Day 76 - Wyndham to Home Valley Station via the Karunjie Track (Sun July 8th)

After breaky with our new found furry friend we headed up to the 5 River's Lookout before leaving Wyndham for the Karunjie Track.

5 River's Lookout - Wyndham

The five River's joined together - The King, The Durak, The Pentecost, The Ord and The Forrest - by the Cambridge Gulf.

We still weren't 100% sure if we should attempt the Karunjie Track as we were advised against it, so we decided to go as far as Digger's Rest Station and make a decision then.

The road to the Prison Tree and Digger's Rest

King River where Damon had a flick of a lure

Prison Boab Tree - Cam wants out!

Daddy and his girl

 

Mummy and her girl

Mummy and her boy

 

The drive to Digger's Rest is really nice, part of it follows the King River, and this road also takes you to the huge Prison Boab Tree.

When we got to Digger's Rest Station, which is a working Cattle Station, we called in and spoke to the station owner. She said, go for it guys, do the track, it's fine. She had done it just the day before, in a large truck loaded with supplies for the station.

Road to Digger's Rest

Cockburn Ranges near Digger's Rest

 

Digger's Rest Station

That made our decision, and we were off, we remember doing the track 9 years ago, and how much we enjoyed the drive. The track cuts behind the magnificent Cockburn ranges, across salt pans, through true Kimberley Country and along the Pentecost River.

We took our time, about 4 hours or so from Wyndham to the Pentecost River. The track is sandy in parts, and covered in bull dust, a few times we couldn't even see our trailer in our side rear view mirrors. It put the trailer to a good test, and it did well. Some parts of the track were steep and washed out, making it the most difficult drive of our trip so far. We were glad we did it, and it was nice being the only ones on the track today!

Here we go

Across the salt pans

Lunch along the Pentecost River

Pentecost River

 

Yay - we done it

Pentecost River - someone was camping right here

Crossing the Pentecost River

 

The road to Home Valley Station

After crossing the Pentecost, we drove a further 9km to Home Valley Station, which is a working cattle station. They have bush camping by the Pentecost River, but we opted for the more comfortable camping near the homestead and station. The camping grounds here are grassy, and we were camped right next to the large kids playground. Yippie - this made for an easy set up and pack up the next morning, as the kiddies were occupied and not under our feet.

http://www.hvstation.com.au

Day 75 - El Questro to Wyndham (Sat July 7th)

Not far from El Questro along the Gibb River road towards Kununurra is Emma Gorge. There is a resort here, which is part of the El Questro Wildnerness Park. We called in here this morning and did the 1hr bush walk to Emma Gorge, this was nice and ended in a refreshing swim in Turquoise Pool, before walking back to the resort and continuing on our way. El Questro Wildness Park charges a permit fee of $20 per person over 12yrs, this permit is valid for 7 days.

Next stop was Kununurra for a stock up on food, before heading up to Wyndham for a night. We were keen to do the Karunjie Track which goes from Wyndham to the Pentecost River on the Gibb River Road, even though some locals had advised us against it due to poor road conditions.

Leaving El Questro

Track to Emma Gorge

Turquoise pool

Emma Gorge

Turquoise Pool

After setting up camp at the Wyndham Caravan Park we had a little visitor which the kids loved!! Damon got a fright when he returned from the shower and saw our visitor sticking his head into the camper.

Hello Mr Donkey

After a few laughs with Mr Donkey, we drove down to the Port of Wyndham and caught the end of this awesome sunset from the jetty.

Wyndham Sunset

After the sunset we had dinner at the local pub, in the diner with a few locals. We had dinner here 9 years ago, and not a thing has changed. The pictures on the walls are in the same spots, and it looks like the tablecloths haven't been changed either. Our meals were a bit pricey, but they were huge, and very yummy indeed.