THE  KIMBERLEY

WYNDHAM

aboriginal statue

Despite being a busy port, Wyndham looks unloved and rundown.  It's best features for tourists are the view of the five Rivers as they converge into the gulf, and a group of large aboriginal statues. The rest of the place is quite delapidated, unlike most of the towns we've seen in the north-west.

We stayed about 26 kms from town at Parry's Creek Farm - a lovely grassed park next to the creek.  It's within a nature reserve, and the birdlife both at the farm and also at the nearby billabong bird-hide is prolific.

For dinner one night we joined about 40 fellow travellers around a blazing campfire for Hotpot & Damper, while being entertained by a local teacher who sang and played guitar.  Ken the chef cooked his hotpot in big camp ovens, and checked how the stew was going, after scraping coals off the lid, and peering in by torchlight.  It was very tasty.  He was quite a character, reading a few funny tales while we waited for dinner to be cooked.

One evening as I was cooking tea outside, a little green frog jumped onto my face - I don't know who got the bigger fright, him or me!  Needless to say, I didn't get a photo of him. 

We had a great day driving out along the King River Road, not far from Wyndham, where  we





saw lots of wildlife, including goannas, crocodiles and birds.  We ended up at Diggers' Rest Station, where they apparently filmed some of the movie "Australia". 

Brolga

For people who love horse riding, it would be a wonderful place to stay -  it is very basic, and a genuine outback experience. You'd need to be an experienced horserider, as they go on treks into fairly rugged country for days at a time.  Buzz was an old chap who spent the dry season at the station, and he chatted to us, filling us in on the history of the place.  A couple of emus think they own the place - particularly Marilyn, the female.

A Diggers' Rest resident.

Lucky this croc we saw was on the opposite bank of the river!