Kununurra, WA.

 We returned to Kununurra to spend a good 5 days relaxing and exploring the area. We stayed at the Ivanhoe Tourist Park. The kids were very excited to see Harriet and Frankie's van as soon as we drove in. We also managed to catch up with Elsie and Zara's kindergarten teacher, Allison here in Kununurra. She is also travelling around Australia with her husband and her brother, sister-in-law and 2 nephews. It was so much fun to see Allison at the complete opposite corner of the country, the stars definitely aligned today. We visited Allison's caravan park, had a play on the playground with Aussie the kinder mascot, and took a photo under a big Boab tree.

As soon as we were back in town Saul started ringing around to find somebody to check the car. Eventually he got it checked and found that we had smashed the rear diff sensor on a rock when we were driving the King River River Road. Thankfully it's not something that needs to be fixed urgently, so Saul rang Bendigo Toyato and they could source the part, and Kylie Dad, John was able to bring it up with him a few days later.

We got up early on our first day at climbed the local lookout called Kelly's Knob. We drove to the carpark last week when we visited and knew we had to come back and climb to the top. The view at the top gives you a full 360 view of the town and surrounding area; from rivers, to gorges, to mountains, to orchads! Stunning. Bridie walked all the way to the top by her self, proving she has strong little legs for a 2 year old. Walking up, there were about 7 little kites or falcons gliding around the lookout hill. There was a slight breeze and there were just soaring around, no need to flap their beautiful. Our time in WA has taught us to admire lots of the local birdlife.

The rest of the day we relaxed at the caravan park, swimming and having a craft day with Harriet. Lauren, Harriet's mum taught Kylie how to do the little coloured twist braids in the girl's hair. So easy and stays in for ages. Zara and Elsie taught Harriet how to sew with the little bottle caps and the material circles. It was very fun creative afternoon - this much mess always means loads of fun was had.

The next day we drove out to Lake Argyle to have a look. It is spectacular country with the rocks and the mountains and the volume of water is huge. We didn't get to fully appreciate the lake because all the bbq boats that you can hire were booked out for the next week  or so. We did run into Greg and Neville at the dam wall, and said hello to them. 

On the road to Lake Argyle, a car drove past us and flicked a stone up that caused a big crack in the windscreen. So on the way back into town we drove to the windscreen repair shop and asked about getting it repaired. The shop was a shed, but the owner, named Mason and his family live out the back of the shed, overlooking the mountain ranges known as the mini- Bungle Bungles. It was a little oasis. Mason was nice enough to squeeze us in straight away to patch the windscreen and even let the kids play on is daughter's flying fox. Zara and Elsie thought this was so much fun. Bridie enjoyed a nap in the car while all the excitment and repairs were going on.

After a big morning, we went for another swim in the pool and the went to the Kununurra Picture Gardens to watch a movie after the sun went down. Thankfully here the sun is setting at 5.30pm so we were home by 7.30pm. This was Bridie's first movie experience and she did very well even though it was bedtime. We took wraps for tea and ate in while we waited for the movie to start. We watched the movie from our camp chairs, but we could have sat on the back of the ute if we wanted because we got a park right at the front. The movie was "Cranston Academy, Monster Zone". It was rated PG which was probably a bit scary, but it was an entertaining movie with a giant monster brain trying to kill all the students and teachers. hahaha

We got up early the next morning at hit to road out to El Questro Station. This one we were tossing up to do or not due to our commercialised and expensive it is, but we were so glad we did. It was stunning and very fun. First we went to Emma Gorge and walked into the gorge, over many rocks and streams, and then were rewarded with a beautiful waterfall and pool at the end. It was very cold water but definitely a nice way to cool down. Zara swam to the waterfall with Kylie and Elsie swan with Saul, it was quite deep in places. Bridie just had a little paddle on the edge because the water was too cold for her. After cooling off, we got dressed and walked all the walk back out of the gorge. We needed another swim after that, but thankfully we drove over to the main section of El Questro and had a swim at the Zebeedee Springs.

We had to rush to get to Zebeedee because it is only open to the public from 7am-12noon. In the afternoon it is closed for private use by the VIP paying guests. It was a pretty little oasis full of pandanus palms and little waterfalls. We had a swim and relaxed in the warm water until it was time to leave. 

Then we went into the station itself and had lunch on the picnic tables and had a look around. We watched some people leave on a helicopter ride and filled out drink bottles up with fresh cold water. That was by far the most refreshing water I've had all day!!

Our last day in Kununurra, we had a rest day to relax and restock. We cleaned the van and the car, and did some shopping, then spent the rest of day swimming at the pool and going for our evening walk and play with Harriet, Frankie, Lauren and Steve! The evenings are the best on the road.