We Break The Jeep & Enjoy An Extended Layover in Friendly Kununurra

In my last post I mentioned that the roads out to Purnululu (the Bungles) and to Wolfe Creek were pretty rough. I think whoever left this graffiti on the Purnululu informational map probably had a similar experience to us…

There were a few bull dust holes and not-flush cattle grids that rattled the Jeep, one in particular pretty hard, causing us to look at each other with that apprehensive “uh oh” look right after we hit it.

I know what you’re thinking – were we going too fast? – and it’s a fair question, as most tourers know, driving corrugated roads is a fine balance between “too fast” and “not fast enough”. Too slow and you and your vehicle feel every corrugation over many hours of driving 20km/h trying to get through a 60km road. Too fast and you ‘float’ over the corrugations and minimise discomfort and time spent, but risk compromising reaction time to obstacles. All I can say is that we are more cautious than most given we need to live in our vehicle for the next year, and we always drive to the conditions to the best of our abilities (and obviously, always under the speed limit!)

After the big bump, we checked all around and under the Jeep and didn’t see anything amiss. We checked again at a fuel stop and again didn’t spot anything. But once we hit Kununurra and checked her out again before what we thought was a brief stop to re-supply and then head out to the Gibb River Road, we knew we wouldn’t be going any further…

We limped to the closest campground and booked in, letting them know we had no idea how long we’d be staying, but that it would probably be at least a week. I’m writing this nearly four weeks later from the same campground. Having arrived at the campground on a Sunday, there were no shops open, so there was nothing to be done except go and check out a local restaurant for dinner and a few drinks. The Pump House was our first introduction to Kununurra, and the cold beer, wood fired pizzas, and live entertainment wasn’t such a bad way to begin our (unknown to us) extended stay!

We were hoping the damage was limited to the ball joints, which would’ve been a fairly easy repair. Sadly, the following day, our issue was diagnosed as the worst case scenario we imagined: a cracked axle housing, resulting in needing to replace the housing, the axle, the ball joints, and the steering stabiliser.

Such a massive repair meant that we knew we’d be grounded for a while, best case 3 weeks worst case 6 weeks (if the rains started and roads started getting closed, or if key parts were out of stock). Many discussions ensued centering around what we should do with our time – we talked about going to Canada, going to New Zealand, hiring a campervan and exploring the Kimberley, going back to Darwin, back to Bali, etc etc…in the end, the remoteness of this location and our finances meant that we decided to just hunker down right here in Kununurra.

We did get an air conditioned cabin though – one week camping in the heat was quite enough for us, even with a pool in the campground. The nights are quite stifling, only getting down to the lows around 3am or 4am, and it heats up quickly in the mornings. Even a cold shower is out of reach – the water that comes out of the taps is warm.

So, what have we occupied our time with in Kununurra for the last 4-ish weeks??

• Lots of FaceTime and phone call dates with friends and family (we are really missing everyone!)
• I caught up on blog posts (yahoo!!), I was about six weeks behind so that was awesome
• We applied for Australian citizenship (the lead up to which was exciting as we’ve been waiting for a year to be able to do so, but now…we just have to wait)
• We did our taxes (in Australia these are due on 31 October)
• Jeep & Camp Setup Projects:
  • Squidgy little maintenance stuff – we rattled loose several pegs holding the grille on the front and needed to replace them, one of our Anderson plugs needed to be replaced, one of our hood latches had rattled itself apart so we also replaced the pair, and the tent had lost a couple of screws (also due to corrugation rattles)
  • Vacuumed and cleaned the interior of the Jeep from top to bottom, and polished the chrome wheels
  • Installed interior lighting in the back of the Jeep (awesome for cooking at night)
  • Fixed the drop-down tailgate table in the back as one of the supporting cables had been badly frayed.
  • Wired up a rooftop power box that Nick installed a couple of months ago, which will help us with power to the tent and exterior lighting.
  • Added some loops and a pole to our awning wall so that it sits nicely spread out.

We also checked out Tuesday night trivia at the Kununurra Hotel, and made a great group of friends (and it didn’t hurt that we won two out of three weeks too!)

We also were lucky to happen to meet a couple who had spent a lot of time in Canada, recognised our Canadian accents as we ordered a drink, and offered to take us around Kununurra for some sight-seeing! We had a blast checking out the town, spending a day out on the river, and checking out a few of the local pubs and restaurants with them. Here’s a short video of the day we spent out on the river with them – this part of the country is so beautiful!

We picked up the Bumblebeast yesterday after nearly 4 weeks in Kununurra and 2 weeks of not having her, and needless to say, while we love the people we met and experiences we had in Kununurra, the road is calling to us and we’re super pumped to get back onto the road and continue our adventures around Oz!!

But first – A goodbye happy hour for us to bid farewell (for now) to our Kununurra friends, and for them to get one last glimpse of Nick’s epic hair until we return in April to tackle the Gibb River Road!!