however, had to turn back as the river over the road was too high to pass.
I continued on my way and visited The Grotto, which is a beautiful waterhole 140 steps down a steep gorge. A pretty place! I found a huge goanna walking across the main road so I did a swift u-bolt to take a picture. He didn't like the look of me with the camera so took off into the tall grass on the side of the road.
Just out of Wyndham is an Afghan cemetery.
The Grotto - 140 steps cut into gorge
The graves of this cemetery belong to the early Afghan settlers in the 1890's who provided transport between towns and stations with camels. It is believed the graves were so large because the lead camels were buried along with their masters. This cemetery interested me because of my recent experience of riding in a camel train at Cable Beach and through reading a novel about the life of John McDouall Stuart, the most accomplished inland explorer who was first to cross the continent from south to north and used camels on one of his expeditions.I visited the Five Rivers Lookout in Wyndham which was a spectacular sight and took a drive to Port Wyndham, which was the original historic site of Wyndham town, gazetted in 1886.
With not much else to see, I headed back to Kununurra to visit 'ski beach', part of the Ord River diversion dam. This section of the dam was really pretty and from the bridge looked tranquil. I headed out following the Ord River past the many fruit plantations in the area, to visit the Zebra Rock Gallery. The only known deposits of Zebra Rock in the world have been found near Kununurra in the East Kimberley of WA. The best sites found to date are under Lake Argyle.
The totally unique Zebra Rock has been placed at 600 million years in the Upper Proterozoic era or Pre-Cambrian period. It consists of a fine grained siliceous argillite with rhythmic patterns of red bands or spots contrasting sharply with a lighter background
Afghan Cemetery
. It is not known how the regular patterns were formed but the red stripes are coloured ferric (iron) oxide.While at the gallery I was given a tour of how the rock is cut, sanded and polished into fine pieces of sculptured artwork, jewellery and various items including book ends, clocks and wine racks. A short walk over lush green lawns was the banks of the Ord River where fish, turtles and birds frolicked peacefully. It was a beautiful location.
Before leaving Kununurra the next morning I visited Kimberley Fine Diamonds, offering and displaying Argyle diamonds. Beautiful diamonds but alas, what I liked I couldn't afford! These diamonds are mined close by at the Argyle Diamond Mine. This mine produces approximately 38 million carats of diamonds per year, which is one third of the world's annual production. It is the largest diamond mine in the world.
On my way to Katherine in the Northern Territory, I visited Lake Argyle. It is classed as an inland sea covering over 1000 square kilometres. The lake was formed by the damming of the Ord River in 1971. It is the largest body of fresh water in Australia and is situated amid the spectacular Carr Boyd Ranges.
A quick stop in Timber Creek was all that was needed to fuel up for the final stretch to Katherine. Much of the road followed the mighty Victoria River, the Northern Territory's largest waterway.
