Day 44 Wyndham

Today we awoke early with the change in time zone and got the washing done etc and we headed off to Wyndham a small port town known geographically as the ‘Top town of the West' Australia's northernmost town and the start/end point for the Gibb River Road . Wyndham has a diverse history of the cattle and mining industries, a small frontier town that typifies the true character of the Kimberley region.

On our way just down the road from where we are staying are fields and fields of cotton.




On the edge of town as we were leaving we crossed Ord River Diversion Dam and stopped at the Lookout. It is a barrage located 6 km west of Kununurra on the Victoria Highway. Completed in 1963, it features 20 massive radial gates that control water released from Lake Argyle. It feeds the region's irrigation channels.




As we were beginning our drive to Wiyndham these two magnificent Brolgas (Antigone rubicunda), also famously known as the Australian Crane we on the roadside to say goodbye. They are incredibly majestic, tall birds (standing up to 1.4 meters) and are one of Australia's largest flying birds.



Our first stop was at The Grotto a small waterhole in a natural amphitheatre. Stairs carved into the rock lead down to the pool surrounded by lush vegetation. From a distance the stairs remind me of ancient Rome etc. At the base of 140 steep stone steps there is a very deep water hole. They say the pool is more than 100m deep, and it is so clear. The descent was a little daunting as the steps are narrow and there is no railing etc, we were very fortunate and had the whole place to ourselves for about 1/2 hour, you wouldn't want to meet a person coming the other way on the stairs.







Lee Richardson Lookout was our next stop and there was the most exquisite carved metal sign. Maggies Valley was named after Maggie Nicholso who, in the late 1920s, was the first person to drive a vehicle (Chevrolet 4 Tabletop) into what is now known as 'Maggies Valley.'







We called into the Wyndham Courthouse Museum. It contains some fascinating memorabilia, journal records and photographic displays of Wyndham since European settlement in the 1880s. Built in 1954 it was originally the police station.













After lunch we drove up to the Five Rivers Lookout and I believe it is the best lookout I have ever seen just stunning. The views overlooking the old port town of Wyndham, inland along the West Arm and out along Cambridge Gulf towards the Timor Sea and breath taking. The Five Rivers Lookout is on the top of the Bastion Range you can see where five mighty Kimberley rivers meet and flow into the ocean. Enjoy spectacular views of the Ord, Forest, King, Durack and Pentecost Rivers where they combine and enter the Cambridge Gulf, surrounding mangrove swamps & mudflats.








Afghan Cemetery with graves from around the 1890's of Afghan camel drivers who were the backbone of transport between cattle stations and towns in the days before road trains. Many tombstones, aligned to face Mecca, are quite large as the camel masters would have their lead animal buried with them for their final trek into the afterlife. The cemetery contains the unmarked graves of 11 Afghan Cameleers and their lead camels.



To end the day we drove out along the King River Road which follows the meandering King River to an Aboriginal rock art site. Wyndham’s tidal flats are massive, sprawling mudflats along the Cambridge Gulf. Famous for their dramatic 8-meter tidal variations, the incoming water creates stunning "tidal tree" patterns across the landscape.











As I climbed high into the cliff face to see the rockart I also found the most amazing fossilized ripple marks in many of the rocks.



We drove home in the setting sun.