OK first post - currently waiting in the QP (Qantas Pub aka Qantas business lounge) for our 10:15am flight to Darwin. We had an amazing trip to the airport (20 minutes) then the fastest check-in ever.
We arrived in Darwin at 2:30pm local time (-30 minutes time difference) and took a taxi to the SkyCity Casino Hotel. Check-in was a bit confused when the agent asked us to wait while housekeeping checked the room - after waiting 5 minutes and seeing other people get their keys immediately I made a fuss. The net of it was we got a different room with a bit of an upgrade - ocean instead of parking lot views.
We went to the pool for a dip and some relaxing then hit the SandBar for sundowners - we weren’t disappointed - a wonderful sunset with balmy conditions. It was the best ever weather in Darwin - 27C on arrival and low humidity. We had dinner at Il Piatto, the Italian restaurant at the hotel - it was OK, not great but not too expensive either.
Thursday - June 12
Off to Kununurra today on the 10:50am fight. We arrived and checked-in to the Freshwater apartments - all very nice. We walked into town and did a bit if a reco (Coles) then had lunch at the Kimberly Grand (which is conveniently location next to the Freshwater). We went back to the airport to pick up our Budget 4WD for our trip to the Bungles the following day. Back at the ranch we went shopping and had a dinner of self-catered sambos before hitting the sack pretty early (8:00pm for me - jet-lag there is a 2 hours time difference with Sydney).
Friday - June 13
We got up early, had a light brekkie at home then set off for the 5 hour drive to the Bungles. We made great time as the road was in very good condition (for 50+k’s of gravel with many creek crossings). We arrived at the APT camp around 2:00pm and had our picnic lunch (left over sambos from the night before) then a short siesta. We booked a helicopter tour for the following morning then drove to Piccaninny for a look see - then back to the camp for sundowners and dinner. The very warm day (high of 25C) gave way to a very cold evening and an even colder night (low of 8℃ in our tent). Dinner was pretty good - canapé entrees (tempura snapper and garlic prawns) followed by steak, potatoes and veggies. We sat with a couple from Perth on a 2 month roadie.
Saturday - June 14
After a freezing cold night, the birds woke us before 5am - around 6am I had a very hot shower then dressed and went out on our deck - the sun had risen and it was warming up. I headed up to the main lodge to get some hot coffee to sip on our deck while warming up in the sun. We had brekkie at 7am - pretty good fare - lots of fruit, cereal and hot offerings which were pretty good. We took our 42 minute helicopter tour at 9am - Dieter sat in the back seat and was freezing - I had had the co-pilot spot which was much less breezy and warmer. The views over the bungles were amazing - our photos not so much so.
After the helicopter tour we drove over to Piccaninny (about 25K’s), parked and did some of the walks around the beehive formations - we had a box lunch at Piccaninny in between walks. Somewhat hot and tired we headed back to camp around 2:30pm for showers and relaxing.
Dinner was a repeat of the previous evening - only fried haloumi and turkish bread etc for appetisers then moroccan chicken for dinner.
Sunday - June 15
Another freezing nights - 4℃ when we got up. After lots of hot coffee and brekkie we headed over to the other accessible area, Echidna and Bloodwoods, where we did couple of excellent walks - particularly the chasm at Echidna and the walk at Bloodwoods where there were lots of palm trees growing right out of the rocks. We had a picnic lunch in between walks. We made a couple more stops on the way back to camp (about 30K’s - you do lots of driving in the park).
Again it was showers, sundowners and exactly the same dinner as the first night - meals are on a 2-day rotation at the camp as the tours only stay 2 nights.
Monday - June 16
Another freezing night - then up early for a 8:30 am departure for the drive back to Kununurra We made great time arriving at the Freshwater around 1:00pm. We had our picnic lunch then went into town to buy supplies for dinner and brekkie - Dieter returned the car (complete with small scratch on rear bumper caused on arrival at APT when backing into a parking spot he hit a light) while I started the washing.
We stayed home of a meagre dinner of ham, Boursin and smoked salmon sandwiches - looking forward to some gourmet fare at El Questro.