After leaving the Bungle Bungles, we pushed on north towards Wyndham – the most northern town in WA. School holidays are in full swing and now the borders are all well and truly open, the towns are certainly busy and caravan parks full with travellers from NT and QLD on a quick trip for school holidays. We managed to find a nature reserve with availability, a little out of the way and it turned out to be an absolute gem of a location for a few days.

Every morning, Parry Creek Farm provide a free tour with one of their indigenous guides – Alfie. At 7.30 on our first morning we set off in our car in convoy with maybe 18 other cars, to hear more about the local area. Whilst 18 cars may have been a large crowd, it really didn’t matter and Alfie was the kind of person who had everyone’s attention. His knowledge of the local flora and fauna was captivating and we all came away with some new facts and understanding of the local environment and its connection to the culture of the area. Finlay had been procrastinating on one of his final school projects for the term, where he had to chose a tree and make a poster with facts about it. He had chosen the Boab tree to draw but hadn’t quite gotten around to the facts. Thankfully Alfie came to the rescue and gave us all the information he needed like how all parts of the tree are used. The leaves can be used in salad and the fruit can be eaten. The trunk soaks up water during the wet season and swells to retain moisture during the dry. In times gone by, Aboriginal people would tap into the Boab trees and use the fibres inside the trunk as a water supply. They even used the roots to make fishing line! School project done – time for more exploring!

One of our travelling companions had been given a recommendation for a place called ‘Secret Spring’ which apparently included some pretty cool 4WD action and the last 8km of the journey had been reported to take up to an hour for some people! Off we set, in convoy with another family we have met along the road, to check out silent spring. As promised, the drive offered plenty of 4WD fun for Andy and a few deep creek crossings!

We eventually made it to the clearing and ‘car park’ to find only four other cars. Clearly not a total secret but certainly a hidden gem. The springs were set in layers in the rock and someone had kindly installed a rope to help you climb up one of the rock faces to the next level of pools. Lots of fun exploring and swimming in croc free water.

Driving in the Kimberley always means dust!

The next day we decided to take a drive out to Emma Gorge. Far from the serenity of Secret Spring, Emma Gorge is well and truly on the travel itinerary guides and is a well known tourist destination. The hike (or rock scramble) takes about 30 to 40 minutes to get to the gorge, which is surrounded by huge towering cliffs.

It’s pretty but cold (and busy). We hung around for a swim and then made the trip back down to the cars. We can’t complain about crowds as we are part of them, but it did feel a little busier than what we have been used to.

We had planned to try and spend some time around Kununurra but our timing (and lack of advance booking) meant all the caravan parks in town were full. We still managed to tick off one of the key highlights of the area… the Ivanhoe Crossing of the Ord River.

Almost four months to the day since we arrived in the vast state of WA, it’s time to cross the state border and find out what the NT has in store for us!