2006/07 Australia trip - Wyndham |
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We left Parry Lagoon and the frog and drove to the nearby Marlgu Lagoon, a scenic spot and a 
birdwatchers’ paradise. It has a boardwalk with a bird hide, and thousands of ducks, geese, herons, egrets, cormorants, etc. We spent an hour or two there with binoculars and camera. In the picture above the whole centre section is wall-to-wall ducks and the composite below gives some idea of the amazing diversity of birds in that area. I particularly like the one of the cormorant chasing fish underwater.
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Marigu Lagoon (20.09) |
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We drove a track across the floodplain into the town of Wyndham, which didn’t seem to be a very exciting spot, though it is surrounded by great scenery. Wyndham Port is a little further on. The port used to have an abattoir for killing cattle, and the blood from the cattle would drain into nearby Blood Creek. Needless to say, this used to be a great spot for viewing 
crocodiles! Now the abattoir is gone and there is only a historical display of the locomotives that used to pull the cattle trains, and the nearby crocodile farm. We by-passed this and headed out along the coast on a rough and ready track. This didn’t seem to be going anywhere but it went through groves of thousands of kapok trees, a mass of bright yellow blossom against the steep hills that surround the bay.
We drove up the Bastion to the Five Rivers Overlook, and this one lived up to its name with a great view from a thousand feet out across to Cambridge Gulf and the surrounding hills and rivers. The Cambridge Gulf eventually opens out onto the Gulf of Timor, 300 miles or so from Indonesia.
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Five Rivers (2.17) |
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We just had enough daylight to drive back up the Kununurra Road to visit the Grotto, a favourite swimming spot for the locals. The Grotto is a deep hole up in the mountains, where a waterfall has carved a canyon with sheer red walls. The waterfall had dried up once the wet season ended, but it had left a deep inky pool at the foot of the Grotto. The red rock has eroded into 
layers and blocks, and someone has chipped at these to build a switchback staircase down the sheer wall. It is quite well engineered but this is not a place to stumble! One of the locals told us that the waterfall is very powerful in the wet season, when there’s about 20 foot of additional water in the pool. I had to stitch some individual photos together to get this view, as there’s no room to stand back and take a single picture of it all.
We raced back to Parry Farm with the last few rays of sunlight. The Brisbane couple I’d met at the lagoon that morning had taken my recommendation and were camped next to us.
Sandie reported that there were now three frogs in the toilet bowl. I suggested asking the snake to help.
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