The drive of about an hour and a quarter yielded the most spectacular scenery
of the Carboyd ranges with it’s interesting rock formations.
The Caravan park was full and thank goodness we had a booking. Many who didn’t
have a booking had to wait outside (some from 6am) and there were sometimes 40
caravans/motorhomes and camper trailers waiting to get a spot at the park.
The borders of Queensland, Western Australia,New South Wales and Victoris had
all been locked down so we decided to forgo our trip to the Northern Territory
in case we were held up at the border coming back and if we had to isolate for
three weeks on re-entry. The best laid plans of mice and men!
We enjoyed many hikes (well our friend Ken who was here and myself as Maurice
would only walk on the bitumen roads because of the fractured bone in his foot.
We did go on a sunset boat cruise on Lake Argyle which is spectacular and covers
about 750sq kms in the dry season from March to October and over 1000kms in the
wet season from October to March. The dam which divides the Ord river from Lake Argyle
is also very impressive and was completed in 1971.
The Argyle Lake has many species of fish and the non dangerous fresh water crocodiles
while the Ord river side has salt water crocodiles, so no swimming there!
We booked a couple of events. One was a morning tea featuring local bush tucker food,
Lovely passionfruit muffins, lime cheesecaskes, chia seed Anzac biscuits, creamed honey
and wild hibiscus jam. It was all delicious and washed down with fresh orange or grapefruit
juice and specially infused tea and coffee. Josh the tour leader also showed our small group
the many medicinal plants and edible plants in the area.
We also went on the Camp Oven dinner which was under the stars where we could see the Lake
on one side and the sunset over the hills on the other. A very special evening which everyone
enjoyed.
We had another friend Nibha arriving for a couple of days on the 26th July. Other than drinks
with friends we spent the rest of the time relaxing and reading and I tried out my new acquisition,
a drone which was a lot of fun. I am still to master it completely but can at least get it up in
the air successfully and take some photos and videos.
I did a lot of hiking every day up and down the hills, some was relatively easy and some exhausting
with good lifts.
We both went to yoga on the grass at 7am overlooking the lake which was a lovely start to the day.
I followed with a bit of a swim in the cool pool.
Our helicopter trip on the 28th which dropped us at a secret location to have a picnic and a swim was the highlight of our trip. The landscape is spectacular and I had a refreshing swim in the waterhole below the waterfall which runs all year round.
We moved back to Kununurra for about a week on the 30th July after a thoroughly wonderful
warm 31-34degrees and blue skies every day in Lake Argyle.
We happened upon a Rodeo taking place about 5km out of Kununurra and it was a new experience for me, never having attended one before. The crowd was very agreeable and we had about 5hours before the music started and made our way back to the Caravan Park which is much quieter with fewer children now!
After cancelling our proposed trip to the Northern Territory {covid related} we decided to make our way back
to Perth along the coast again.
We had been watching the weather in Perth and the south west and were very glad to be away from all the rain
and storms for the 3months over winter. We are looking forward to our week’s trip on the 3rd September to the Cocos Keeling islands half way between Indonesia and Sri Lanka. They come under Australia and one of the only safe places to go in this Covid year.