Lake Argyle — Day 3

For the last few week’s I’ve been using AllTrails to look at walk details and see which ones we’ll do. There have been consistently useful reviews from a couple who are doing a similar trip to ours (@joniquelife). We ran into them at the pool yesterday, which was kind of funny, and today we’re meeting up for a short walk to a view above the caravan park.

What’s fun about walking with other people is seeing things through their eyes. They’re happier to go off trail and explore, which is pretty fun, especially when the best view of the dam wall is a little further along the a ridge. So we clamber a little way out on the ridge and enjoy both their company and the subsequent view.

After getting back to the site (and a tour of their seriously impressively ordered/clean caravan!) we drive into Kununurra.

In Kununurra we check out the chicken shop (as per Jono/Monique’s recommendation) but unfortunately it’s closed. Then we head into the gallery at the Waringarri Art Centre, there’s an amazing wood cut exhibition on. The works are so finely detailed it’s hard to understand how they’re carved.

We purchase a bird print (‘Dool Dool’) which caught our eye.

There’s a distillery out of town, and a sandalwood factory on the way, so we visit both before heading home.

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After relaxing a little in the morning we head off on a short walk to the bluff opposite the caravan park. The first kilometre is a slowly changing view of the lake from a low path between hills. As we climb up and over the next rise a row of mountains appears, locking water into bays of the lake that we hadn’t yet seen. 

The water is deep blue against the dry red ground and low grassy scrub around us. 

Progressing further along the bluff we climb up higher so that an expanse opens up, similar to the pool view, but from this angle we can see right through the heads of the lake and further out still.

We have a lake cruise in the afternoon which will take us to sunset, so we head back to get ready. 

On the boat Anna gets a trivia question right (‘How many Sydney-harbours are there in Lake Argyle right now?’: 16). She knew the answer to this because she overheard it at the pool yesterday. Despite this unfair advantage she is rewarded with a beer. That kind of sets the tone of the sunset cruise. 

We motor out through the heads that we’d seen this morning. The lake begins to reveal it’s vastness, 16 Sydney-harbours is a lot of water. We pull into coves to watch birds, or to find fish, and the guide tells us facts about the lake. 

The river was dammed to provide a supply of water to grow crops. The task was pretty simple: divert a river through a rock tunnel, lay a clay inner wall, blow up part of a mountain, and cover the clay with the ex-mountain. (Kind of reminiscent of Nobbys break wall). It took three dry seasons to complete and only two wet seasons to fill to capacity (19 Sydney-harbours). 

The first crop was rice, for export to China, but magpie geese ate the shoots faster than they could be planted. There have been a succession of middling results and the project holds the title for the lowest ratio of dam capacity to productive output. 

Adding to the seeming failure to utilise the lake is that the indigenous people were not informed or consulted before it was constructed, so I’m sure the ‘second largest non-nuclear blast in the Southern Hemisphere’ was a welcome event.

Even all the barramundi they put into the lake aren’t popular. Turns out that freshwater barras don’t taste very good.  At least all this water makes a pretty good view though. 

And so we cruise around a section of the lake for a couple of hours. It is beautiful, and it has created an environment for lots of water birds. Nearing sunset we anchor and jump into the middle of the lake.

Beers are very freely thrown out to us and the group becomes more social. Looking east, the shadow of mountains behind us are creep upwards on the mountains we face. We climb aboard our boat and set off home. 

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Western Australia is the most notorious border crossing on our trip. Many people have stories about the long lines, the tricky fruit and veg rules, or the g2g pass questions. For us the border wait was short, maybe 20 minutes. We saw a couple questioned first in their car and then taken into an on-site office, that left us a little nervous. But when our turn came the officer was friendly and straightforward, a few simple questions then onto the bio-security people. They were similarly relaxed, particularly since we did not have anything of interest. 

And so this scary border was behind us!

Relieved and a little surprised by the ease, we laughed as we drove into Lake Argyle. 

The road winds around and around until glimpses of lake flicker into view. But the killer view is saved for the caravan park. 

Tired from the day, and with tent set up, we head to the famous pool. And wow, the water of the pool runs seamlessly into the view, the far corner pointing out into the expanse of the lake and the mountainside shooting up on the other side.

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Last night we called our accommodation in Kununurra to check that they can house us while we await a negative COVID test result. They said they couldn’t, my heart sank, then quickly followed  “but you don’t have to anymore!” After calling the WA hotline for confirmation, we find that yes, from yesterday we can cross the border at anytime without a test. 

And so we quickly re-plan. Can we drive Darwin to Kununurra in one day? (Probably not). Are we okay to miss out on some Darwin sights? (Resigned, yes).  Do we have time to stop at Litchfield? (It will be tight). What about Gregory or Keep River? (Unlikely). How fast should we go to cross this flightiest of borders? (How can we predict this??)

Today we will get to Timber Creek. We leave early enough for a flying stop at Litchfield, then it’ll be straight driving for the rest of the day. 

We pull into the magnetic termite mounds first, stride along the boardwalk and gaze out over the perfectly aligned slabs strewn over the field. They are quite far away and many seem to have been burned recently. I wonder whether the mounds are still active?

Then we cross over to a huge mound, the biggest I’ve seen. 

Now we drive to Florence Falls where we observe the falls from a lookout before taking the stairs down to the pool below.

The water is clear and crisp, the falls are higher than anywhere we’ve been yet. It’s a good point to take a breath and enjoy the scene for a while [Anna: these falls were notable for having the warmest water and the most people with go pros terrifyingly jumping off rocks…I may have been secretly very pleased when one group lost their go pro at the bottom, don’t worry they found it again]. 

The rest of the day practical, as is our demountable accommodation. 

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Because of the recent COVID-scare in NT, the WA government requires a negative coronavirus test immediately after crossing the border, which means we need appropriate accommodation to isolate in while we await the result. The implication for us is that we must wait for the next available accommodation, which leaves us with a leisurely amount of time to see Darwin, then head back to Litchfield, Judbarra and Keep River national parks before getting to WA. 

We arrive in Darwin shortly after their lockdown ended. People are still vigilant with all the measures, which is clearly the right thing to do, but it means that the whole vibe of the places seemed a little more on edge than I suspect is normal [Anna: I’d love to return without the spectre of COVID, if only to go to the casino’s pool bar Sunday sesh and the Mindil Beach Markets,which were sadly cancelled].

We have a series of practical matters to take care of: sending home a box of things we no longer need (e.g. hot water bottles [Anna: And yoga mats. Note to anyone trying to cross the country in 3 months….you’re not gonna do yoga]), getting our first vax (yay!) and getting some slow time to reset a little. 

We are also catching up with a few people here. I have a school friend who lives here, Gez, plus his partner Bec and their daughter Harri; Ashe’s gallery mate Matt; and Greg, the Anglican Bishop, who knows Mum since way-back and who we’re dropping some books to. 

So our days are a mix of practical things, then finding good places for food, walking around the city, looking out over the water (especially for sunset) and finding some friends. 

On our first trip to Outstation Gallery, Matt isn’t around. It’s fine because we spend some time with the art and have time to take it all in. Later in the week we go back and actually sit and chat with Matt for an hour or so. We talk about the holiday, about COVID, about how his family is going, about the gallery and what galleries to visit on the rest of the trip, about how he knows Ashe. He then takes us through another exhibition in an adjacent gallery which is all metal-based art, worked in amazing detail with angle grinders and dremels. 

He is great fun to hang out with and generous with his time. 

Walking out of the gallery Anna and I look at each other and together laugh at how similar his mannerisms are to Ashe’s. We decide to describe it as a ‘confident eccentricity’. 

We met up with Gez and Co twice. One night we spent at the Sailing Club where we just ate and drank by the water and caught up. The sun sank and the boats bobbed, peaceful and pleasant in good company. 

The second time was at De la Plage, a café by the water. We ate and walked on the long flat sand out to the water. We made sand-things and chilled out. As is the way with friends we fall back into easy rhythms. I kind of wish we had longer. 

We met up with Greg at the church, a really interesting design. He had the air that many church leaders have: smart, humble, time for anyone and incredibly interested in others. We chatted for about an hour and I felt quite enriched by our meeting. He emailed me later to further explain the roles his father had had at Tomago, the small world keeps getting smaller!

We caught the closing night of the Darwin Festival, enough to eat and drink and listen to some music before the crowds streamed in and we made our exit. 

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