Wyndham WA

Beautiful downtown Wyndham - Western Australia's most northern town.  It used to be the main port for exporting cattle (dead ones) but that has been superseded by the mining industry.  There is an iron ore mine not far from town and the road trains cart the ore into the port o be loaded onto barges and then loaded onto the ship which sits in the middle of the river. The iron ore must be worth an extravagant amount of money for them to go to so much effort to export it.

There is a lookout just out of town called the Five Rivers Lookout.  Naturally one can see five rivers from this spot which is at an altitude of 350metres.  The Ord, King, Pentecost, Durack and Forrest Rivers all join up within a couple klms of town.  The view is spectacular with the mountains falling straight down onto the mudflats and then the river.

Looking south

Looking north

The southern view takes in the Port of Wyndham, the King, Pentecost and Durack Rivers and the northern view is of the Forrest and Ord Rivers as well as the mudflats.

We put poor old Tuf Cat in for a paddle yesterday.  Thought we might do some fishing but then thought better of it.  To start with, the tide was running so fast when we first put her in that she stuck to the pontoon at the boat ramp and then the water itself was like liquid mud.  We were surprised that her propellers were able to work it seemed that thick.  We spent a couple of hours on the water - just cruising and having a look particularly at the iron ore boat and then headed back to the boat ramp before the tide went out completely.

And that again was an effort as we were nearly stuck on the pontoon again with the strong flow of water.  Our boating skills enabled us to wrench free and safely put Tuf Cat back onto her trailer!

Muddy Waters!!

Loading the Iron Ore from Barge to Boat

Extra Muddy Boat Ramp at Lowe Tide

 The boat on the right hand side was actually floating when we put Tuf Cat in a few hours earlier!!  The Turtle and Tuf Cat both had to have an extra special wash down when we got back to the caravan park - the mud was very, very fine and very sticky.  Fortunately, The Deckie didn't have to put her feet into it at the boat ramp, unlike The Captain.  But he is tough!!!

Today, Saturday, we are heading south towards Halls Creek and checking out the scenery there as we head towards our final destination of Broome.

See you soon.