Kununurra



Kununurra is a small town built on big dreams. In a remote corner of the vast Kimberley region of Western Australia, its unaffected pastoral feel makes a comfortable base from which to explore the majestic natural attractions in the rugged surrounding landscape.

Understand

 * "We are still 300 miles from the telegraph line and cannot, of course, tell what difficulties may not yet be in store for us, so I feel bound to push on, at the same time no one can regret more than I do that I am unable to follow this magnificent stream to its mouth . . . "
 * - journal of Alexander Forrest, who prudently named the river after WA Governor Sir Harry St George Ord

Kimberley was the first part of Australia to be settled by humans, maybe 65,000 years ago, and the Miriwoong are their descendants in the area they call Goonoonooram, "river". It was this River Ord, 651 km long, that grabbed the attention of the first European explorers, led by Alexander Forrest in 1879. Its fertile plains were crying out for farming, initially as cattle ranches - the patriarch of this Ponderosa was Patrick Durack, who in 1882 drove 7250 head of cattle and 200 horses overland from Queensland to establish the Lissadell, Argyle, Rosewood and Ivanhoe stations. They soon realised that fruit and veg would be even more profitable in these rich alluvial soils, and the more water (and more constant supply) they could get, the better. But Victorian technology could be no match for this forceful river.

A town only appeared in the late 1950s, with "Goonoonooram" westernised as Kununurra, when the Ord Irrigation Scheme sought to harness and regulate the huge monsoon flow. The first stage was completed in 1963 with the construction of the Diversion Dam over the natural dam of Bandicoot Rock. This created Lake Kununurra, drowned the old highway to Darwin, and fed a network of canals to nearby farms. Rice, cotton and sugar were the intended crops, but these were ravaged by pests; still there was enough profitable agriculture to go for a second stage. The Ord River Dam further south upstream was completed in 1971 and created Lake Argyle, Australia's second largest artificial Lake. Its initial capacity of 5641 gigalitre was doubled in the 1990s by raising the dam's earth wall, and a hydroelectric power station was installed. The new lakeside also became a resort area.

The other valuable crop was diamonds: these were long known in the river alluvium but only in 1979 was the source found, a volcanic pipe. Quality was low but there were lots, especially of otherwise-rare pink diamonds. Rio Tinto acquired the site and mined the pipe by open cast, down and down to 600 m, then converted in 2013 to block cave mining. By 2020 the operation was uneconomic and the mine closed.

Climate
Kununurra has a tropical monsoon climate with two distinct seasons, wet and dry. The dry from May to September is hot but not roasting, with 30°C highs, blue skies and the main influx of tourists.

October to April sees heavy rain, 40°C days and uncomfortable humid nights. Travel is difficult and some facilities close for the season; yet in many ways Kununurra is at its best. Electric storms rage from billowing pewter thunderclouds pierced by golden sunsets. Waterfalls gush from the rocks, and green new growth carpets the landscape. If you can endure the humidity and incessant rain, you'll experience a Kununurra that few will ever know.

Get in
Agriculture inspections: Western Australia has rules on what food and plant material may be brought in. This mostly affects arrivals from the nearby Northern Territory, with checks on air and (more visibly) road travellers. They're trying to keep pests at bay (though the battle against cane toads may be a lost cause, see below) and to re-assure export customers that WA produce is safe. See the official website for what is or is not allowed: there are stiff fines for failing to declare or dump (say) a stash of apples. Best eat any fresh produce beforehand, and it's too bad about the floral tributes you were bringing for your late aunt Gladys.

By plane
To town: taxis await incoming flights and cost around $12 to town. Several hotels offer a free transfer if you're staying with them. There isn’t a bus.

By road
Are you sure about this? Kununurra is only 30 km from the Northern Territory border, but a very long way from anywhere else.

From Perth by road the first objective is to reach Broome, a three-day journey of 2360 km by the North West Coastal Highway via Carnarvon, or 2050 km by the Great Northern Highway inland via Newman. These highways join at Port Hedland.

From Broome the only safe, all-weather onward route is the Great Northern Highway, 1044 km via Camballin, Fitzroy Crossing and Ord River. Reckon two days.

Gibb River Road is a scenic "short-cut", 650 km but it will take most of a week, lurching over lumps and stream beds and potholes. It's a dirt track for 4WD only, no caravans but a robust trailer should survive it. It's impassable in the wet season and may be blocked after unseasonal rains, check with the tourist bureau before setting out. It traverses great scenery across the northern Kimberleys, which the driver will be too pre-occupied to enjoy until a breakdown enforces its prolonged contemplation.

From Darwin take the sealed Stuart Highway 324 km south to Katherine. From here you turn west for 524 km on Victoria Highway.

By bus
From Perth, Integrity Coaches run two days a week to Broome, taking 36 hours along the coast via Geraldton, Carnarvon, Exmouth and Port Hedland. A third bus goes inland via Mount Magnet and Newman to Port Hedland to connect onto the coastal bus.

From Broome you take the Greyhound, ideally having changed your socks. This leaves five days a week at 6AM, and takes 14 hours via Derby, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and Durack. It takes a one-hour break in Kununurra then rumbles on overnight to Katherine, Hayes Creek, Palmerston and Darwin, another 10 hours.

From Darwin the westbound Greyhound leaves around 3PM to reach Kununurra towards 1AM and Broome at 3PM. Remember the one-hour time switch at the WA / NT border.

is the bus halt and rest stop in Kununurra, just off Victoria Highway on Messmate Way.

Get around
Even though Kununurra is small, interesting things tend to be far apart. The town doesn't have a local bus service but short hops around town can be easily done on foot. Trips further afield will require a car and getting to places on rough dirt roads needs a 4WD.

Driving around town, you will encounter few cars and not a single traffic light. On street parking and carparks are free. Most corners, even major intersections, follow the give way rule and stop signs are given the same regard by most local motorists.

Outside town, the long, straight stretches of highway give you a chance to put the foot down and eat up some miles. If you are inexperienced in country driving, watch out for oncoming road trains that can push you off the road with their draft, and kangaroos at sunset.

Car hire is available from Avis, Budget, Kununurra and Thrifty, all based at the airport but you could probably negotiate a pick-up downtown. Hertz no longer operate here.

See
Sunset and sunrise are the best times to view natural features: it's cooler, the low slanting light fires the rocks into luminous orange, and there's more wildlife about. But at sunset think about the getting back, and don't be caught out on rough unfamiliar ground when darkness falls.

Near town

 * Celebrity Tree Park is the triangle between Victoria Highway, Lily Creek Lagoon, and Kimberland on Old Darwin Rd. A park has existed since 1984, but filming of the 2008 film Australia brought a celebrity crowd to town and each celeb planted a different species of tree. The tourist agencies reckoned this would do for Kununurra what Lord of the Rings did for New Zealand, but several trees have died and plaques have dropped off others, so you may struggle to identify whether your dog is lifting its leg against one planted by Nicole Kidman or one by Baz Luhrmann. The film got mixed reviews but in 2023 was adapted as a six-part TV series. The park is free to access 24 hours.
 * Lily Creek Lagoon is the small lake just south of the highway, a side-arm of the much larger Kununurra Lake.
 * Art galleries: see Buy for these, as the work is for sale, but they won't mind you just browsing.
 * at 191 m is the local landmark and highest point for miles. You get a fair view of the surrounding countryside from the car park at the head of Kelly Road (off Speargrass Road), but for the full panorama follow the well worn trail to the service stairs up to the TV tower at the peak.
 * is the long lake created in 1963. It stretches 55 km from the Diversion Dam up to the Lake Argyle Dam, but passes just south of town. The middle is a drowned forest of dead trees poking their limbs above the water, but the fringing wetlands support a huge range of plants, birds, fish and other animals, fostered by the stable water level. There are picnic, barbecue and swimming spots off Victoria Hwy, and a cruise boat does a tour.
 * is the long lake created in 1963. It stretches 55 km from the Diversion Dam up to the Lake Argyle Dam, but passes just south of town. The middle is a drowned forest of dead trees poking their limbs above the water, but the fringing wetlands support a huge range of plants, birds, fish and other animals, fostered by the stable water level. There are picnic, barbecue and swimming spots off Victoria Hwy, and a cruise boat does a tour.
 * is the long lake created in 1963. It stretches 55 km from the Diversion Dam up to the Lake Argyle Dam, but passes just south of town. The middle is a drowned forest of dead trees poking their limbs above the water, but the fringing wetlands support a huge range of plants, birds, fish and other animals, fostered by the stable water level. There are picnic, barbecue and swimming spots off Victoria Hwy, and a cruise boat does a tour.
 * is 6 km west of town; it impounds the waters of Lake Kununurra and carries the Victoria Highway. No stopping on the dam, there's free parking either side. It's adorned by massive iron pulleys, levers and mechanical doodahs to send the water into irrigation channels north under gravity and south with pumping. White water surges through its 20 gates next to a shady picnic area and boat ramp - this is also a good fishing spot in the dry season, but may be submerged in the wet.
 * or "Sleeping Buddha" is a long outcrop by the lake, with a protuberance that faintly resembles an elephant dipping its trunk. Actually a humongous petrified caterpillar might be more like it. It's possible to climb it - head for the racetrack and continue south, but the trail is rough and unmarked. And it looks even less like an elephant or Buddha from up there.

Further out

 * 10 km from town is as far north as you can get all-weather and by 2WD, along the sealed Ivanhoe Road. Most folk stop at this point to fish for Barramundi, have a BBQ or relax along along the water's edge. Swimming is unwise as the freshwater crocs got in first and don't like to share. The two-stage crossing of the River Ord is sealed but always submerged: it's okay by 4WD or on foot when water levels are low, but after rains the river is an impassable torrent. Beyond is the unsealed Parry Creek Road.
 * 32 km north of town is a deep waterhole at the base of a 30 m waterfall. If you got here by Ivanhoe Crossing and Parry Creek Road you wasted your time, because when the river is that low, the waterfall here is a trickle and the pool is stagnant cocoa. But during breaks in the rains, a 4WD can slither up unsealed Valentine Spring Road, reached off Victoria Highway 12 km west of town.
 * Middle Springs or Mayiba is a smaller falls and pool in another gully 500 m south of Black Rock.
 * Secret Springs it would be a crime to show on the map. Continue north on Valentine Spring Road for 5 km past the Black Rock turn-off, then take the next left (unsigned). Grind slowly and carefully up this track for 9 km to find the three main pools.
 * is an enormous lake created by the upper dam. Reach it by driving 35 km southeast on Victoria Hwy almost to the NT border, then take Highway 256, the sealed Lake Argyle Road, for 35 km southwest. This brings you to the resort village (see Sleep), the dam, and then a picnic area at its final turnaround. The scenery is stark going-on surreal, with arid hills above the lake's aching blue. You can swim, hike or fish around the myriad of islands, bays and beaches. Cruise and fishing charter boats ply the waters and are a good way to explore the lake, which has no fringing track.
 * Argyle Diamond Mine was about 50 km south of the lake, reached by a separate access road. It comprised a deep pit, a sprawl of industry, and a pre-fab village where "swing" workers rotated through on two week shifts. It's mostly all been cleared away and the site is fenced off, no point coming to try to grub through the dirt for diamonds.
 * El Questro: see Wyndham for this wilderness park 100 km west of Kununurra.

Do

 * What's going on? Read Kimberley Echo, published Thursdays. Or listen to Redwave Media Spirit on 102.5 FM.
 * Footy: Ord River Magpies men and women play Australian rules football in the amateur leagues, at Ivanhoe Rd next to the KAS Showgrounds.
 * has flat horse-racing and rodeos during the dry season. Reach it by the unsealed Drovers Road, which branches off Victoria Highway east of town.
 * Boat trips explore Lake Kununurra and the Ord River. Operators are Triple J Tours and Kununurra Cruises.
 * has flat horse-racing and rodeos during the dry season. Reach it by the unsealed Drovers Road, which branches off Victoria Highway east of town.
 * Boat trips explore Lake Kununurra and the Ord River. Operators are Triple J Tours and Kununurra Cruises.

Events

 * Ord Valley Muster is held over a week in May, with art, music, dance and cultural events. The main venue is Celebrity Tree Park.
 * Kununurra Agricultural Show is over two days in mid July. The Showgrounds are at the corner of Ivanhoe Rd and Coolabah Drive, opposite Ivanhoe Caravan Resort.
 * Kimberley Economic Forum is a business event in alternate years. The next is held at Kimberley Grande Resort 28-30 Aug 2024.

Work
See Australia for the eligibility rules on who may work here. "Help wanted" jobs are advertised in the local paper and supermarket notice boards, or ask around.

For the unskilled, harvesting gigs are available between June and November.

Hospitality work at the hotels is available in the tourist season, but they'll want you to have some skills and experience, and to commit to the full season.

Buy

 * As elsewhere in the far north of Western Australia, prices are high because of the cost of transporting goods.


 * Fuel: Ord River Roadhouse is open 24 hours and is the cheapest you'll find for a long way.
 * Saturday market has local produce, crafts and knick-knacks. It's held on White Gum Park by the Visitor Centre, April-Sep Sa 8AM-noon.
 * Saturday market has local produce, crafts and knick-knacks. It's held on White Gum Park by the Visitor Centre, April-Sep Sa 8AM-noon.
 * Saturday market has local produce, crafts and knick-knacks. It's held on White Gum Park by the Visitor Centre, April-Sep Sa 8AM-noon.

Eat
Hotel restaurants generally have the best fare. Among the offerings are dishes of crocodile, kangaroo and barramundi; if only someone would invent a culinary use for the cane toad.

Fresh local fruit and veg are abundant in season, such as Kensington Pride mangos September-December. Then all of a sudden they're gone, and what's on the supermarket shelf or in the restaurant meal has spent most of a week in a refrigerated truck.

Boab nut is worth a try. Boab trees start to fruit in October, and in January the mature nut drops to the ground. The nuts are too high to pick from a branch, so you need to search for an intact one among the litter of smashed shells left by birds. The flaky dry white flesh inside the thin-shelled nut is compared by some to citrus-flavoured powdered milk, and by others to sour Styrofoam. The tubers of baby boabs are also edible and resemble water chestnut. Bottles of spiced boab chutney may be on sale at the Saturday markets.

Mid-range

 * Zebra Rock Restaurant within Kununurra Hotel serves food daily 7-10AM, noon-8PM.
 * Lily's Cafe is within Lily Lagoon Resort, open daily.
 * Lily's Cafe is within Lily Lagoon Resort, open daily.
 * Lily's Cafe is within Lily Lagoon Resort, open daily.
 * Lily's Cafe is within Lily Lagoon Resort, open daily.

Splurge

 * The Grande Bistro is within Kimberley Grande Resort, serving Australian fare M-Th 5:30-8PM, F-Su noon-2PM, 5:30-8PM.

Drink
If there is one thing that Kununurra residents do well, it's drink. As with food, the better drinking holes are in hotel restaurant bars, most of which are licensed to allow you to drink without purchasing a meal. Any establishment with the word bar in the name is a safe bet. Though the usual street drinking laws are still enforced, you are unlikely to be hassled by the local constabulary if you are having a quiet one while lounging on a rock with a good view.

Occasionally, bottle shops are prohibited to sell full strength beer, wine and spirits till after 7PM, whenever the local police deem that a community event will be marred by availability of booze during the day. Though it might feel like a ridiculous inconvenience, there's no point complaining to the bottle shop staff. Just come back after 7PM like everyone else.

The rest of the time there are plenty of ways to get something cold and numbing to slake your thirst.


 * Aussie Sports Bar is within Hotel Kununurra at 37 Messmate Way, open daily noon-8PM.
 * Their Thirsty Camel Bottle Shop has a wide selection and is open M-Sa noon-6PM.


 * Sports Bar within Kimberley Grande Resort has six wide-screen TVs showing cable sport channels. It's open noon to midnight.
 * Water: you're going to need lots, so get a 5-10 litre container at the supermarkets.
 * Water: you're going to need lots, so get a 5-10 litre container at the supermarkets.
 * Water: you're going to need lots, so get a 5-10 litre container at the supermarkets.

Sleep

 * Rates quoted are for the April - Oct dry season. Rates drop in the wet, when travel here is misery.

Budget

 * Kunurra Backpackers is mostly occupied by contract workers but may have short-term availability. It's at 24 Nutwood Cres north side of town.

Splurge

 * Houseboats are available for rent on Lily Creek Lagoon and elsewhere in Kimberley.
 * Houseboats are available for rent on Lily Creek Lagoon and elsewhere in Kimberley.
 * Houseboats are available for rent on Lily Creek Lagoon and elsewhere in Kimberley.

Connect

 * Mobile: as of March 2024, town has 4G from Telstra and a scratchy mobile signal from Optus and Vodafone. There's no signal on the approach highways.
 * Mobile: as of March 2024, town has 4G from Telstra and a scratchy mobile signal from Optus and Vodafone. There's no signal on the approach highways.

Go next

 * Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungle Range) — a striking jumble of striped sandstone domes that truly deserves to be described as a must see. Although scenic flights from Kununurra are popular, Purnululu is really best appreciated from ground level.
 * Darwin — Route 1 continues eastwards from Kununurra into the Northern Territory, passing through Judbarra / Gregory National Park and Katherine before reaching Darwin after about 800 km.
 * Warmun (Turkey Creek) — an Aboriginal community around 200 km south of Kununurra. Besides being an entry point to the Purnululu National Park, it also has a long standing arts scene that's produced a number of internationally recognised Aboriginal Artists. A roadhouse, caravan park and basic hotel accommodation are enough to rest and refuel.
 * Wyndham — the oldest and most northerly town in the Kimberley. Wyndham is about 100 km from Kununurra and sits in the Cambridge Gulf at the confluence of five rivers. Among the desolate natural scenery are a number of interesting relics from the towns boom and bust history.
 * Tennant Creek