Lake Argyle, El Questro & Kununurra

Finally a chance to update our blog after almost 10 days away from civilisation. No power, no water and more importantly no internet or mobile phone. Bliss.

After leaving Katherine we headed west and crossed the border into WA and dropped off at Lake Argyle for a couple of nights. Lake Argyle is the largest man made fresh water lake in Australia and is the hub of the mighty Ord River Scheme. It is a spectacular lake which disappears into the distance when looking at it from on high. On a previous visit we did take a cruise on the lake for a few hours and it is just wonderful, we did not do the cruise again this trip as there were a few other things we wanted to do in the area. We have also done the boat ride from Kununurra up to the dam wall of Lake Argyle.

The Lake Argyle Resort where we stayed has the most glorious infinity pool which seems to just hang out over the lake and is a favourite place for all visitors. But, we were not there to relax in the pool, so we hoofed it out on a 5 km walk up over the hills to look out over the lake for a different perspective and to look back on the resort. It was a beautiful walk through the red cliffs and valleys of the Kimberley. There is just so much colour up here, the reds of the cliffs, the blue of the sky is intense and the green of the vegetation makes for a wonderful vista.

We visited the Durack homestead which was originally sited a few kilometers away but would now be well under water. The homestead is a great visitor draw card as the Durack family back in the 1850's were about the first people to develop the cattle industry in the area. It took 2 years for them to drove the cattle from the Roper River in Queensland over to the Kimberley, they lost half their stock and quite a few drovers along the way. Times were tough in those days. The homestead is now a museum and has many photos of the Duracks and Argyle Station dating back to the 1800's. Very interesting.

From Lake Argyle we did the short hop up the road, through Kununurra and on to El Questro, one of my favourite places in the whole of this country. I'd love to say we stayed at The Homestead at $2000.00 per night, but we did not. We left that for the celebrities. Instead we had our own private campsite situated on the Pentecost River, at least 500 meters from the road and about the same distance from our nearest neighbours.

At night we had a campfire going and we would sit and stargaze, at one stage we tried our hand at astrophotography but I think we need to work on it a bit more!! On a previous visit we did the popular gorges, Emma and Amalia Gorges and Zebedee Springs. This time we did a few different things. We drove up to Saddleback Ridge along a torturous track that made us almost wish we could be back on the corrugated roads again. But the views from the top were to die for. As far as the eye can see there is just a vast expanse of rugged valleys and steep escarpments and rivers. Being the gluttons for punishment we also drove an equally rough track up to Pigeonhole for more spectacular views.

Yes, we managed a walk. This time the 6 km loop walk through Moonshine Gorge. This was a bit of a hike which started out quite beautifully following a creek up into the gorge, then it became a bit fierce as there were 6 creek crossings, quite a bit of scaling rocks and quite a hard slog up to the saddle of the gorge before making the descent back into the valley again. But we little troopers survived and headed straight for the ElQ pub for a celebratory beer.

We did another couple of short walks and also did the Chamberlain River cruise through the gorge but generally just sat around and enjoyed the isolation and lack of TV, internet and mobile phones.

So now we are in Kununurra again. And after the delightful solitude we had experienced we are now back with neighbours again, we can handle that (just), but the Kununurra Show is on and it is on right next to where we are staying. The noise is incredible as the music blares until 11 pm and the fireworks display is just deafening. We could not have chosen a worse place or time to stay in what is usually a lovely town.

Tomorrow we commence the homeward trip south. Tomorrow night Katherine (yet again) then probably Threeways for a night. We hope to have four or five nights at Alice Springs then a couple of nights at Chambers Pillar, but I will update that info when we get to Alice Springs.

Sadly we will be leaving this glorious weather behind. The days have been mostly in the mid 30's and the nights plummet down to about 20. Alice Springs will be very different, warm in the day and absolutely freezing at night.

The things we do.