Kununurra April 2011

 After our lovely cruise on Lake Argyle , it was time to move on to Kununurra.
We stayed at Hidden Valley caravan park and were pleasantly surprised to receive a seniors discount automatically. We have stayed here before and found it to be a reasonably priced park close to the shops etc but rather quiet and with a reasonable swimming pool.
 One of our main objectives for both Mike and Kerry and us was to collect mail which we had organised to be sent from interstate. Mike was waiting for a new keyboard and I was waiting for some wool to be sent.
However the mail had not arrived by Easter so we had to stay some extra time in Kununurra.

 We put this time to good use to allow us to see a few sights we hadn't seen before which included a visit to the Sandalwood factory where we had a wonderful mango smoothie. In fact we tried Mango smoothies in a number of places and still reckoned this place did the best ones. We also revisited Ivanhoe Crossing and found that  the water was still very high.



Floodwaters at Ivanhoe Crossing



Below Diversion Dam



 While staying at Hidden Valley we took the opportunity to take an early morning walk in the Hidden Valley national park which we accessed through the back of the park. This allowed us to visit a few places that were blocked off if you came through the main entrance,although we were not aware that this would happen before setting off.

Hidden Valley as seen from Caravan park



 Hidden Valley national park

 One day while Kerry was shopping she met a lady who runs a Kangaroo Rescue Centre and she invited us to visit and help feed the animals. The animals were mainly wallabies but some kangaroos and came in all sizes from small ones with hardly any fur to bigger ones that were nearing release. Out the back she had a number of animals that weren't for release as they were blind or impaired in some way that precluded their release. 2 wallabies were  wearing casts after having their broken legs fixed.



 Mike ,Kerry and owner feeding the wallabies



 one of the many orphans



 Nankeen Kestral



Baby sugar glider

 This is a voluntary operation that relies on donations from visitors. Her house was overflowing with all the orphan creatures. It was only a duplex unit but had a large backyard that was being utilized to the max.
As the photos show not only were there wallabies but also a sugar glider and a Kestrel. The owners also had 2 very large dogs that were extremely tolerant of all the extra animals that their owners were caring for. They had plans to move to 40 acres which I'm sure would ease the overcrowding considerably.

During our time in Kununurra we also visited the Zebra rock gallery and saw the catfish at the fish feeding area below the gallery. We enjoyed our time in Kununurra as we were ahead of most of the tourists but were disappointed to find a lot of attractions still closed.