Kununarra and Lake Argyle

Posted by efloow on July 27, 2015 in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

We entered Western Australia, where we will spend most of the next five months.  Our first stop was 2 nights in Kununarra in an amazingly busy campground full of nomads and Britz vans… peak season in the top end.  For us it was time to catch up, reorganise, and get back into schooling after the highs of Bullo River.

Kununarra is the service town to all heading west on the Gibb River Road or down south to the Bungles. As such it has a great range of everything from Coles to camping to car and caravan equipment…. heavenly shopping (sort of) after weeks of deprivation!
The highlight of these two days was a boat trip on Lake Argyle. It is a man made lake, with a volume of 15 to 45 Sydney Harbours (depending on the water level) that was created after the Ord River was dammed in 1969. It is the largest body of fresh water in Australia, and is used to create hydroelectricity and for irrigation of the Ord river floodplain where they seem to be able to grow everything including mangoes, sandalwood (for cosmetics) and melons. Apparently the only limiting factor to what they can grow are the limitations to transporting their produce to their major markets in a timely fashion.

Stunning clear calm day on Lake Argyle

We spent an afternoon and sunset cruising around the lake (Lake Argyle Cruises, with an really amazing guide in Matt). Lots of wild life, stunning scenery, swimming, hunting for zebra rock on a remote island, and stories and information about the surrounds. Testament to how good it was, was that the kids remained engaged for the whole trip, hard for six  (nearly seven) and eight year olds on a small boat for 6 hours. I suspect that the body weight of cheese and crackers that they ate at sunset helped see them through the final hour!

Mum and bub… rock wallabies

Red rocks at sunset

Sunset on Lake Argyle

Next stop Purnululu World Heritage Park.