Day 49 - Lake Argyle Sunset Cruise

 (Kate)

Day 49 – Lake Argyle Resort – Sunset cruise

We did schoolwork in the morning, and generally lounged around and swam.  At 2pm we met at the beer garden to go on our sunset cruise.  A bus drove us down to the boat ramp, showing us the Ord River Dam on the way.  The dam was constructed to store the wet season water to use for farming in the dry season.  Lake Argyle is 19x the volume of Sydney Harbor.  It is classified as an inland sea, and all boats require the same safety gear as sea vessels.  The boat was called the Kimberley Durack (google Patsy Durack and family – quite a story).  Our captain was Tracey, and she told us lots of history and info on the wildlife, and she was funny too.  The hydro-electric plant on the downstream side of the Ord River Dam powers Kununurra, Wyndham, and it used to power 60% of the Argyle diamond mine when it was operating.

Sandalwood, used as a base note for perfumes, is the main crop irrigated by the Ord River scheme.  Also mangoes, bananas.  Tracey and her crewmate, Jacques, drove us to lots of spots in the lake.  We saw catfish, fresh water crocodiles, pelicans, wallaroos.(or wallabies?)  Towards the end of the trip, we stopped at a swim spot in the middle, where we swam/floated with noodles, and drank beers/wine/soft drinks in the sea if desired.  People were also allowed to jump off the roof of the boat into the sea for thrills, which Keith did a few times.

It was a great day.  In honour of Keith’s birthday on Monday, we decided to eat at the beer garden instead of cooking dinner.  Ben and I had fish and chips, the fish being “silver cobbler”, a fancy name for one of the 3 types of catfish found in the lake.

Spot the stick insect

The Dam wall, downstream side

The hydroelectric plant

Day 48 - Lake Argyle Resort

 (Kate)

Day 48 - Lake Argyle Resort. Did schoolwork in the morning and relaxed in the afternoon. A very fine day.

Day 47 - The Allen Kellet Rest Stop to Lake Argyle Resort

(Kate)

 Day 47 - we crossed the border into WA this morning, and began the next part of our adventure. It was a straight forward process, with the checkpoint staffed by lovely police officers and biosecurity staff. We drove straight to Lake Argyle Resort and put our name down for an unpowered site, and were told we'd almost be guaranteed one as people checked out during the day. Then we drove to Kununurra and restocked on fruit and veg, since we couldn't bring any across the border. We also visited an auto electrician, since the car's aircon is having issues. At noon the text came through saying there was a site available for us, so we finished our errands, and back we went. This is our home for the next 4 night's and it's not too shabby. Welcome to paradise.

Day 46 - Katherine to the Allen Kellet Rest Stop

(Kate)

Day 46 - "On the road again...." packed up at the wonderful Mabulloo Homestead, and went into Katherine to fill up on essentials - diesel, water, iced coffee A fellow traveller we chatted to in Darwin warned that filling in the "good 2 go" pass to cross the border into WA takes about an hour, and they were right. However, since Ben got the laptop out for me this time, not a single colourful word was uttered by me as I completed the form. Although Ben was heard to mutter and mumble when required to produce his drivers licence to be photographed and uploaded with the application. We'll travel as far as we can this avo and Bush camp tonight, then cross the border tomorrow. Our applications have been approved so we are good 2 go. We'll treasure the time we've spent in the territory - a truly amazing place.

Day 45 - Edith Falls again

 Day 45 - Edith Falls again. After a schoolwork morning, we drove the 50km from Katherine to Edith Falls to do the walk to the Upper Pool, which had raving reviews on Wikicamps. It was about 1km uphill from the carpark, which was enough exercise in this heat, and the climb was worth it. Beautiful cool, clear water. We spent a couple of hours there - floating, snorkelling, sunning ourselves on the rocks, and generally marvelling at the beauty around us. Eventually we trekked back down to the Carpark and rewarded ourselves with ice creams from the kiosk. A beautiful day.

Day 44 - 2 gorges tour at Nitmiluk

 Day 44 - 2-gorges tour at Nitmiluk. It was sensational. We travelled in a boat to the first gorge, then got out and walked to the second gorge, where we got into another boat and went for a cruise. Just like on the Yellow Waters Cruise, our guide was very knowledgeable and gave us lots of info about the Jawoyn people and what things are important to them. We learned that the bats are an important part of the ecosystem here in pollinating the gum trees. We saw a few freshwater crocs sunbathing. Our guide said that the freshies only eat what will fit in their mouth, so humans are too big for them. They won't bite you unless you really annoy them. Saltwater crocs do swim up during the wet season though when all the gorges join up to form the Katherine River. Parks and Wildlife relocated two 5 metre crocs at the end of the last wet season. After the cruise, we treated ourselves to lunch at the visitor's centre, where there we beautiful birds feasting on people's lunch leftovers.

We also visited the Katherine hot springs this afternoon, which was a lovely temperature, but quite busy.