Lake Argyle

We bid a fond farewell to Marty, Belinda, Charlotte and Meg as we all left Kununurra – they to tackle the Gibb River Road and us to head east towards Lake Argyle. We were hoping to check out the diamond mine and pocket a pink diamond or two, but there is a minimum age of 12 for the tours, so that counted us out. We had to satisfy ourselves with a tour of the lake instead.

It’s MASSIVE! Absolutely gobsmackingly huge and with an estimated 25 000 crocodiles in it! Only freshies, though so that’s ok. Lake Argyle is man-made and was created when they damned the Orr River. At the lookout in Wyndham the other day, it was very obvious. There were 4 mighty rivers and one smaller trickle – the trickle being the Orr. Prior to the creation of Lake Argyle, that would probably have been as impressive as the others (apparently in the wet, it still is!)

We stayed at the caravan park there, and spent a day pottering around and checking out the sights. We headed to the dam wall, and Angus wondered why we kept swearing all the time. We popped in the museum, which is the old Durack homestead. It would have been completely submerged in the lake if it hadn’t been moved brick by brick. And we stopped along the riverbed to look for barramundi and see if we could stumble over a diamond - no luck there..

We also did a sunset tour on Lake Argyle, which headed off at 2pm and returned at 6pm. We met another incredible single mother touring Australia with her daughter Chloe. I am constantly amazed at the strength of the people we meet, and the stories they have to tell. Chloe was 11 years old as well, and I had to take a photo to prove to Lexie that there ARE in fact girls her age travelling around Australia (it’s a commonly heard complaint in Bertha).

  

The tour was lovely. And there were no waves, so Dunc enjoyed it too! We were able to have a sunset swim, but Dunc wasn’t keen on getting in, and Lexie didn’t like that you couldn’t see the bottom. And she was very aware of the 25 000 crocodiles… That didn’t stop Angus and I though! He and Chloe had a ball jumping off the roof, and eventually Lexie even joined us too.

El Questro

El Questro is an enormous station at the western end of the Gibb River Road. Having zero interest in committing ourselves to enduring 2 weeks of corrugations, we had skipped the GRR. We’d done the “best bits at the east end” of Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge already, and had intended to scoot in to El Questro from the western side too. And then we heard reports that it really wasn’t all that crash hot, and probably wasn’t worthwhile. We had people tell us that it wasn’t that great for kids, and maybe we should do it next time. Having such concrete plans as we do, we left all thoughts up in the air and decided to see what happened.

And what happened was that we loved our break in Kununurra, we had some time up our sleeve and we decided to go – and we are sooo glad we did!

Dunc started the day by getting his first speeding fine in about 5 years. The Gibb River Road is fully made bitumen and in far better condition than the Great Northern Highway, which it meets. The speed limit of the highway may be 110km/h, but sadly the GRR is only 90km/h. L The police officers were very firm and fair and Dunc was his usual charming self whilst admitting fault. We almost got done for an unroadworthy vehicle as well, as Baby Bertha was badly in need of new tyres, but we were let off with a warning for that, as well as lots of discussion about which brand of tyre would be best.

We then made our way at a slightly slower pace to the Emma Gorge Resort to collect our entry permit and hightail it (at approved speed) up to Zebedee Springs, which we knew closed to the public at 12 noon.

Zebedee Springs was awesome! Dunc was feeling VERY second-rate and worried about passing giardia or whatever was wrong with us onto everyone else in the springs, so he didn’t enter the water. But the rest of us did! He got to take photos and we got to enjoy the balmy 30degree water and incredible beauty.

Eventually Lexie pointed out that there was no one else left, and since the only member of the family with a watch had disappeared with his camera, I thought perhaps it might be best to get out and prepare to leave. We were drying off and I was wondering aloud about the time when a ranger appeared with 2 guests from the fancy resort. They have exclusive access after 12 noon, until 2pm when the springs are ‘rested’ until the next day. It was 12.05pm. Fortunately he was a lovely guy and didn’t tell us off, particularly when I told him to keep an eye out for “the guy with a camera – and a watch”. His pair of fancy guests didn’t look like they were willing to strip off and get in the waters – what a waste!

From here we went to check out the ‘homestead and town’ which involved crossing the mighty Pentecost River, something the GRR does about 26 times, apparently. We only had to do it once, but it was wide and brown and we were up near croc country. Dunc was standing at the edge, wondering what to do when an approaching car drove through in the other direction. It wasn’t too deep at all! It barely touched the bottom of the lifted Britz Troopy that went through, but it still looked deep enough on Baby Bertha when we were halfway across…

The township was lovely, and we took the opportunity to stop for an icecream.

We then headed back to Emma Gorge, where there was a time for a late lunch and a hike into the gorge to yet another plunge pool at the base of a waterfall. Emma Gorge closes at 3pm, so I was grateful yet again to friends who had travelled ahead of us and blogged or given tips on Facebook. On the map it makes sense to do Emma Gorge, then Zebedee then the township, but that doesn’t work with their staggered closing times! The hike took about 45 mins or so, and the kids enjoyed a swim at the end. They even managed to squeeze their way into the opening of the springs and enjoyed the warmer temperature.

Boot Trees?

I’ve had a request to address the “significance of the Boot Tree”. I really had no idea! I’ve googled it to no avail, but Dunc thinks it means that someone has settled. So they’ve stopped wandering, hung up their boots and now call this place home. There was a scene to this effect in the movie “Red Dog”.

My take on the matter is that there are obviously far too many workplaces providing safety gear to their workforce around here! We see sooooo many termite mounds dressed in shirts and hats. Usually workshirts and often helmets! We are most often zooming past these at 100km/h in Bertha, which makes it incredibly difficult to stop and grab a photo. So thanks to google, I found this one on someone else’s blog:

Thanks www.sentiodotme.wordpress.com

One other similar sight was the ‘thong shack’ back at Denham. I have NO idea of the sentiments behind THAT one either, but having lived in our thongs pretty much continuously since then, we have some very well-worn ones that could have been added. Angus is onto his 4^th pair of thongs and Lexie her 3^rd. Dunc and I have each worn one pair of good quality Havaianas out completely.

 We haven’t yet seen a ‘bra tree’ but I’ve heard there’s one out there somewhere too…