The Pump House turned out to be real surprise last night, serving up an excellent meal in such an unexpected location (an old irrigation pump house in Kununurra). Fortunately we shared an entree and dessert, with Wendy choosing the duck breast and Chris choosing the pork rack for mains. The serves were generous, plating up was interesting and engaging and the food was a treat to eat. We bumped into our neighbours from the caravan and retired to their annex (BYO chair) for coffee from their espresso maker and some chocolates we had stashed away in the Tvan.
With nothing planned and a late and enjoyable night behind us, sleeping in was not a challenge. It was not until 7.15am when we rose to another sunny day. A late start by our standards, after a number of weeks on the road. Being the last chance for some time to get washing done, Wendy commandeered a vacant washing machine and we can now both look forward to clean clothes and bedding for the next few days. A luxury with so much dust about!
Chris backed up more photos and video clips and recharged the various cameras, phones, camping lights, etc. The wheels on the Tvan even got a wash, but that was mainly to check that the the wheel nuts remained properly tightened after the extended corrugated and rough rocky roads and tracks. Everything was fine and the white wheels are white again (for a while).
A walk was in order before lunch, if only to walk off some of the excesses from last night. The road outside our caravan park heads towards the diversion dam wall some kilometres away; turning from a sealed road that passes the Pump House, past the Kununurra Golf Club, before becoming a gravel walking track through the golf course and an area of “everglades” that share a boundary with the Ord River. The walk went for some kilometres before terminating in a green, shady picnic area and swimming “beach” beside the dam wall. The smell of a fruiting cluster-fig tree is distinctive and unforgettable. We first encountered them at Lawn Hill National Park, where their fruit dropped into the water with a loud “plopping” noise that initially had us wondering what was jumping in the water. One such tree was fruiting heavily and it’s scent carried on the breeze – a sweet, ripe fig smell that is sure to attract the fruit bats in the evening.
We returned to camp and have spent the afternoon watching people come and go. Sites have been vacated and others occupied, with all eyes on who has arrived, how they go about setting up and what gadgets they find it necessary to travel with. One camp site opposite finds it necessary to have two satellite dishes pointed skyward as well as a conventional TV antenna. Another neighbour spent longer setting up their TV, antenna, set top box and various cables and power leads than they did their entire caravan, annex and outdoor tables and chairs. The TV has been on constantly even though no one has spent more than a minute watching it. Maybe I’m missing the point and it’s less about entertaining yourself and the kids and more about showing off that you have all the mod cons in your set up.
Our new neighbours to the south, also in a Tvan, spent an enormous time with a spirit level making sure there was a level of precision (in the setting up of their home on wheels) that is normally reserved for the manufacture of fine Swiss watches. Many vehicles and caravans have received the level of attention normally only delivered as part of a full detailing service, even though they received the same degree of care and attention a few days prior.
The sound of NRL and AFL games being played out on the east coast are echoing around the caravan park, with AFL appearing to be the preferred code. The sounds all blend together and as a result, we think Freo are beating the Rabbitos! The day is drawing to a close, the mosquitoes are stirring for another night of grazing on campers, and the first fruit bats are passing overhead on their way, possibly to the cluster fig tree we spotted earlier.