So from Kununurra we went up the road to Lake Argyle, a short jaunt of only 70 odd kays. For those not in the know, Lake Argyle is a man-made lake, formed behind the Lake Argyle Dam Wall. I suppose, in Victorian speak, it was a reservoir... It is in fact, the largest reservoir in Australia I'm led to believe. And unlike other the other 'universal standard unit of measurement for volume', the Olympic Size Swimming Pool, this lake was measured in 'Equivalent Sydney Harbour's'. 19 in fact.
The caravan park itself was pretty good, with a well supported shop, bar and resteraunt, all of which we sampled over different stages of our time there. A unique highlight was how you check in to your site, with 'hosts' stationed at the gate on bikes, and once confirming your booking, ride a bike up next to you to show you your site and help you reverse your van in. The guy that helped us has certainly helped a few people because after a few 'right hand full down' and a couple of 'left hand full down' we were in the site first go. Sure, he didn't seem to care about dragging the Rock Truck's nose through a bush, but we were parked first time no issues. Even though B and I have the parking of the van thing down pat pretty well, even this was simple for us.
The other thing Lake Argyle CP is famous for is it's "Infinity Pool". And yes, as you can see in the pictures below, it's pretty bloody amazing. Having said that, it was always very very crowded and I much preferred swimming in the warm waters of Lake Argyle. Whoever came up with the idea to install the pool there though pretty much nailed it. "Australia's Most Photographed Pool" certainly lived up to expectation.
The highlight of our time there was undoubtedly the Sunset Cruise on the first afternoon. I'll go into it more in the photo walkthrough below, but if you are in the area, this simply is a must do. It's not cheap, but I think it's worth every cent.
We shared our time at Lake Argyle with the McGuirks for an evening before they too set off and set the pace for Darwin.
Overall, I really enjoyed Lake Argyle and surrounding areas. I don't think I could ever tire of the colours and ruggedness of the landscape and the way it contrasts the inland sea of the lake. The lake itself is immense and the construction of the dam wall through trying wet season conditions is in itself an amazing feat of engineering and construction. I will forever laugh at the documentary shown at the Durack Homestead which showed the worker lighting the wick for Australia's largest ever TNT explosion with his cigarette. An explosion measured over in SE Asia on their earthquake monitoring machines. Brilliant.
So, on with the photos...
Now this was a tour that knew what it was doing. Classy well fitted out modern boat, with plenty of mumbo and a heap of pool noodles. I wonder what they are for...
The tour guide (whose name escapes me) was brilliant. She captured the feel and enthusiasm of the patrons exactly, and fed from that. Again the right balance between comedian and information source, it was informative, educational and entertaining all in one. All whilst we cruised along the water marvelling at the expanse of it all.
It truly was an inland sea. At many points, you couldn't see the land on the horizon due to the sheer size of it. To put it in perspective for our avid readers, the lake's southern extents are located not far from Purnululu, which we stayed at a couple of blog posts ago...
The boys just ensuring that the boat was heading in the right direction.
James channeling his inner Titanic moment. If only he knew what we were talking about when we asked him to strike this pose, as quite frankly he was bemused...
Another rare moment when the two big kids actually hung out in the same place at the same time without having a crack at each other! I think Sam was thoroughly enjoying the complimentary soft drinks. "Too Spicy" was James' opinion. "Fizzy, Bob... the word is Fizzy"
A funny moment out on the water where another gentlemen and I realised that we had reception on our phones due to the nearby mine's repeater station. There's no reception elsewhere in the region, including the caravan park. But we were checking the footy scores, he a die hard Pies man and wanted to see if they had rolled GWS. He was ecstatic to see that they had in fact drawn! A nice unique moment of the trip.
Just more blue... so much blue...
And then came the moment we'd been waiting for, and finding out what the pool noodles were for. We pulled up anchor at some random spot to have dip in the water, with a drink and watch the sunset go down. I should point out, we didn't really drop anchor, as it's around 35m deep at this point so we just drifted around with a 'lifeline' out the back if you felt you were getting too far away to swim back. The water was brilliantly warm, around the 24deg mark. And so the pool noodles were put to go use, so we could all aimlessly loll around in the water drink in hand. The more adventurous of the crowd were allowed to jump off the roof should we feel inclined. Sam and I felt very inclined, on more than one occasion, whilst B braved it and was the only woman to have a jump from the 'top deck'. Granted her cries were probably heard back in camp, she still completed the jump.
Sam went a few steps further and took a dive of the roof. I wasn't game to do that! Evie also made it in the water which was quite unexpected (although we didn't mention the depth at the time) and it was only James who stayed dry.
"Jump in? In there? With all those crocs? Bahaha... you guys are hilarious! Now where are those biscuits?"
(He did actually go and snaffle a few whilst people weren't looking, cheeky buggar)
On the way back the kids were allowed to pilot the boat for a short section. Me? I just couldn't work out how Freddie Flintoff managed to get a job incognito in such a popular tourist place...
James in charge... "Now where are those crocs I can run over Freddie?"
Sam looking I think wanting to 'give it the beans' but Freddie was guarding the throttle carefully...
It was blissfully warm and we cruised back over the calm waters water the sky darken and talking to others on the boat.
Not sure what they were trying to spot, but I do try and keep capturing the moments the three of them are together without trying to throw each other overboard, so I can remind myself it happens... occasionally.
And so the sun set on an amazing cruise, which is pretty good as it was a Sunset Cruise. I'd be worried if it didn't. This was one experience that we'll cherish forever and remains firmly entrenched in my Top 10 moments and experiences of the trip. I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I could.
The Durack Homestead was our first venture the next day, which we had allocated as a 'school excursion'. This meant notes taken, questions asked and homework to do on our return. I'd hate to think how many excursions the kids have been on this year, but I suspect it is slightly more than the average student...
The Durack Homestead is a recreation of the original Homestead, relocated and rebuilt as the original site was swallowed up by the creation of the Lake Argyle. The Duracks were the first to farm this land with cattle and were instrumental in opening up the land to pastoralism and agriculture. It's a fascinating tale of endurance and commitment and if you are a history buff, I suggest you read up on as you won't be disappointed.
You might need to click on the pic to enlarge it, but this map shows the trail taken by the drovers to get the cattle to where they wanted. That is just absolutely monumental...
Here James is scouring diaries and articles on the Duracks trying to find some of the words on his word list. I do love the way he looks and acts when he's feeling studious. Really gets into it and gives his all. It doesn't always happen, but we make the most of it when it does.
For some reason, I don't think this was the original windmill either.
The Homestead has a resident Bower bird who has built his bower near the border fence. I hadn't seen one like this before, and loved (and hated) the way he'd adorned his bower with coloured bottle tops and pieces of plastic amongst natural materials suchs as stone and stick. I hope the female he was trying to impress doesn't come over and tell him to "pick up the rubbish!"
Sam didn't have a great day at the Homestead, struggling with his homework for some reason. This happens on occasion too with Sam but very rarely as it's his sister that proves the tougher student. However this wasn't one of his days, and in an attempt to refocus his attitude he and B decided to walk the couple of kilometres back to camp by themselves. It 'sort of worked' as he begrudgingly finished his work later on that night at the pub before dessert was served...
Meanwhile Evie, James and I decided that we'd take a tour around the dam wall that we'd only glimpsed the day before on the cruise. Whilst not a massive dam wall, it's amazing how much water is held back by it. It also provided a chance to take some ripper shots in those really tough and terrible conditions...
The wall from the lookout, encompassing the inlet structure on the left, whilst the Ord River continues down to the right.
And if you look at the previous shot, you should be able to work out where this shot was taken, with this shot showing the hydro power station and the exit works. Interestingly the spillway is located elsewhere on the lake, not adjacent to the dam wall. The power station provides enough power to power Kununurra entirely, and a significant amount of the requirements of the nearby Argyle Diamond mine. When you think of that, along with the water that is controlled and managed to create the Ord River Irrigation scheme, it would be certainly what economists, if not most people, would consider a successful venture.
The Rock Truck sizing up some rocks... and losing...
James and Evie contemplating the size of the dam and the Lake. We had a great discussion about what it may have looked like previously, what it might look like if the dam wall collapsed and whether or not Mum could surf the wave that was created...
Unfortunately traffic meant I couldn't get an all encompassing pano on the dam wall itself, but did manage to jag...
...upstream and...
...downstream.
Sam and I went venturing down the road along the spillway trying to find a potential fishing spot. We were actually joined by Joe and Teresa who found the Rock Truck meandering around through the scrub... Unfortunately no suitable spots were found.
No to be disheartened and in a desperate effort to use his new rod and birthday lures a bit more, James and I decided to walk down the steep walk behind the campgrounds to a jetty mooring to cast a few lures in. We weren't having much luck when a couple of expats from Britain came down with their big dogs and took them for a swim! Well, if we had little chance before, we certainly had none with them hanging around. Still we had a great time together, just whiling away the time. Love the 'high tide' mark on the rock wall opposite which represents dam full level. Essentially it fills (and overflows) each wet season, and then simply draws down over the dry season.
Love this pano shot of the jetty and James. A quite sheltered little alcove of the lake.
That evening we went to the bar to have a drink and a meal with Joe and Teresa. Thinking ahead we suggested to the kids they bring the Lego and a foam mat to play on. Parenting win... Kids entertained all night! Sam... still doing homework.
Was excited to read Parma on the menu, but was cautious thinking like most places these days, they'd butcher it by simply having a Schnitz with sauce and cheese melted on it. I was ecstatic to see that this indeed had the required layer of ham, that it was enormous and that it was all mine! And yes, it was well within my capabilities.
More nuggets for James!! They were later screening Australia on the screen behind us which not only had the worst sound quality but also was completely out of sync with the screen (think badly dubbed Asian movies). I couldn't handle it after a while and 'volunteered' to take James back to bed...
We stayed a day extra than planned so B could take a paddle out on the Lake, if for anything to enjoy a few hours of peace and quiet. On Lake Argyle there are no calls of "Mum... have you got... can I have... where is?"
Meanwhile the three kids and I tried our luck on the mini boat ramp downstream of the dam wall. No luck here, but we did get to see Sam slide down the ramp into the water trying to retrieve James' lure which had snagged. Also spent some time teaching Moo to cast with a handline which was fun, frustrating and fantastic all at the same time.
Yep... B was struggling.
And then one final dip in the Infinity Pool.
I loved our time at Lake Argyle, a fascinating place with so much history and story to tell. Whilst I wouldn't say it was a must do stop over, I think a sunset cruise which you could easily do from a stay in Kununurra is an absolute must. There simply has been nowhere prior and nowhere since that has been anywhere like it for mine.
No comments:
Post a Comment