Kimberley Return - 2016.

Lake Argyle at sunset.

One thing is for certain in our travels, we will always come back to the Kimberley. It is a magical place, remote and spectacular, vast and diverse, harsh and yet beautiful. For those who have never been, you must come and see for yourself, as no words or pictures can adequately describe this wonderful part of Australia. I think that Dame Mary Durack, in her classic Australian book, "Kings in Grass Castles', described it perfectly: "If one were to paint this country in its true colours, I doubt it would ever be believed. It would be said at least that the artist exaggerated greatly, for never have I seen such richness and variety of hue in these ranges." A sunset in the Kimberley is one never to be forgotten.

The line up at Lake Argyle.

The famous Infinity Pool.

As you leave the Northern Territory, you enter the East Kimberley region of WA. You are subjected to a most rigorous search and destroy mission by the WA Agricultural Staff, as no fruit or vegetables are allowed to cross the border! The turnoff to Lake Argyle is just a few kilometres along the road, and is our destination. Once set up, we will head the 70 kms into Kununurra to restock the larder! Lake Argyle caravan park is full to overflowing every night, but on the phone they had told us to come out, as they would at least get us on an unpowered site for a night, then move us to a powered site as soon as one became available. Our luck was in today, and our early start and the 1.5 hour time change had worked in our favour. We got the very last large caravan powered site for the day, and it was a really good one! We got set up, and headed into Kununurra to shop.

The Ord Dam.

Cruise on the Lake.

Kununurra is a large regional town, the largest in the East Kimberley. Set on the banks of Lake Kununurra, it is a green oasis, one of the few Kimberley towns without a water problem thanks to the Ord River scheme. The first thing you notice is the high Aboriginal population in town. Unlike most inland towns, where Aboriginals are a minority of the population, in Kununurra, it is very different. They sit in large groups under the shady trees in the many green spaces around town, and keep very much to themselves. The major supermarket in town is Coles, though there is an IGA, where the prices are outrageous!. Town is packed. This is a favourite destination of the annual migrating nomads, and there are 6 or 7 caravan parks in town. The shelves in the supermarket have been decimated! There are no tomatoes, no eggs, no lettuce packs of any kind, bread was very low as was milk and bottled water. We managed to get around 85% of what we needed, then robbed a bank and went to IGA to see what else we could get! The tomatoes cost around $2.00 each!!! Alchohol is restricted to one purchase per person per day, and further restricted to one carton of beer or one bottle of spirits or 6 bottles of wine. No cask wines allowed to be sold! Your photo license is scanned by machine at the register, to ensure no double ups!

Helicopter Tours galore.

Sunset by the pool.

We headed back out to Lake Argyle for a few days of relaxation in one of the most beautifully positioned caravan parks in Australia. Not only is it a caravan park, but also a Resort, with a variety of accommodation options. It serves good meals and has a full bar service. The tour desk is run off its feet, booking flights on fixed wing and float planes, helicopters and boats, as well as 4wd tours through the ranges. For us, we have done the tours here, so it will just be lazy time. The place is famous for its Infinity Swimming Pool, and with the school holidays in full swing, it is packed, despite the freezing cold water!! For the grown ups, it is a quick dip then thaw out!!

Being entertained.

Ord River Gorge.

Several afternoons a week, there is entertainment, with a singer doing some home grown songs as well as some old favourites. Happy hour at sunset, where you drag along your chair and drinks to the lawn beside the pool, and settle in to listen to the singer standing in front of the ever changing colours of the ranges, as the sun sets. With that backdrop he could have been the worst singer on earth, and no one would have cared!! But he was actually quite good!! Most nights after dinner, we would bring our big reclining chairs out from under the awning, and just lie their staring up at the Milky Way and millions of stars, waiting for a shooting star or two. I know I rave about it, but those skies in the wide open spaces free from artificial light, are simply stunning!! We never tire of trying to find a sputnik among the stars!!!

The restored Homestead.

We took in the huge dam wall and the beautiful gorge through which the Ord River flows, and we drove out to the Durack Argyle Downs Homestead, just a few kilometres from the caravan park. It was closed when last we travelled through here. It is an amazing trip through the history of this famous pioneering rural family, and we have now seen both where their mighty droving feat started, near Quilpie in Queensland, and where it ended two years later here in the Kimberley. The original Durack Homestead would have been swallowed by Lake Argyle, so it was painstakingly dismantled and reassembled in its current location, and turned into a fascinating museum. It is incredible to read of the work that generations of the Durack family did in establishing the cattle industry in the Kimberley. It was one of the Durack men, who started the quest to have the Ord River Dam built, having realized the huge financial benefit to be gained from agriculture with an endless supply of water.

The overflow unpowered area.

Old wares at Argyle Homestead

We watched with great interest, the daily movement within the caravan park, as first the exodus of those leaving took place, followed by the shuffle within the park from unpowered to powered sites, then finally the gates would be opened to the day's new arrivals. There were 4 or 5 guys on push bikes and a motorized scooter, that escorted everyone to their spot. They didn't stop all day!! Finally it was our time to leave, just a short trip into Kununurra, where we had booked ahead at the Kimberleyland Caravan Park, right on the shore of Lake Kununurra. It is a lovely park, full of Boab Trees. Unfortunately, we didn't get a waterfront spot, I think you had to book years ago for that, but we got a nice spot near the pool, so we kind of got a water view!!

Spring Roll lady, Kununurra market.

Saturday morning was Market Day in Kununurra. Not a huge market, but good stuff on offer.We honed in on some fresh produce, and got some nice greens and veggies, but the tomatoes had gone already!! We found a guy selling Papaya for $1.50 each and bought a couple. They had an absolutely incredible flavor, as did the water melon! There was plenty of Asian food on offer. Carolyn had made her delicious French Toast for brekkie, but we did manage to fit in a couple of Spring Rolls from The Spring Roll Lady!! Carolyn had a banana spring roll which was delicious!! 

John @ Ivanhoe Crossing.

Ivanhoe Crossing.

A drive out to Ivanhoe Crossing is a must do when in Kununurra. It is a lovely spot, and a popular fishing spot as well. We also found our way to Kelly's Knob, a scenic lookout just out of town, where you get a great view of the town. It has to be the worst sign posted lookout in Australia!! We just kept driving up and down streets looking for the Knob!! It was a great view when we got there! We drove out through the vast agricultural plains that are the Ord River Irrigation Scheme, growing huge amounts of sandalwood, as well as food crops such as mango, all kinds of melons, papaya & pawpaw, plus heaps more. Sandalwood is by far the most prolific crop, and we were drawn back to the Sandalwood Factory, around 12 kms out of town, with its lovely smelling shop, and great Little café.

The view from Kelly's Knob.

Huge Boab Trees in the caravan park

In town, we had found the best coffee, and possibly the only decent coffee, at the Wild Mango Café. The food here was great, as was the coffee. When you have a large Aboriginal population, it is sad to say, the café and take away food options, are usually Rosie's Fried Chicken, Chips, & Dunkin Donuts, washed down with gallons of Soft Drink!!! If the Government were serious about the abnormally high rates of diabetes in indigenous people, this would be the right starting point!!! Even in the supermarkets, compared to our city experiences, a disproportionate amount of shelf space is devoted to Soft Drinks, Snack Food, & Confectionery.

With Peter & Dianne.

Happy Hour by the lake.

We received a pleasant surprise, with a text message from our friends Dianne & Peter Balle, who left their home in Forster at the end of March, and have been doing "The Lap" clockwise. It would turn out that our meeting point would be Kununurra. With some smooth talking, Pete got them into our caravan park, on a bit of a dodgy spot for a couple of nights, but then two nights on the lake front!! It was their first visit to Kununurra, so they were busy booking scenic flights and boat trips, and it was great fun each night catching up comparing days over happy hour and eventually dinner! We love their company, and they hold the record for longest Happy Hour ever, when we called in at Forster last year, and they arrived for Happy Hour at 5.00pm and left after midnight!!! They love their fishing and crabbing, and we received a real treat of fresh crabmeat, that they had caught along the way!!! Our last night down beside the lake was just beautiful. Pete loves a port, and carries quite a few litres of Tyrell's port with him when he travels! We shared a few large ports that night!!!

Next morning we were headed off West towards Broome, and they had one more night before heading out to Lake Argyle for their first visit. They are in for a treat!!