Day 22 (12 May) – Timber Creek to Lake Argyle

We were going to have a sleep in this morning but last night we received a text to say that our son-in-law Matt was going to be interviewed on FM104.7 radio.  So as we are behind the east coast by 30 minutes the sleep n didn’t eventuate.  Matt is the Executive General Manager of Pegasus, a charity that works with disabled kids and horses.  Matt was a star.  He should be a radio personality.

We left Timber Creek about 9am and headed west.  It’s about 200km to the Western Australian border and I was hoping we had all our paperwork in order.  They have a quarantine checkpoint for fruits and vegetables coming into WA but they now also have restricted access because of Covid 19.  We needed to apply for a border pass at least 7 days before entering.  There was still a constraint that we could be forced to isolate at our expense for 14 days if we had been in a hotspot area but as far as we knew we were clear.

The process turned out to be easy.  The quarantine inspector set off with Helen to search the car and caravan while I dealt with the two policemen on the border pass.  They scanned the documents, photographed the number plate on the car and asked me a few questions on where we had been.  “Good to go” was the reply.  Relief.  We are in WA.

The turnoff to Lake Argyle is only about 20km into WA.  The scenery and colours are just stunning.

We arrived about 11am WA time.  There is a 2-hour time difference between WA and the east coast. So for us it was really 1pm.  Lunch time.  The reception check-in at the Lake Argyle Resort and Caravan Park was a line up.  At this time of day and this early in the season I was surprised.  Later, one of the staff told us they were not expecting it to be this busy at this time of year as it’s the shoulder season before the peak tourist season.  They are working with limited staff and are run off their feet.

We set up and drove the 70km into Kununurra for shopping as we had to eat or give away our fruit and vegetables to cross the border.  Interesting place Kununurra and even more so with an incident that I will let Helen tell you about.

Helen then went for a swim in the infinity pool.  This is what this place is renowned for.  Stunning views.

Later we went to the bar in the reception area and I had a Matsoe’s Mango Beer.  Matsoe’s is a small brewery in Broome where we are heading and this beer was very nice.  So much so I had a second.  Helen had a boring Coke No Sugar.  We met Nigel No Friends there again too.  Here he is in the beer garden at Lake Argyle.

The sunset over the lake was stunning.  Tomorrow night we get a better view from on the lake itself as we do the evening sunset cruise.

Helen’s Highlights/Minnie’s musings

I actually have a ‘lowlight’ today as well as massive highlights. We went into Kununurra to replenish our food stock. I had given all our fruit and vegetables to the family who were in the next van to us at Timber Creek as they were heading east, and I was not going to throw all the stuff in the bin at the quarantine station. When we got to the supermarket, I could not find my purse and I was 100% sure I had taken it out of the van. We rang the caravan park and asked them to look where our car had been parked and around the caravan to see if it was there. I actually felt physically sick as I was SURE I must have dropped it. Michael was quietly stressing (which is most unusual for him not to explode) and quickly took some cash out in Kununurra in case we had to cancel cards. Raced back to the park only to find it on the bench. I think I am losing it as I still can’t remember leaving it behind.

The infinity pool was very cold but I really wanted to go to the edge and look down at that stunning view.  Which I did.

Day 23 (13 May ) – Lake Argyle

Today we did a morning tour called Taste of the Ord Valley.  It was a new venture by a young couple to do a short tour of the Lake Dam area, explaining the local flora, and putting on a morning tea with a local theme.  It was really great and the snacks were just yummy.

Josh, the guide, showed us a spinifex that survived in the dry but when it rains it instantly buries itself into the ground to grow again.  He wet the plant and put it in our palms where it squirmed and wiggled looking for soil.  Weird.

He explained the Boab Tree and broke open a seed pod which we tasted.  It had high vitamin content.  Yuck.  Tastes bloody awful.

At the bottom of the damn wall there is a hydro power station that generated power for Kununurra and Wyndham, and until recently 70% of the Argyle Diamond Mine power until they shut the mine last year.

He showed us a Bower Bird’s bachelor pad in the picnic area.  This is where he courts the female before the female builds the nest.  Then we had morning tea in the gardens.  Very pleasant morning.

The afternoon we did the Sunset Cruise on the lake.  The boat was a fast pontoon boat piloted by 3 women who gave us a fabulous experience.  The scenery was stunning.  Colours that don’t do justice in a photo.  We stopped in a cove and fed the fish, visited a large island where a rescued colony of Wallaroos (Wallaby/Kangaroo cross) live, and did a swim in the lake.  Just magnificent.

What an absolute magnificent day.

Helen’s Highlights/Minnie’s musings

What an amazing day. This place is; to use a well-used word for this area; spectacular. The vision that Kimberly Durack had to build this dam is mind blowing. Unfortunately, he died before it was completed though. The lake is 70Km long and 45km wide and we only saw about 1% of it. When totally full it is 70 times the size of Sydney Harbour.

Although the comment about going swimming by Michael looks like he went in…. he did not. He was dressed for it but decided not to join all the others. They provided noodles to float in the water and the water was 28 degrees and quite warm…………. or so the swimmers told me!!!!!

 Another great day in the west.

Day 24 (14 May) – Lake Argyle/Kununurra

Today was unplanned, so we drove the 70km to Kununurra.  After dropping into the shopping centre we went up to Kelly’s Knob lookout.  Spectacular views across Kununurra and the black soil plains downstream where they have the irrigated farmlands., the reason for the Ord River Dam and Lake Argyle it formed.  Mangoes seem to be the major crop with bananas, sandalwood trees, and some smaller crops.  There is now a push to regrow cotton after the first failures due to pest infestation immediately after the damn was built.

Then it was off to Ivanhoe Crossing where there is a causeway over the Lower Ord River that you can drive over if the water level is low.  So we did it.  The idea is not to get out of the car as there are Saltwater Crocodiles (Salties) in this river.

Helen got out and took some of the above photos and as she did a Kite circled overhead.  Probably looking to pounce if she lost concentration. Stunning birds.

We then continued along the dirt road to look at a couple of attraction noted on our map.  The first was Black Rock Pool.  This pool has water in it all year round and is fed by a waterfall but that was not happening as it is the dry season. The road in was a bit sandy and then a very rocky walk to the pool.  It was just gorgeous and nice and cool.

The next place was Middle Spring but the entrance to it was sandy and narrow.  Definitely 4WD country.  Again, this pool was just stunning.  We walked the last 50 metres as there was water over the track and I didn’t know how deep it might be.  As we were leaving, a Nissan Patrol came barrelling down the track and straight through the water.  Oh well.  So much for checking the depth.

On the way back into Kununurra, we stopped at a mango farm and had lunch at their Ivanhoe Café.  Very nice food and a cool drink under the shady mango trees.

Time to head back to Lake Argyle.  Just outside the caravan park is the old Durack homestead that was relocated from the lake bed before it was flooded.  This homestead was built in the 1890s and dismantled about 1972.  The components were all numbered and stored in Kununurra, then rebuilt in its current location in the 1980s.  A piece of history saved.

Back at the caravan park Helen decided she’d try the freezing infinity pool water again.  I went below the wall and took a picture.

Then we sat and watched the sunset reflect off the rock opposite and had a few drinks while soaking it up.

After a nice Chicken Kiev at the outside beer garden, we went back to the caravan to pack up the outside stuff and get ready for the Bungle Bungles tomorrow.

Helen’s Highlights/Minnie’s musings

The day was full of stunning spots. We ran into some people who were on the boat cruise yesterday. They were in a little rental sedan. The guy had obviously had a massive stroke and at the boat Michael had helped him onto the boat. We offered to take them across the river in the cruiser and back again as they could not do it in the little car. They loved it and we were happy we could add that to their holiday experience. Even though the scenery today was the making of a great day, being able to see the smile on this man’s face and how thankful he was, was the highlight for me.