our day out to Wyndham

Leaving our van at the park we had a day trip to Wyndham just over 100kms away on the coast.  The Victoria Highway finally ended about 60km out of town at the turnoff south to Halls Creek (that is our direction tomorrow when we leave).  The highway south and continuing on to Wyndham is now the Northern Highway.    The Gibb River Road ends approx.10km further along past this junction and we had to do a left turn to drive onto the start of this adventurous road.  This is the way to the well-known El Questro resort.  Highly recommended only for 4wd’s and off road campers as it is all dirt with river crossings and corrugations etc, we turned back to the bitumen to travel on towards Wyndham.

Our first stop (for our cuppa) is at the Grotto.  

This is just a couple of kms off the highway (all bitumen) and steps have been built to allow access to the pools at the bottom of the ‘gorge’?  The info states that the water is thought to be 300 feet deep, so considering the depth to the water in the first place it seems amazing.  The discolouration of the surrounding rock is due to the water that falls during the wet season.  Wouldn’t the waterfalls be spectacular?

We drove on to Wyndham which is a small township with the port facility built a few kms further on.   Driving up to the Five Rivers Lookout we just marvelled at the view. 

Wyndham

We looked down on the port and out to the surrounding area.  During the wet season I imagine the area would be totally covered in water as the 5 rivers, Forrest, Durack, Pentecost, King and Ord, flow into the channel before entering Cambridge Gulf.

looking down onto the port wharf and flood plain

looking north

On the way home we were able to stop off at the Diversion Dam on the western side of Kununurra.  We had driven over the bridge (currently closed down to one lane) on the way out however there was no-where to pull over until our return trip and the view was worth it.

Tomorrow we head out southwards with our next big stop to be in the Broome area.  We plan to utilise quite a few free camps between here and there but our first ‘must do’ is the Bungle Bungles.