Kununurra
Rolling into Kununurra, we have finally finished the Gibb! Well, it’s not really complete until we do the Ivanhoe Crossing.
One of the most iconic water crossings in Australia. With the croc and barramundi filled waters of the Ord River flowing over the concrete causeway.
If I’m completely honest, it feels a little nerve racking. The waters flow fast & its just a single lane road width. Stuff it up and you are swimming with the crocs. (although we didn’t see any) But watching others cross, the confidence grows and next thing we are driving Pumba through the waters.
How does the town of Kununurra feel? We went in search of somewhere to park up for some service to complete some admin tasks. First stop, some drunks walking around so we moved on, driving through a community with trash everywhere. When we finally found a spot we felt safe, we were greeted by Police recommending that we move on for our safety. This made us feel a little unsettled. They asked where we were camped. “On the river, the other side of the crossing” That’s good apparently, no-where in town safe to free camp with the locals around. The next time we needed service, we found a cute café to work by.
But crocs. There are heaps! We free camped on the gravelly banks of the Ord River. Took the drone up to explore upstream and found this big guy. We reckon he would be at least 4-5m long.
A couple of days of editing and catching up after The Gibb also meant some time to walk the banks and explore the area. Astrid nearly walked on this little guy.
The freshie Astrid found
After snapping a few pics she ran back to collect Bec. We sat together looking upon the beautiful freshie, Astrid was talking saying how lucky she was, “they are always on the other side of the river” … turned, pointed and looked on the other side … and there lay a massive 4-5 meter salty. On one side of the bank next to us a freshie, the other side a massive salty. I didn’t even realise they could co-exist together let alone see them together.
The Salty across the otherside
While here in Kununurra things nearly took a very unexpected twist. As Astrid looked on Facebook a post from an friend appeared: they were looking for a couple to crew and through Indonesia. “Want to sail to Bali?” “Hell yeah, that sounds fun!” A few messages back and forth, we were too late, he had a crew. And like that July – December was nearly sailing and backpacking through Indonesia.
Our last night in Kununurra, we clearly were restless, looking for more and itching to get back on the road. A few margaritas by the camp fire led to our first campaign being born. We need more than just travel to travel. We needed more than just volunteering to photograph for not for profit. What can we do to help?
We got talking about a friend who rescues dogs no-one wants. “Lets raise money and awareness for the rescue dogs” … how … Astrid had it: “what if we buy an old Landcruiser and take it up The Cape? Down gunshot? Prove that just coz it’s aged and had a life doesn’t mean it can’t bring fun to yours!”
That’s it. This idea lit a fire inside us, we couldn’t wait to get into reception to call our friend who rescues dogs and share our new born project. The logistics … we will work that out. Turns out we are doing The Cape after all, just not in Pumba.
