Australia, the return, part 2

From Kakadu we drove to Katherine, picking up our friends and travel companions, Norbert and Catherine. After a night there including a few refreshing beverages we drove to Kununura, via the WA biosecurity border checkpoint. Having settled into our second caravan park of the trip we got up bright and early the next morning and headed first to Kelly's Knob for sunrise and then on to Mirima National Park, a small but delightful little oasis.

The park is sandstone escarpment, with lots of sedmentary layers and is home to the Sandstone Shrike-Thrush, which we saw boldly perched and singing on this our fifth distinct attempt to see the species!

The park has a walking track that takes you through the colourful landscape. By 8am it was already heading to 30c in this the 'dry hot' part of the tropical seasons in the Kimberley.

The landscape is clearly very old and indeed very eye-catching.

We along with most other visitors were looking for both the Sandstone Shrike-Thrush and also the Chestnut-quilled Rock-pigeon, we finally saw a small group feeding on the ground before the sunshine hit, and were able to point them out to some other folks on the trail

It's a lovely wee spot, well worth a visit.

We also saw Red-winged Fairy-wren

And a vocal Western Bowerbird

We explored other spots around Kununura, separately and together but all agreed on taking a boat trip on Lake Argyle. It was probably the best value activity we did on the whole trip. They provided a bus to and from the town, the boat trip, crackers, nibbles, cheeses, cold beer, a fun commentary and a memorable trip. First stop these Short-eared Rock-wallabies:

The lake itself gave the impression of being an 'infinity pool', it's a vast man-made freshwater lake that is fractionally used for agriculture, fishing, etc., although it looks like it will drive more exploitation of the land through cotton production next.

Some of the tree remnants from the damming and flooding

The tour was properly enjoyable and was used by those who swam for a couple of dips, this one as the sun headed down. Catherine and Nortbert were among the silhouettes in the water, we were drinking beer aboard!

Before leaving a glorious sunset skyscape

Another spot we checked out was Ivanhoe Crossing, unsafe on foot due to Salties and not looking that safe in a 4WD to be fair! We kept a safe distance....

Frum Kununurra we visited Marlgu Billabong, stopping at the ruins of a homestead in the middle of a busy and noisy flock of Zebra Finch

At the junction for the BIllabong a Galah was feeding on the ground, for once alone instead of in a noisy gregarious flock that we're used to seeing them in.

The Billabong is a famous site for the Australian Painted-snipe and Gouldian Finch so unfortunately we weren't able to stay for too long but we did see Monarch's using lilly's as foraging perches

Together with Grebes (here), Pygymy Geese, freshwater terns, etc.,

together with the photogenic Australian Pelican

On the roadside we finally saw our first Cockatiel (here) and Budgerigars acting like the leaves on a tree just like we'd read about. Our first visit in the 10th year of drought saw none of these birds, however after three good years of rain the flocks were back and the birds adundant.

From Kununura we headed next to Halls Creek and a compound that was more of a gilded cage. This whole region of Australia has experienced a spike in copycat crime focused on cars and burglaries so the hotel is fenced and caged with security access at every point. We spent our day here (instead of at the Bungle Bungles but that's another story) driving out on the dirt road to Sawpit Gorge and then heading back.

We'd started out early again, to make the most of the cooler part of the day, driving along the road as the sun rose and the smoke haze from the recent controlled burn was clearing

We scrambled, walked, mooched and climbed our way around the gorge, stopping for a slightly sweaty tour selfie on the way

On the road to and from Halls Creek a number of abdandoned and indeed decaying vehicles can be found

In various spots

And in various states

We visited the 'wall of china', a horizontal quartz seam that runs throughout this part of the Kimberley, there's a number of places that carry this name from rocky outcrops to chains of sand dunes...

We visited the site of old Halls Creek, the flying doctor memorial and another place for abandoned buildings, vehicles, machinery, etc.

We stopped at a small gorge with a pool no one would swim in (especially given the croc sightings) however White-quilled Rock-pigeon were surprisingly confiding and easy to see, unexpected!

From Halls Creek we drove as fast as possible through Fitroy Crossing and on to Derby, catching the sunset over the town jetty, the smoke of a growing fire to the south adding to the effect of the fading light

The next morning we visited Munkajarra Wetland, another misty morning

with golden light on the water

highlighting the many birds including this White-necked Heron

As the day warmed and air cleared butterflies came out to warm

and to feed. Our stop at Derby was brief but enjoyable, from there it was onwards, further West towards Broome...