Kunanurra

It was a stunning drive from Turkey Creek to Kunanurra through some of the prettiest scenery we have seen in the Kimberly along the highway. It was a little bit spoiled knowing we had no brakes or tail lights on the van (we couldn't find Chook or anyone at the community to find him either!) but we took it a bit slower and got here just fine. Lucky the Nivara is such a solid vehicle and the van isn't over full of unnecessary stuff!

Kunnanurra is a beautiful little town 45ks from the WA/NT border. It was only established in 1960, so has a nice modern, clean feel to it.

Our Site from the Lake

I phoned ahead to try and book a site at Kona Lakeside Caravan Park, but like many parks up here, they don't take them. The assistant manager Jan I spoke to suggested though if we arrived around 9.30 am we should get a site. We did and were lucky to get one fronting Lake Kunanurra. It's a magic spot and on our first night we had drinks and nibblies down by the water with Karen and Jim who we met on the Horizontal Waterfall cruise.

Our 6am wakeup call the last two mornings has been a sea plane taking off about 50 metres from the van on the lake. It looks beautiful as it crosses the very still lake with its morning reflections. Better the planes than the noisy neighbours who woke us at 4.22 am in Turkey Creek!

We initially booked here for a week, but will have to extend that as we couldn't get the car in for a service until the 7th day of our stay. I don't think it will be a hardship though as there seems to be so much to see and do. This morning we are going to take our boat out on the lake for a private tour. The park has a boat ramp which meakes it all very easy. We had to take the boat off to fix the roller that fell of on the road after the first river crossing to the Bungles!

After the very sad little towns we came through to get here, it seems like an oasis and I guess it is with all the crops being grown through irrigation from the Ord River. There are 7 caravan parks in a town of 6000 and the place is full of tourists at the moment, but it has a different feel to Broome. I went to the only chemist yesterday to get a prescription filled and the wait was 1 1/2 hours-I've never had to wait that long.

Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban arrived by private plane yesterday to start filming here and Hugh Jackman also arrived (but by domestic service, flying economy!) so the place is really buzzing over that. He might be here in the park, but I bet Nic isn't! Rumour has it she is staying out on Riverfarm Road in a house owned by someone who owns a diamond store in town!

Pandanas on the Lake


This morning we put the boat in the water and took a tour of Kunanurra lake. It was a beautiful morning and we saw lots of birds and crocs on our 22k or so trip. So much cheaper than the commercial tours too.
Reflections of Elephant Rock