Wyndham - The Top Town in the West ........

PWe left Ivanhoe Village the next morning and made our way towards Wyndham.  We were going to spend a couple of nights at Parry Creek Farm which is very close to the famous wetlands of Parrys Lagoon.  Of course this far into the dry season most of the 'wetlands' are all dry but we were hoping there was enough water around for Bill to find the elusive Gouldian Finch.  Lovely honeyeaters but no finches tonight.

Booking in the lady told us that they had been seeing the finches every morning at the front gate.  So perhaps this was to be the place to finally find those pesky little birdies.  But first we settled in right beside a big Boab Tree.  These trees have fascinated me as they all look dead but we have found out that they actually shed their leaves for the Dry season so as to conserve water.

 We took a walk around the property and along the creek before jumping in the car and driving around to Parrys Lagoon.  There was still water here though apparently it was shrinking every day.  Arriving late afternoon we found quite a lot of water birds and raptors coming in to drink before the sun set.  

Looking along the banks here we found three reasonably large crocodiles just lazing along the waters edge.  The first ones we have seen in the wild since our Daintree River Cruise.  None of the birds seemed to be concerned about them but I was very grateful to be inside the bird hide and not on the banks of the lagoon.  As the sun set we drove back home to enjoy the nighttime sounds of the bush.

Bill got up bright and early the next morning and spent almost two hours at the gate but to no avail.  No finches of any type came to visit but the lovely little Diamond Doves kept him happy for this morning.

After breakfast we jumped back in the car and drove into Wyndham to see what the brochure calls 'The Top Town of the West'.  It is the most Northerly town in WA situated on the Cambridge Gulf and right now we couldn't be further away from home if we tried.

I must admit that I had been expecting something a little bigger and was surprised to see just a tiny town with very few amenities.  We had a look around the Port area and on the way back Bill found these rather stately Spinifex Pigeons so stopped and played for a while.

We looked at the site for Anthon's Landing which served as the towns only landing point from 1885 to 1919.  After it was destroyed by fire in 1944 it took nearly 70 years before a new award winning recreational fishing jetty was built in its place.  

We stopped in the centre of town and had a look at at the Warriu Dreamtime Statues.  These giant bronze figures depict an Aboriginal family and are a proud reminder of the heritage of this area.

We drove up to the Five Rivers Lookout and were blown away by the view from here.  It is the highest point of The Bastion Range (330m) and you get a birds eye view over the Cambridge Gulf and the five rivers.  These are the Durack, Pentecost, King, Forrest and Ord Rivers.  We ate our lunch here before driving back down and making our way out of town once more.  Of course I had to stop and take the picture of 'the big croc'.

Leaving Wyndham and the bitumen we made our way out to Moochalarbra Dam.  This is another 4WD road that leads to a picnic area at the dam wall.  Constructed in 1971 the dam supplies the Wyndham area with a permanent source of water.  

From here it was just another 4 km on to see the famous Prison Tree.  This great example of a Kimberley Boab is near the junction of the King River Rd and the Karunjie Track.  It was used by the early police patrols as an overnight lockup.  Now this grand old tree just stands waiting for any of us silly enough to drive out for a photo.  

Returning back to the bitumen we decided to get off the rough stony road and came back along a track on the Tidal Flats.  What a difference and the 'smooth' ride was over almost before it begun.  I'm sure there are some disasters along here when the 'road' is not quite dry!

We returned home from here after a great day seeing new places and settled in for an early night.  Bill was up again the next morning but once again was disappointed when not a finch of any sort came to play.

We packed up after breakfast and said goodbye to another lovely place to stay and made our way back to Kununurra to shop for the next few days.  And so it was back on the road again as we headed East to Timber Creek.

until next time........