Tuesday 21 May 2013 - Lake Argyle (WA!)
After leaving Flora River, we spent a night at Timber Creek and a night at Keep River National Park. Sunday was Yasmin’s birthday so in the evening we had a cake and ‘party’ via FaceTime chat with Nanna and Grandad. There was a bit of excitement earlier in the day too, when we stopped at Victoria River Roadhouse for a birthday treat. After I’d taken Yasmin to the toilets to clean up after her icecream, we sat back down at our table and I heard a familiar voice, but didn’t quite register who it was. It wasn’t until we started walking away that I realised it was Ernie Dingo! He had commented on Yasmin’s outfit (she was dressed up in her birthday finery) and I asked Glenn if he’d take a photo of Yasmin and I with Ernie, much to Glenn’s embarrassment. Then, when Ernie realised it was Yasmin’s birthday, his wife gave him a little mini cupcake and a candle and we all sang happy birthday to her (Sienna also got her own cupcake so there was no fighting). I thought it was pretty cool that out in the middle of the Territory, we see the guy who (years ago) first invited me to come and visit the ‘Never Never’!
Victoria River Roadhouse is in a beautiful spot, smack bang in the middle of Gregory National Park. There’s red rocky mountainous escarpments everywhere and Gregory itself is a four-wheel-drive hotspot. Unfortunately as there’s no swimming (crocs) in any of the waterways and not much else to do for kids, we decided to give it a miss this time. Perhaps if we end up back at Limbunya again, we’ll go and explore it then.
Timber Creek is also a nice little spot, a bit of a historic town and also surrounded by Gregory National Park (although it’s just out of it). The caravan park we stayed in had croc feeding down by the creek in the afternoon, where we watched half a dozen freshies come in for a free feed. In the morning, I squeezed in another run (trying to go every third day... or so) and after a fairly uneventful pack-up, we set off.
The drive to and through Keep River National Park was also very scenic. Unfortunately, once we were out of the car and set up, we realised it was revoltingly hot, with cloud cover making it very humid and little breeze to ease the conditions. According to Glenn’s watch, it was around 35 degrees for most of the day. Later in the afternoon, a brief shower cooled things off a little and fortunately the sleeping conditions were tolerable, although not as cool as we’d prefer. There wasn’t really anything to do there either, as the walks were long and it isn’t a good idea to venture out on anything too strenuous when it’s that warm, especially with the girls. Glenn cooked up some more bread (not as tasty as his last few batches, but the girls didn’t mind) and we had a fairly early night, as we were planning to get up and get to the WA checkpoint as soon as possible in the morning.
So today, we finally crossed the border – quite an exciting event for Glenn and I. This is the first time on this trip that we’ve travelled to a state we’ve never been to before, plus it’s also marking the start of our Kimberley adventure, which has been the biggest item on our ‘must-do/see’ list since we first started planning our journey. Sadly, we didn’t get a photo at the WA border because I didn’t tell Glenn to stop in time.
The turn-off to Lake Argyle isn’t far from the checkpoint and it’s also quite scenic along the road in, with steep red mountains lining the horizon. We arrived at the caravan park, found a site (no shade unfortunately), set up and headed off for a swim. Anyone who knows about Lake Argyle would know that the pool here is pretty spectacular. It’s an infinity pool overlooking the lake and is definitely worth paying the $37.50 a night (unpowered!), although we’ll only be staying the one night. The only downside is that today is also cloudy, so the light over the scenery isn’t the best for capturing the magic in photos.
After our swim we went for a drive and explored the area (there’s not a heap to do), checking out the dam wall, a few lookouts, the boat ramps and the historic Durack Homestead. We saw a small freshwater croc at the boat ramp beside the dam wall, but he was a bit camera-shy so you’ll just have to take our word on that one. After we got back (and Sienna refused to have an afternoon nap), we went for another swim. Yasmin’s been in the water for about two hours now. She’s made friends with an older boy and is growing fins and scales as I write this. Everyone marvels at how well she swims. We think it’s great, because when she’s underwater she can’t chew our ears off with chatter!
