Wyndham

Sunday 17^th July

We have booked a scenic flight for over Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungles for tomorrow.  So today we decided to head out to WYNDHAM about 100km North West of KUNUNURRA.  WYNDHAM was a vital port for the export of beef from the Kimberley Region in the early days, but nowadays zinc and nickel ore are its main exports.

On the way to WYNDHAM, we stopped off at the Gibb River Road Turnoff to check the state of the road. 

It had been a long time ambition of mine to travel the Gibb River Road which runs from just out of DERBY for about 700 km, through to where we were.  We had heard from other travellers, that due to the large amount of traffic using the road, it had become very corrugated.

We turned onto the start of the road and could see the corrugations straight away. They didn’t look good.  We drove down it for about a kilometre and that convinced us.  We turned around and rattled our way back to the start.  There was no way we could risk our car on that sort of surface.  It looked like my ambition of doing the Gibb River Road was going to remain just that.

We continued on to WYNDHAM meeting several four trailer Road Trains on the way.  They were returning empty from WYNDHAM after delivering their loads of ore. We stopped to photograph the giant crocodile on the outskirts of town,

and then drove through the town to see the real thing at the WYNDHAM CROCODILE FARM.

 Luckily we arrived just in time to catch the daily feeding.  It was quite spectacular.  The Farm breeds and raises crocodiles until they are about 2 years old, at which stage they are about 1 metre long.  They are then taken to a crocodile farm in Darwin where they are kept until they are turned into shoes, handbags, wallets and meat for fancy restaurants.

The Farm also takes in crocodiles from the wild that have been causing trouble in their natural habitat.  Mainly due to humans encroaching on their territory.  A couple of these crocs were over 6 meters in length and were estimated to weigh about 1 tonne.  That’s a lot of angry croc. 

They made quite a splash as they reared up to get their lunch.  They were kept in concrete and heavy wire mesh enclosures, and the guy feeding them pointed out several places where rival male crocs had ripped the mesh trying to get at each other.

We then dropped in to the local hotel and had a couple of cold beers accompanied by some chips and local barramundi.  Yum. 

Then it was up to a lookout above town for some amazing views over the town, out over the inlet, and out towards the distant sea.

From there we headed out to visit Wyndham’s Infamous Boab Prison Tree.  It was 22km down a gravel road, this time not nearly as rough as the Gibb River Road, but still quite a bone shaker. 

The Boab Prison Tree was actually used as a temporary prison in the early days.  Police bringing prisoners in from the bush, to court at Wyndham, would often use the hollow tree as an overnight prison, on their long trek into Wyndham. The tree is estimated to be between 2000 and 4000 years old, and has a girth of 14.7metres.

On the way back to the main road we took a short cut of about 2 km across a huge dry mud flat.  

Just as we regained the gravel road we realised we had a puncture.  Once we got the wheel off we could see where a sharp rock had pierced the tread.  And it was a brand new tyre as well. 

Two or three cars passed us while we were changing the tyre, and all of them stopped to enquire whether or not we needed help.  One family, which we had spoken to briefly at the Prison Tree, and who had taken the photo of us in front of the tree, actually stopped and helped us change the tyre.  It was good to know there was so much help on offer had we needed it. 

We travelled the 100 km back to KUNUNURRA without further incident.  First thing tomorrow I will be off to find the local Beaurepaire Shop.