After eight days in Kununurra we said goodbye to the township and started down the highway towards Halls Creek, a journey of 360km. We followed the magnificent Cockburn Range, with its rugged beauty, before reaching the junction that would take us south towards Halls Creek along the Great Northern Highway.
The soaring red mountain ranges that we had been so used to looking out over the past week were now changing to smaller ranges but no less beautiful. The vegetation changed a little to Coolibah, Native Bauhinia and Boab's and the grasses in between these trees looked to us like it would be good cattle pasture. It was also a steady climb from Kununurra at an elevation of 47 metres to 422 metres at Halls Creek. The road was spectacularly good for 90 percent of our journey today. It looks to us like it was upgraded fairly recently. Another great thing about this highway is the phone service. There are mobile towers right along the highway and you are rarely out of signal. Queensland take note.
We came upon the turn-off to Ridges Mine that shutdown a year or so ago. It was owned by KMP (Kimberley Mining Project) and produced lower grade iron ore that was not feasible to mine when iron ore prices dropped.
Our journey took us past the properties newly acquired by Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest agribusiness, Harvest Road. Mabel Downs and Springvale together with Texas Downs run 35,000 cattle over 1.5 million acres.
The little township of Warmun, that is home to the Wungkul people, was the next place we drove through. It is quiet and tiny and well kept. We then passed a sign pointing towards Frog Hollow Wurrenranging that is another small aboriginal community close to the Savannah Nickel Mine. The mine, in conjunction with Gija Trust, have come up with a project that is helping kids who have not met the early literacy standards. It involves having a full time teacher on site who conducts one-on-one lessons with the students.
It surprised us when we saw a sign pointing to the left, Bungle Bungles Savannah Lodge"- 71km. We have driven a long way south but we didn't realise we were so close to the Bungles. It was tempting to turn down the road 😉
Once again we crossed the mighty Ord River that starts in the Albert Edward Range. It winds its way through the Kimberleys for over 500km. After 5 hours on the road and a short lunch stop, we arrive into Halls Creek. Halls Creek sits on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert and is a small services town with communities of Kija, Jaru and Gooniyandi peoples. First opinion of Halls Creek......I like it!
We unhitched the van and did the same old same old setup and then Philip suggested we go for a drive. We needed fuel so it was a good opportunity. I had read about the China Wall just 6 kms outside Halls Creek so that was our destination. This is the online description:
"China Wall is a natural vein of sub-vertical white quartz rising up to 6 metres above the surrounding country in places. This striking formation transects the country for many kilometres, rising high out of the ground and then disappearing back into the earth again."
It was worth the drive. It is both unusual and unique and very striking. The white quartz can be seen from a great distance away. We didn't have the right shoes on our feet to walk very far and we could see that clambering over the rocky surface would be tricky in thongs. So we wandered where we could, and then made our way back into town.
We stopped at the local IGA for some fruit, because all I could get in Kununurra yesterday was oranges. What a pleasant surprise to find this store stocked to the brim with every variety of fruit available for this time of the year, even plums! I now have enough fruit to make a large fruit salad to go with my yoghurt tomorrow morning. We don't have to set sail too early tomorrow as it is only 289 kms to Fitzroy Crossing, our next destination.
Here is a very short GoPro video of Halls Creek.......
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