Tuesday 14 August – We left the camp at a bit before nine this morning, and about ten km west of Timber Creek we turned off to go and look at the Gregory Tree.  Augustus Gregory was an explorer here in the 1850’s, and as was common in those times, recorded his stay in the area by carving the date in a tree.  This one though is a little different in that it is carved on an enormous boab tree on the banks of the mighty Victoria River.  He was quite a remarkable man, and part of his story is detailed on information boards around the site.

            

 From there we drove the stretch to the W.A. border, with the only interest being in the regular changes in terrain and vegetation.  There were a number of boabs along this road, some of them obviously very old, if size is any indication.  So where a couple of weeks ago I couldn’t stop taking photos of anthills, today it was boab trees!

At the W.A. border we were stopped for the quarantine inspection where we had to raise the van and the inspector went in, checked the fridge and a couple of cupboards, gave us the all clear and we were again on our way, with only about 40 km till we reached today’s destination – Kununurra.  We have booked into the Kimberleyland Holiday Park for three nights, but I think we will be here for four as there is a bit to do from here.  Because we had to put our watches back one and a half hours at the border, it was only 11.30 local time when we arrived, so we had the entire afternoon to do a couple of things and relax.

 After lunch we headed for the town to replace our camcorder, which packed it in yesterday – a bit of a bummer, but what can you do?  We now have a newer model of the same brand (JVC), so at the moment the battery is being charged ready for tomorrows happenings.  We called at the information centre and collected several booklets and brochures and spent the rest of the afternoon reading through them, chatting to neighbours, having a few cuppas, keeping an eye on the fires burning just across Lake Kununurra, which we are on the banks of, and going for a bit of a walk along the lake side.

Our brief look at Kununurra so far shows us quite a pretty town, with a large aborigine component.  When we finally discovered the Retravision shop, on the second storey above the IGA shop, I mentioned to the salesman that initially we couldn’t find the shop (you had to walk into the IGA and then there were stairs over at the side with a Retravision sign pointing upwards), he said it is upstairs because the pub is pretty close and it’s a bit more difficult for the over-indulged to get to it and become a nuisance.

So it’s soon to bed and tomorrow morning we’ll go and visit an old teaching friend’s daughter and her husband who have a mango farm here – unfortunately I’m here about two or three months too early to enjoy their produce.