Weekend in Wyndham

Another week has passed us by in sunny Kununurra and we are grateful each day that we were able to get here as the Covid situation in Melbourne escalates. The kids have had fun as we have had a few new families come through the park, so new friends have been made. It has been interesting to note that the pool seems to be the place to connect.

After more days of school and work we packed the car on Friday afternoon and took ourselves off to stay at Parry Creek Farm for the weekend. Having a birthday at the end of July usually means I spend the day cold and often sick. How different it was to spend the day in shorts and tshirt and camp in our swags for the night, it almost didn't feel real. We still managed the obligatory birthday requirements of cake (thankyou Coles for making my lemon roulade), birthday card (homemade of course) and present (a block of chocolate and an IOU for something nice when I find it). I should note that the IOU did not include the air fryer we purchased on Thursday evening so that we were able to cook some foods that we would normally bake, the fish and chips were yummy!

Anyway, back to Wyndham where we did not have the best nights sleep due to a very confused rooster who thought it was ok to start crowing at 2am. We cooked up our bacon and eggs and then headed to the office to get the local lowdown and put in our GF pizza orders for dinner that night. Thus began our tour of Wyndham.

We began by driving into town to see the indigenous statues which I thought were really cool. Then while Dave and I made a phone call, the kids had some time to draw a picture of the statues from their perspective.

From here we drove up to the port and had a look at some of the old trains they used to use for transport. We then intended to go to the local museum but we were too early so we went back through town and had an explore along the king river road towards Diggers Rest Station. We were able to see some aboriginal rock art which was really interesting and very humbling to think of the people that had been standing in this same location so many years ago, well before white settlement.

Further up the road we visited the prison boab tree. The girls climbed inside and decided they wouldn't like to be in there for a long period of time.

With Diggers Rest being closed we couldn't get much further up the road so we returned to Wyndham and visited the museum, there is some amazing local history.

By this stage our tummies were rumbling so our next stop was the croc bakery to hopefully sample a crocodile pie. Upon arrival we were disappointed to see the very empty window, however we were assured more were being heated but the croc pies had unfortunately sold out. Dave and Elly reluctantly chose alternative pies and then just as we finished paying Elly spied one croc pie in the window so we lucked out in the end. We took our pies down to the site of the giant croc to eat and while it was ok, we were a little underwhelmed by the "fishy-chicken" crocodile pie.

We were now running out of things to do so as we made our way back to our accomodation we stopped at the telegraph hill lookout and explored the ruins and then made our final stop at the Marlygu billabong for some bird and croc watching. Charli spent most of her time spotting birds and then matching them with the pictures on the display boards. Elly on the other hand sat with her sketch book drawing a picture of the scene. We even saw a croc or 2 in the water.

On our way back to the farm we took the scenic route (always by accident) but managed to catch a sighting of some dingoes running around. The kids then decided it was time to hit the pool and cool off. In typical fashion they made some new friends in the pool and they spent the afternoon playing together. By the time we headed over to the restaurant for dinner, we were sitting with their new found friends and Dave and I enjoyed swapping travel stories with another family. And yes, the pizzas were good as were the mango cheesecakes and GF chocolate brownies for dessert.

After another night with the crazy rooster, we once again rose early but this time headed quickly back out to the billabong for another look as word was early and late in the day were the best times. Elly finished her drawing and the rest of us continued our watching before tummies started to rumble and we headed back for another round of bacon and eggs.

On our way back to Kununurra we stopped in to look at the Grotto. It was a bit of hairy walk down into the grotto but it was beautiful although we weren't keen to go for a swim by the look of the water, maybe if the waterfall was running. The climb out was not so bad and we were grateful that the next visitors to the site were not starting their descent until after we reached the top.

On Monday afternoon as I was working in the office, who should appear but our new friends from Parry Creek Farm (I may have recommended the park to them). The girls were ecstatic to find them there upon their return from school and they have been visiting with each other at every opportunity.

In other news this week, Elly had her first go at playing netball, deciding on a whim to join the local Net, Set, Go program. She seemed to enjoy herself although she looked a bit lost on the court (to be expected I guess). We also spent Tuesday evening helping to prepare for our group scout camp this weekend at Lake Argyle which we are really looking forward to. We now feel like official honorary Kununurra Scouts with our new group shirts to wear.