Thursday 29th May
We got packed up and left the campsite at Fitzroy Crossing at 07.00, and continued on our journey east. We were passing through an area of WA known as 'The Kimberley', a vast area of wilderness with the odd place of interest thrown in, and which has a strong aboriginal presence (which you don't necessarily get everywhere in Australia). It includes the 'Bungle Bungle' National Park which has only become a tourist destination in recent decades, and which is famous for its weird rock formations. We weren't due to stop in the 'Bungle Bungle', but we were passing close by on our way to Kununurra, where we were due to stay for the next two nights.
We expected another long, uneventful day of driving ahead of us, and that is what we got. We didn't stop during the day except to get some provisions in Halls Creek, one of the small towns we came across and which has a large presence of aboriginals than most towns. The whole aboriginal thing is quite a strange topic; many of the indigenous people just seem to sit about, on grass or under trees, not doing very much. It seems like the majority of the aboriginal people have struggled to adapt to life under the rule of those who came to colonise Australia centuries ago, despite the fact that this was their land for over 40,000 years before Captain Cook arrived.
There seems to be a fair amount of tension between the 'Europeans' and the aboriginals, the former accusing the latter of being drunken layabouts (and drinking seems to play a big part in their lives, but they can't cope with it very well either), and the latter accusing the former of destroying their ancient culture and way of life. It's not easy for an outsider to comment on, but it does seem like a sad scenario, particularly for the indigenous people whose culture is under threat of disappearing in the not too distant future.
I got the impression that there were a lot of non-indigenous people who were happy to exploit the aboriginal culture – especially the artwork that they produce – for their own financial gain. That morning, we visited the 'Larri Gallery' which is part of a program that helps an aboriginal community in the outback to create their own revenue and support themselves and other self-sustaining projects in the area. It was a way of empowering the aboriginal people and some of the artwork that was on display was very interesting, most of which was used to convey images of food gathering, hunting, and about life in the bush in general.
We drove on through the nothingness towards the town of Wyndham (100km northwest of Kununurra town), near to where we were staying for the following two nights. We stopped at the 'Five Rivers Lookout' to watch the sunset at a spectacular sight which looked down onto the 'King River' and the smaller rivers that fed into it. The larger river dominated the skyline which was a really beautiful brownish red, set against the deep blue of the upper sky.
We finally arrived at our accommodation just as the sun disappeared for the night, at a place called 'Parry's Creek Farm', and here we found a place with very comfortable four-bed dorms, a good kitchen, all of which was set in the midst of a very remote part of the outback. Daniele, Thomas and I cooked up a really tasty barbecue (well, Daniele did most of the cooking) and we enjoyed a relaxing evening before turning in for a typically early night in the outback.
