Day 48 Kununurra, WA

 There are not too many places we haven't investigated around Kununurra and today we visited the last few places on our bucket list.  The first place we drove to was the southern side of the Ord River Irrigation area.  We flew over this area on our flight to the Bungles and it was pretty impressive from the air.  I'm glad we did this first, because we knew exactly where to drive too.  We drove past a mango orchard that was hundreds of acres and I can now see why this area is the biggest producer of mangoes in Australia.  The climate certainly lends itself to it.  There is some citrus growing here also but the only farm we saw was a small lime orchard.  There is also quite a bit of Rhodes grass being grown and baled in the area and we are going to visit a farm tomorrow that is doing just that.  The drive through this area is quite lovely.

Our next stop for the day was Ivanhoe Crossing across the Ord River.  The crossing was originally part of the main Kununurra to Wyndham road.  It's now used by fisherman to try their luck at catching the elusive Barramundi.  The crossing is fast flowing but while we were there we watched three cars make the crossing and the water is actually quite shallow.  There are salties in the waters here so no swimming.  It's a photographers dream as it's very picturesque.  When we returned to Kununurra we stopped in at the Ivanhoe Cafe for coffee and cake.  I loved the little "optimist" sign out the front of the shop.

The final thing we wanted to do today, and we had to wait until almost sunset to do it, was Kelly's Knob Lookout.  You may recall that we walked to the lower lookout on our first day but the sky was filled with smoke.  The grade 4 path to the higher lookout is a much harder trek.  It is very steep with lots of steps, someone said around 300, and although there are handrails in some sections, other sections there are none.  It took us around 20 minutes to get to the top and it was worth every step.  The 360 degree view from here is spectacular.  To the east is Mirima National Park, also know as Hidden Valley or the mini Bungle Bungles. To the south is Elephant Rock or Sleeping Buddha (whichever way you look at it) and to the west is the magnificent ranges.  Centre stage is of course Kununurra and the mighty Ord River. I will post a video to my instagram account if you care to watch.

Tomorrow is our last day in Kununurra and as I mentioned we are going to visit a friend of a friend who is baling Rhodes Grass in the Ord Irrigation Area.  It will be a great opportunity to ask a local the questions that have been bugging us.