After our hot springs dip in Katherine we headed off on our first major leg of the journey (which actually took us in the correct direction, West). Whilst the actual journey was OK, the lack of fuel certainly made things a little more exciting! We basically forgot to re-gas in Timber Creek (nearly halfway between Katherine and Kununurra) which meant we may or may not have made it to Kununurra… As the sun was going down we decided to check for rest stops so that if we did run out of petrol, it would at least be in the daylight…!
We decided to stop in a little rest stop just before the WA border quarantine, no-one else there which was quite nice, and it was amazingly dark so it was great to see the stars. We managed to cook-up most of the bits that would have been forfeited at the border, so we had a few tubs of Bolognese and con-carne in the fridge. That night we sweated it out in the camper in the rest stop, watching a few episodes of 24 whilst constantly monitoring the Savanna outback sounds by torch light. The intermittent wind certainly does make it feel like you’re being watched!
Like most mornings in the North, once the sun comes up, you can’t sleep unless you crack open the doors and let the breeze come through. We got up blurry eyed, bundled everything in the cupboards and made our way to the border crossing, watching the petrol light all the way…
After about 20 minutes we got to the border and even though we’d seen a few signs on the road, there was no real information on what could or could not be taken through, but to be honest you had to hand over anything veggie or fresh, and honey… Damn honey, we’d just bought it in Darwin, it was still sealed, still had to forfeit it (apparently heat treated honey is OK though)! Anyhow, we got through without problem, minus a few oranges, apples, lemon and limes. Even got a ‘too easy’!
We wanted to head straight to Lake Argyle without backtracking however we couldn’t guarantee that the Resort had the petrol we needed (we can’t use Opal, which is a cheaper alternative in the outback) so we carried on to the outskirts of Kununurra to re-gas. We made it, the needle was definitely at it’s lowest point though! On the plus side, we now know that we can do 500km on a full tank without a re-gas!
Even though we were only a few Klicks (km’s – quite a few people refer to Klicks out here) out of Kununurra we decided to back-track to Lake Argyle. The lake is the biggest fresh water lake in Australia, is classed as an inland sea and covers over 900 square kilometres! The other reason to head there was to checkout the Lake Argyle resort Infinity Pool… Originally we had planned to have a swim in the pool (for $10 for the day pp) and head to a free camp spot just outside Kununurra, however we decided to stay at the resort for the night as after we’d paid for the pool, it would only be an extra $9.50 each to camp with power! It was a really nice site (as it should be – it won Australian campsite of the year in 2014!) They also let us check in at 8am so we had use of the pool and facilities all day! A day for a swim and relax!
Next day we packed up pretty sharpish after having a hefty sweaty fitness session, and headed to Lake Argyle Dam for breakfast. Not much around, but a few birds, but some quite impressive views over part of the lake (we checked out a map of the lake and realised that we were actually only able to see a tiny section of it, and that was huuuuge!)
After being bugged by the birds for some leftovers (which we didn’t have) we headed to Kununurra to see what was around. Not much apparently! Its a small town (like most around here) but it did have a Coles so we grabbed some essentials. We did notice that there was a Hoochery a little out of town which made Rum (its main product), Whiskey and Liquor so we headed out that way.
About 20 minutes out of town we reached the old distillery (the smell was amazing!) and headed in for a tasting (Heather was driving and had water). Apparently this was the oldest legal in WA!
I must admit, while the signature rum was good, I’m not a fan. I did love the Whiskey and it’s a shame I couldn’t buy a bottle to take with us round NZ!
Tanked up (in both senses), it was time to head off for our second long leg towards Broome! Onwards!!!
