Day 67 29/5/2011 Kununurra sightseeing (via Wyndham)

Day 67 29/5/2011 Kununurra sightseeing (via Wyndham)

It was up and at it this morning we had sightseeing to do. We had decided to do the loop to Wyndham via the old dirt road and then home on the highway, we were armed with a map from the visitor centre and some local knowledge from Curly and Blu (friends we were staying with).



Marlgu Billabong



Initially we were a little disappointed with the sights along the dirt road but we persevered and were rewarded as we drove up Telegraph Hill.  The hill was a sight of the old telegraph station that guided ships into the Wyndham Harbour.  The hill also gave us an awesome view over Marlgu Billabong.  Marlgu Billagong is an amazing wetland (similar to what we saw at Ubir) that was the home to up to 140 species of migratory birds, there was water and birds for as far as the eye could see.  After enjoying the view we headed down to Marlgu Billabong for a closer look and we were able to eat our lunch whilst sitting in a bird hide.  It was fun to watch the birds up close, hunting and gathering their fish and then fighting amongst themselves.

Wyndham - where the five rivers merge to meet
Cambridge Gulf



After lunch we headed into Wyndham township.  Wyndham was the second town in WA to be gazetted and it was once a thriving port town, today it has lost a little of its glory.  We didn’t hang around in town long but drove up to the Five Rivers Lookout (The Bastion).  The lookout was 330 metres above sea level gave an almost 360 view of the backdrop to the Wyndham area and we were able identify each of the five rivers that join together to flow into the Cambridge Gulf.  The rivers were the Forrest, Durak, Pentecost King and the Ord River. We were also able to show the kids the amazing mud flats that appeared to be kilometres long and only filled when the huge tides came in.

The drive back to Kununurra was marred by a big rock hitting our windscreen from a four trailer road train and cracking the windscreen.  We weren’t too worried about this though as this little bit of bad luck was covered by insurance!! Yippee.