Monday (18th) morning 6am. Roadside camp beside highway in the Eastern Kimberleys. Morning has broken; birds (black?) singing; shorts and T-shirt already. One of the benefits(?) of reaching WA is the sun now rises before 6am and it is dark by 5.30pm.

So when we hit that highway out of Kakadu we swung south back towards Katherine and the the move west. Darwin? Maybe another year .Overnight at show grounds Adelaide River, then on to restock at Katherine. We did not stay at Katherine this time, chose another free camp area to the west.

We were going to stay at Adelaide River the next night; but we are still gorged out; so spent very little time admiring the majesty of this river and its gorges. Moved on instead to Timber Creek and stayed 2 nights just to chill out again. Close encounter with the liquor laws in outback NT. Bought a tinnie (opened by barman) from the pub attached to the park – that was fine. Went back an hour later for another one “Sorry can only serve one takeaway customer once a day”. A little discussion found me buying a ‘can of coke’ from out the back and handed to me all wrapped up. Yep, it tasted the same as the first drink.

Friday finally saw us cross the border and hit Kununurra. Got to say the drive from Katherine to Kununurra was one of the most scenic hauls to date.
The variety of scenery changed more quickly than had been the case to date.
We also visited Lake Argyle (bigger than Sydney Harbour) and saw the Ord River dam.

Saturday saw us doing the tourist scene around the town and nearby. The Bungle Bungles are possibly off our visitor list, but there is a mini version right outside the town; we may have to stay content with that.

We have decided there is enough to see and do on the main roads. Whilst we may therefore miss a few good things ‘only a couple of hundred k’ down a dirt road we think we can live wit that

The East Kimberleys are again different to the other mountain ranges encountered to date. It really is amazing to us that these many ranges we have seen, all formed around 200-400 million years ago in similar circumstances are so different. No doubt a geologist would have a logical explanation for it all.

Licensing laws Kununurra, whilst I am on a theme. Bottle shop in the supermarket was open around noon on Saturday. No wine, no spirits no drinks with an alcohol content above 3.5% on sale until 5pm. No wonder the place was deserted. So back at 5pm I go. The queue to get in the door was over 20m long! Fortunately a local, upon hearing my comment when I saw this, asked if I had a car. Since I did; the thing to do was to go to the bottle shop at the pub – cheaper and quicker apparently. And it was! $48 for 30 VB tinnies (no Cascade). Did not really want to buy that much beer (I’m not turning in to a wowser – just a question of room in the van – hang on why don’t I just drink them!), but apparently I can look forward to this through much of rural WA. You do not get out of your car; their must have been 6 or more attendants serving the customers.

Sunday, off to our most northerly destination in WA – Wyndham. Once a bustling port; now our contender (together with Andamooka) for the biggest dump in Australia. Tumble down properties, including the old hospital, (with resident aboriginal population); rubbish (mainly associated with
alcohol) from one end to the other. The sad thing was that the two best buildings in town were the Sobering up Facility and the Rehabilitation Centre.

Now nearing the end of week 6. Thought we had clocked up nearly 9000k earlier in the week but a recheck when we filled the tank yesterday showed that my maths has gone to hell; it is now just over 8000km.

Monday lunch time. 300km SW at Halls Creek. Back in the land of the “G spot”; so a couple of phone calls to make and this email to complete.

Sue has slipped behind a little with the photos – so maybe next week there may be a couple of ‘retros’ – but as ever there are enough to go on with