Australia day 39 – Wyndham, WA

We are always on the hunt for a power point to charge up laptops, camera, monkey etc and it can be quite a challenge when you are camping (impossible on free sites, of course). We end up on the computer in some unusual places as a result. Kitchens are the best place, but not many sites here have them, then there’s the laundry and sometimes even the shower block, but it’s necessary to take a chair. On some of the quieter sites, we leave our stuff charging, but on others we sit either blogging or, in Andy’s case, playing games and kill two birds with one stone. But you can get some funny looks! We caught up with an old boy we camped alongside in Spring Vale (Katherine) today. He’d also arrived here via Kununnurra and wasn’t too impressed with the Wyndham site, but what had really pissed him off was being pulled over by the police for not wearing a seat belt and fined….$450 (£225)!!! The crocodile farm in Wyndham has feeding time at 11.am so we decide that if we can’t get to see a ‘saltie’ in the wild we will just have to pay to see one in captivity – after all we can’t come all the way to northern Australia and leave without having seen one. The tour is worth every cent! The farm’s breeds crocs for their prized underbelly skin which is sold mainly to France for Gucci shoes and handbags. Apparently the estuarine croc is only found in Australia and their skin is highly valued by the fashion industry. As a sideline, the farm runs daily tours of their breeders. There are 30 magnificent adult corcs looking deceptively docile as they rest, submerged and absolutely still just under the surface of the water. But this belies the speed and ferocity with which they can launch themselves several feet in the air to seize any food that might be on offer. There agility, speed and sheer bulk and power is awesome. Some are in the smallest of pools, completely undetectable until the food brings them flyig up through the water in the blink of an eye. It brings home just how vulnerable you can be standing on the edge of even the most innocuous-looking little outback pool. There is an internet cafe tucked away in a residential street and we spend some time researching our onward travels. India is top of the list at the moment, although according to all the information the summer months are the worst time to visit – too hot and wet – all but the hill stations in the north and Kashmir. So it maybe Kashmir – although the air fare from here seem incredibly expensive (as is all air travel from Oz). We need to organise visas and further jabs. We are waiting for the Indian embassy to confirm that we can get visas in Perth, but despite sending several emails they don’t seem to be inclined to respond. On the other hand we have received a reply at last from Wicked. They would be happy to undertake a full service on the van in…. Alice Springs!! We point out that this is just a tad out of our way. (Someone hasn’t bothered to read our correspondence or they would be aware we are on our way to Perth via Broome.) We await further instructions! As the sun starts to set we head for the Five Rivers Lookout aka The Bastion Lookout. 350 m above sea level. The panorama is amongst the most spectacular we have seen with far-reaching views of the Cambridge Gulf midflats and the five rivers that converge in this area. Once again the emptiness of this vast country is just staggering. But despite that, it is still hard to be alone for very long and we are soon joined by several other people who have come to watch another beautiful sunset..