Up the middle and a bit to the side: Thursday July 7th 2011 Kununurra

Yesterday was a lazy day after we arrived in Kununurra. Our site wasn't the best and was in the black blocks with a cherry-picker and cement mixer on the next site. Our neighbours were lovely and very helpful when we set up because the site was also on a slope, which led straight to the backwaters of Lake Kununurra.

site 1

The Sandalwood Shop at Mt Romance (what a cool name) was on the list of places to see. Someone had great foresight in developing sandalwood trees some 15 years ago (they take that long before the natural oils are extracted). Exotic fragrances grabbed us as soon as we entered the shop. Even Bobby got into testing different fragrances. Larrikin was pretty nice but he didn't want any.

I tried lots of facial creams and they did feel very light on the skin. I wasn't as strong as Bobby and bought some body splash, an all-round healing cream called Damage Control and some moisturiser. When we left, we smelt so good!

There are so many crops growing in this area. Rows upon rows of green, leafy produce that's been planted with such precision that Robert thinks GPS must be used because the rows are quite long.

Even though we're not spirit drinkers, we checked out The Hoochery, a legal still in WA producing rum. Just had to sample their mango rum fruit cake. Delish!

inside hoochery

Mangoes grow in abundance up here and at the moment they are in flower and smell delish. Due to the floods, most crops are late.

Near the end of the day, one of the park's managers bumped into Robert and asked how things were. This morning we were upgraded to a much nicer site. More shade, not so much dirt and closer to amenities.

A sign in the laundry advertised local produce to be bought at Emerald Mango Farm so we got some directions from a local and headed off.

This mango orchard with other crops scattered throughout was lovely. The avenue of gum trees mark a road with mango orchards on both sides. It looks cool, green and healthy. The flowers of the mango mean that there will be many to pick and the owner was hoping that some might fall off because they are hand-picked and there will plenty. The cold room was a welcome relief - it got warm here today - 31.

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Emerald Mango Farm

Robert checked out the pool again today even though it was cold in the water. At least he's clean!

Nice sunset over the lake with many people sitting in deck chairs on the bank of the lake. A 5ft freshie was on the bank earlier in the day. With many unpowered sites near here, I figure if the freshies do change their diet, the tent people will go first.