We saw our first Boab trees today, just before Timber Creek there were two of them. After Timber Creek they were everywhere. Some of them have a massive girth, but they all look like they’re just coming out of winter dormancy, they have very few leaves, although I don’t know that they are deciduous, I think it’s just the harsh conditions they exist in. Most of the trees near to the road have been vandalised, people just feel the need to carve their names into them. Nevertheless they are quite an impressive sight.

Much of the land we travelled through today has been scorched by fire; there were even a couple of small fires burning. The fires only seem to burn the grassy undergrowth and sometimes scorch the leaves on the trees. No-one seems to worry about the fires; there are no houses to burn and no fences to trap the stock. We passed by a wild donkey and a couple of herds of wild horses.

We crossed the border into Western Australia today, it’s 42km from Kununurra. When we crossed the border from Northern Territory we had to change our clocks back 1 ½ hours. At the border are inspectors checking vehicles for fruit, seeds and honey, all are prohibited from entering Western Australia. The inspector asked if we were intending visiting Lake Argyll and suggested we do it before heading to Kununurra, the turn off is 7km from the border.

A visit to Lake Argyle had been recommended to us by several people, so I was looking forward to seeing it. Lake Argyll is seven times the size of Sydney Harbour and is so large that it’s classified as an inland sea. The 35km drive in to the lake was nice, through some rocky gorges. We went to a couple of the viewing areas at the lake, but it’s not possible to see the considerable size of it from them, so I was a little disappointed.  The water in the lake looks blue and the water in the streams leading from it looks green. The lake provides water for the Ord River Hydro Electric Scheme.

We checked out a couple of the caravan parks in Kununurra before settling on Kimberleyland, near Lake Kununurra. After pitching our tent we went out to get some food and register with an employment agency.

We went to Grunt, who we’d registered with in Darwin; the Darwin office told us that they’d be able to fax our records through to Kununurra. We were in the office less than five minutes and they had us lined up to do some Mango pruning tomorrow. They suggested that we need to bring 5 litres of water each for the day as well as our lunch.

We started out the day spraying roundup around the trees. Once the wind sprung up we went on to pruning. We’re pruning 2 year old trees so they unfortunately don’t provide any shade, but on a good note, there’s no stretching to reach.

There were 6 other people working, a couple of girls from England, an Irish guy and a few Aussies. They’re a friendly bunch which is good.

Sometimes they work until 4.00pm but thankfully we finished at 3.00pm today, the heat is very intense.

Back at the caravan park after grabbing a few more groceries, we had a swim in the pool, some tea and an early night, tomorrow we’re starting at 5.00am.

When we got home we did the usual and jumped into the pool. After lunch we sat around the caravan park relaxing, there’s not a lot to do around here unless you want to go on an organised tour or you have a four wheel drive.

We went to the tourist information centre to see if there’s anything to see around here and found out that you need a four wheel drive for most. There is a national park that we may go and have a look at early next Sunday.

The newspaper isn’t delivered to Kununurra until late afternoon from Perth. It took us a couple of trips to the shops and finally we got it about 5.00pm. The price on the paper is $1.80 but it costs $3.00 in Kununurra.

Monday 3 October 2005
Day 163
The two English girls finished work on Friday and an English couple started today. They struggled with the heat; they haven’t worked for six months which also makes it hard. I don’t think today was as hot as last week or maybe we’re getting used to it.

Tuesday 4 October 2005
Day 164
Another new couple started at work today, which makes 7 of us, they are from Germany.

It’s unusual around here in that it’s light at 4.30am and dark at 5.30pm. We’re on Western Australian time which is 2 hours different from the eastern states and 1 ½ hours different from Northern Territory, but we’re only 40km from Northern Territory.

Wednesday 5 October 2005
Day 165
Today we had good news and bad news. First thing this morning we went to the clothesline to get our jeans to wear to work and found out that they had been stolen, we’re travelling light so we haven’t got a lot of clothes with us, Tony only has one other pair of jeans and I have my good Draggin jeans (expensive Kevlar lined jeans for wearing on the bike). The good news for the day was that while we were out at work the tree under which we’re camped had a large branch fall off right where the bike is usually parked.

On the way to work this morning we stopped to take some photos of the sunrise, the sky has a haze around here that gives the sun a vivid orange glow, and that reflected off the water in Lake Kununurra was really something special.

We went out for a counter meal for tea; it was pretty ordinary, one of the chicken parmagianas that we ordered turned out to be beef, and they were covered in tomato paste.

Because of the falling branch yesterday we moved the tent today after work. It took us 1 ½ hours to move it all and set up again. We’ve got quite a bit of stuff; we like to live comfortably, even if it is in a tent.

Tonight I was in the tent putting away the dishes when I felt a stinging sensation on my thigh, I was stung by a bee, how it got up the leg of my shorts I don’t  know, but it did hurt.

Saturday 8 October 2005
Day 168
Just a half day of work today, well 7 hours, but we finished by midday.

A few people from work, Jill & Ben (England), Sven & Julia (Germany), and Johnny (Ireland) came over for a barbeque and movie this evening. We had a really pleasant night. The movie was so so, Be Cool, a sequel to Get Shorty, we thought it would be ok but it wasn’t very funny and the volume was a bit low so it was hard to hear. Everyone had a few drinks and we listened to some music and sat around and talked after the movie, great company and a nice night.

As we were up early we thought it was a good chance to go do some sightseeing. We went for a look at Mirima National Park. It’s almost in the middle of Kununurra. The park has many rock formations that are similar to photos I’ve seen of the Bungle Bungles which are in this area but only accessible by 4wd. The park has a couple of short walking trails; we went on one that has a couple of lookouts along the way and panels with information on the plants that grow in the park and their traditional uses by Aboriginals.

Another hot day, what’s new, I was in the pool five times today.

In the afternoon we went out to the supermarket to buy the newspaper and return the DVD’s to the video shop.

We watched Robots and went to sleep early; I was having trouble staying awake for the movie.

I had a bit of a count today at work; Tony and I sprayed around the base of approximately 450 trees each, then after morning tea we went on to pruning and finished up pruning about 200 trees during the remainder of the day.

 
Wednesday 12 October 2005
Day 172
There was a storm brewing just as we were leaving work today, it was so windy that Tony had to struggle to keep the bike on the left side of the road. There was a lot of bluster and dust, a bit of thunder and then once we were home a short shower.

Thursday 13 October 2005
Day 173
Tony has been taking some of our workmates out for rides during our lunch hour; he’s taken a different person each day for the last few days, today he took Julia.

Friday 14 October 2005
Day 174
After work today we were sitting watching Mash as usual when we heard a car outside the tent; Sven and Julia had come over with a half dozen stubbies to thank Tony for making up a music CD for them. Tony insisted they stay and help him drink them and while they were here he made a CD of all the photos that were on their camera.

WHIRLWINDS ARE QUITE COMMON AROUND HERE
Saturday 15 October 2005
Day 175
Our last day of working in Kununurra! All we did this morning was spraying, no pruning. Dave wanted to get the spraying finished and there was very little breeze so that’s all we did till lunchtime; we must have walked quite a few kilometres.

In the evening everyone from work met up at the tavern for a farewell as quite a few of us are finishing up either today or Monday; we had a nice evening.

WE PASSED THIS ENORMOUS BOAB EVERY DAY ON THE WAY TO WORK

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