Gregory’s tree and Kunnunuru

Shortly after leaving Timber Creek we came across information boards telling us about Augustus Gregory, an early explorer in the region. We decided to follow a track which took us to the Victoria River and Gregory’s tree.

The mouth of the Victoria River had been discovered in 1839 by Captain John Wickham and Lt. Stokes, who sailed in the Beagle. (is this the same Beagle that Charles Darwin sailed in?) They didn’t go far up the river, so it was not until 1855 that the river proper was starting to be explored.

Gregory sailed up the Victoria in his ship the Tom Tough, and severely damaged it on rocks at this point. They decided to make camp while repairs were made, and Gregory explored the region on foot over the following year.

The result of this exploration was the discovery of prime grazing lands, and shortly afterwards pastoralists brought their cattle to settle the area.

The camp is marked by an ancient Boab Tree which is carved with Gregory’s name and the date of his arrival at the site.

He had many other claims to fame, he invented a pack saddle that replaced the standard English horse furniture and enabled the horse to sweat and become free if she stumbled, he dehydrated and compacted food to  lighten the load for his horses, and also invented a patent compass that can be used on horseback.

Later we had to cross the border into West Australia, which involved passing through a checkpoint where they took all our fruit and veg off us, WA has strict quarantine rules to prevent the spread of disease in those products, however we knew in advance so we had very little with us.

As we passed the border we had to reset our clocks one and a half hours back, which now means it is light at 5am and goes dark at 5-30pm. Not good- but it will improve as we travel west.

We were traveling some 350k to Kunnunura, a small town originally built to service the irrigation area around Lake Kunnunuru, which was formed after a dam was built there in the 50s. Originally just cotton was grown there, but after the fall in the price of cotton in the 50s other crops such as mangos, wheat and sugar cane came to the fore.

Still a very small town, with just one supermarket of note and a few other shops, ( but a great fish and chip shop!) we had a couple of nights there in a cabin to give us a housekeeping day.

We had hoped to move down to the Bungle Bungles, last year we were disappointed because it was closed because of a fire. Blow me- exactly the same this year! So to kill a bit of time while we see if they reopen it we took ourselves up to Lake Argyll, some 75k up the River Ord from the town.