See you in the NT

-



With the onset of National Park Fatigue following our Gibb River Road adventures, we headed for the comfort of Lake Argyle resort a few hundred clicks downstream from Kununurra. 'Resort' is probably a stretch, but it did have a nice infinity pool overlooking the lake and a cafe/restaurant.



Lake Argyle is an incredible feat of human engineering, created from the damming of the Ord River back in 1971. The construction of a 335m-earth wall made shape for a dam equivalent in size to 20 Sydney Harbours that stretches over 100km corner-to-corner. It’s jaw dropping to witness the size and scale of this body of fresh water. We chose the ‘Kimberley Durack’ as vessel for our site seeing, on board the ‘must do’ sunset tour. It’s an awesome, albeit pricey way to see the region, rounded out with a swim, booze and nibbles aboard our pool noodles on the lake. We’ve found comfort extracting additional value from tours having kids whose age can fluctuate depending on the free kids age threshold. Tell me a parent who hasn't!


Lake Argyles and the  dam wall

The beauty of Lake Argyle - best appreciated by boat
Kimberley hues

Kids enjoyed jumping off the roof of the boat

Stunning sunset

The area holds particular significance for a Bondi friend whose famous Australian-Irish family were the first western settlers who discovered and farmed the region in the late 1800’s. Their family Homestead has been rebuilt (it existed within the dammed region) and stands as a memorial to the incredible strength and ingenuity of this pioneering family. We also started the extensive cleansing of Kimberley dust from our lives (allegedly never completely done) before moving onto our next stop in Katherine. 

The Durack Homestead on higher ground
Our experience of gorges from the Gibb was access via short walking tracks. These walks with 2 whiter snappers in tow often felt like significant hikes, particularly with one on the backpack.  So we were pleasantly surprised (maybe it was relief) that seeing 3 parts of the Katherine Gorge was done from the comfort of a boat (unless choosing the 10km + hikes), and with the kids age fluctuating downwards again, it was a pretty good value tour! 

Katherine Gorge

Enjoying the scenery ...

... from the comfort of our cruise boat.

We visited the Katherine hot springs on the way out of town on our way to Lichfield National Park. Our Lichfield visit unfortunately coincided with the weekend, and being so close to Darwin, it was pretty busy. Thermal pools dotted down a stream, each pool with its unique group of occupants. Some snoozing, some boozing, quite unusual, and I couldn't help feeling sorry for the sod who landed the most downstream of the pools..

Next stop.. Darwin. 

Litchfield National Park

This spider was seriously as big as my hand!

Serenity 

The birds of Litchfield
 
Honeyeater and Lorikeet

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Houston - we have lift off!

-
Image
We did it - we left! Goodbye Sydney, adios Bondi, au revoir weekend traffic, see ya check out queues, $14 lunches, $10 beers, weekend parking and double shot long skinny macchiato’s. Thanks family, friends and colleagues for your encouragement and support. As much as we love our Sydney life, taking stock, slowing down and seeing our big sandy country is going to be a memorable and awesome adventure!! Did I say goodbye weekend traffic  J The last few weeks were hectic. Packing our apartment, wrapping up work, finishing the car and camper, not to mention the endless lists, organising and packing/unpacking/repacking whilst keeping a 2 and 5 year old entertained (with a little help from Grandma). Day 1 we drove 500km north and arrived at our first bush camp in Delicate Nobby, metres from the beach south of Crescent Head near Point Plomer.   Its ideal. Wonderful spacious camp setting, beautiful beaches, outstanding surfing, dolphins, hot showers, sunshine and plenty o
Read more

Yamba

-
Image
Yamba Cheers for the support following our opening post guys.. We made a spontaneous decision to pack up and head for Yamba on Sunday. Turned out to be a wise one judging by the storms we drove through on the way. Day turned to night at 4pm as we headed into some sickening storm clouds. News that evening spoke of multiple road fatalities across the state, snow in the alpines and widespread hail, so a few nights under a solid structure was on the cards. Somewhat ironic after just 5 nights camping and a few high fives along the way toasting our newly acquired camping legs. Anyway, 2 nights in a 5 star resort in Angourie was bliss. AC, TV, washing machine, toilet, shower, pool, restaurant, games room (complete with jumping castle and sit down space invaders). Lets just say there are worse places to ride out a storm. Pretty decent point break to share with a thin crowd also.. Anyway fear not, we’ve now recovered our camping prowess and have landed in Byron fresh from an
Read more

Fraser Island

-
Image
Glassy waters of Lake Mackenzie A Panorama from our camp Not much prepares you for the sand of Fraser. Its overwhelming. Oh, it’s the biggest sand island in the world you say. Doesn’t help and wont give you the mental fortitude to endure the relentless grains of glass. Inside, underneath and on top of everything you own for the duration of your visit. And for sometime afterwards also. Perhaps that’s why some opt for the resorts that exist on the west side of the island (only for the elderly and soft of course  J ). The weather has been pretty sketchy and we experienced our first night of extreme camping, facing into a few hours of serious terential rain buffeted by gale force winds. Parts of the camper leaked badly and we had to move the kids into the main room to ensure a dry night. As you may have gathered, we have experienced our fair share of rain, and heavy rain at times. Its not until you add strong winds that the water is pushed into the seams and zips. I’d o
Read more