Saturday
Rob decided to get his haircut; he was offered an appointment on Thursday .. c’est la vie! Robert suggested, in true Rob fashion, that we had time to visit the Rum Distillery. It was 1030, and his flight left at 1230 or thereabouts. We opted instead for a wander beside Lake Kununurra and admired the massive baobob and the newly constructed boat launching area. We dropped Rob at the airport, and after two fantastic weeks travelling together, I was sad to see him go. Thanks for your company and your amazing cooking but please, please find some new jokes!
Duncan and I spent a productive and enjoyable (ha, bloody, ha) afternoon cleaning out the interior of the car; we had a good proportion of the Tanimi Road in the car.
Sunday
We decided to take a run down to Lake Argyll, a lake formed by damming the Ord River, to create the Ord River Scheme for irrigation and power generation. The landscape was typical of this region – rugged yellow and orange crags and hills, marching off into the distance. We soon reached the caravan park, which overlooks the lake, and has a great infinity pool. Then, we drove across the dam wall – basically a very large pile of rocks – and watched a boat tour depart downriver with the ever attendant sound of the continuous commentary that is the hallmark of many such tours. After a quick swim in the lake – not the river – and an unplanned dip of my hearing aids, we drove back to Kununurra. The hearing aids were working intermittently, but I am glad to say have now fully recovered. The afternoon was spent grocery shopping.
In the evening, we attended a concert at Waringarri Aboriginal Arts. The first performance was a series of dances by local Indigenous people, which was absolutely dire. They appeared to repeat the same dance about 15 times to the accompaniment of a very indifferent didgeridoo player and singer. [Admittedly, I know nothing of aborignal dancing etc but this was simply boring.] The second part of the evening was by a group called Sonus, currently touring the Kimberley. This was a varied and excellent performance including: a marvellous didgeridoo player, and other very talented instrumentalists and singers. I quote from the programme: (The) “2019 Sonus Tour brings together Indigenous musical icons Naomi Pigram and Mark Atkins, with a colourful ensemble of instrumentalists from around Australia. This is a program of original new music created in collaboration with some of Australia’s finest musicians, coming together for this tour including cellist Judith Hamann, clarinetist Aviva Endean and flautist Tos Mahoney. New songs, new works and new arrangements feature in a program grown out of these creative collaborations, reflecting the Kimberley communities and landscape traveled to.” It was a fantastic concert despite the quite chilly evening.
Monday
Mainly preparations for our impending departure to places west, then south, then east, including: (more) shopping, getting the 240V outlet in the car (not) fixed, and packing up the trailer. It aint all fun and games on a tour of the outback.
