Days 343-344 – Lake Argyle, WA (22-23 August)

Gee it gets light early - by 6.00am the sun is beaming in.  Again we are used to it getting light at 7.00am in the east.  Doesn’t help that the popup van next to us is playing their radio so early!  Grr!  So Coco and I are up at 6.30 and it is warm – phew as soon as the sun is out it is beaming and hot.  Someone told me it was 36 degrees in the shade of their annexe at 7.30am.  After a quick brekkie we went for a walk.  Started to do the 2km walk to the Ord River Gorge but after a while the path was not so easy to follow so decided to head back and wait until John was with us.  We then went to the water tank lookout 0.7km and it is a nice view over the jetty and lake.  Watched the float plane land on the water.  Got back to the van and it is only 8.30am.  Poor Coco was so hot she put her paws into her water bowl to cool off and took her ages to cool down even with the air con on.  Mid morning John and I went for a swim in the pool.  Absolutely beautiful.  The pool is one of those that looks like it disappears over the edge and the view over the lake is stunning and so cool!  A few people in there but not too bad but after a while it did get busy everyone had the same idea.  After hibernating in the van for a couple of hours in the heat of the day we ventured out for a drive over the dam wall to a lookout and the picnic area.  The picnic area was lovely green grass overlooking the spillway.  We then drove onto a 4wd track to a lookout at Pannikin Bay.  It was a really lovely bay and with the sun setting over the cliffs off the islands it was quite stunning.  We took another couple with us who are travelling in a motorhome.  They are originally from Wollongong NSW and have bought a townhouse in Moolabah on the Qld Sunshine Coast.  They haven’t lived in it yet bought it, rented it and travel.  The two couples next door to us are from Bathurst NSW and travelling for four months to get away from winter.  Nice people, in January they are doing a 20 day safari tour to Botswana, Zambia and Namiba and coming home on the Queen Mary.  How good does that sound!  They were lucky enough to get tickets on the Queen Mary for half price.  The views over Lake Argyle are quite stunning and it really it a must see place with more to do that you would think.  I can tell we are going to enjoy the Kimberley.  Another early morning up by 6.00am! and walking Coco at 6.30am and it is very warm already.  We walked the gorge walk again, went a bit further this time.  After brekkie we went to the Argyle Homestead.  This is the home of the Durack family one of the original families to settle in this area.  The homestead was flooded and disappeared underwater back in the 70s and what we visited today is a replica version with a lot of the original furniture that was recovered from the bottom of the lake.  Operation Noah (coincidently the same name as the Lake Kariba operation in Zimbabwe) was launched to rescue stranded wildlife and stock that was trapped during the damming of the river.  Mary Durack is a well known author and her book “King of the cattle grasses” is the story of the Durack family from their origins in Ireland to their life in the Kimberley.  After this we went back to Ord River picnic area for a relax under the beautiful shady trees.  At the homestead we saw a bower bird which we haven’t seen before with its nest and a beautiful frill necked lizard up the side of a tree stump.  We didn’t get to see its frill nor the bower birds plumage although someone did show us a photo he took of the bower birds plumage at the picnic area yesterday – magnificent looks like a purple flower on the back of its neck.  In the afternoon it was back to the pool for a couple of hours reading books and cooling off in the pool.  The pool and views really are spectacular, there is nothing quite like the Kimberley colours!  Another hot balmy night and John showed our African videos to two other couples next to us who are doing the safari through Africa.