Derby, Kununurra and Lake Argyle. Then it's Goodbye to Western Australia

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We leave our fossickers behind in Broome, they are going back to Port Smith and we are heading east for the first time in four months. We have had a great time together, from our adventures over the Nullabor, Kalgoorlie, and all the places we have been digging up all sorts of things. They are great people, and we're sad to be leaving them behind, but we will meet again somewhere on the road.

The town of Derby has the highest rise and fall of the tide in Australia, and it’s really something to see it coming in when we get out onto the jetty. There are a few fishermen there, and some have the lines wrapped around the railings, because if you catch a fish here, especially a shark, it will pull you in and it’s not a place you want to fall into with the crocodiles sunning themselves on the mudflats. We visit the Prison Boab, and I find that while it is a very big Boab, I feel a strong sense of sadness here. It's a memorial to a very sad time in our history, to read the stories of the poor people who were chained up here.

Ellendale camp is pretty much full when we get there about 4pm, and we are parked next to a Tassie couple in a bus. Two WA couples in vans come in behind us, they have six kids between them, who are all out hunting and gathering wood for the camp fire. Another beautiful sunset sees about forty vans parked in various spots beside the highway.

Next day into Fitzroy Crossing and we go out to have a look at the Fitzroy Inn, where a lone picnicker sits on the mudflats. Two brolgas gracefully pick their way about beside the river. Out on the highway again we drive up The Ngumban Cliffs to see the view which is beautiful. We are going on to Mary’s Pool which is lovely and we stay here two nights. Shady trees, carking crows and galahs reside in this dry creek bed with just a few pools of water to attract them. Plenty of campers here and we meet up with a couple we met at Barn Hill and have lots of laughs while we sit around the campfire waiting for the pizza to cook in the camp oven. It was delicious!

Back in the car again, we have to look out for cows, there’s a big dead one on the side of the road which must have made a dent in whatever it was that hit it. And by this time it is so hot that my ankles have increased in size, so it’s not good news for the cow. The living ones are hard to spot sometimes as the ant hills look like steers; there are plenty of different shapes. The bustards are having brekky, all the way up the roads, and we nearly stop the car to allow one big one time to rise up off the carcass he is guarding. A lot die because they are too big to get off t he ground in a hurry.

We find ourselves parked on the corner of the highway to Wyndham and Kununurra for the night, and the ore trucks run, All Night. The heat is unbelievable, it’s about 38degrees and I have to get out of bed and sit outside, to get some cool air. The trucks are like freight trains, roaring, as they come down to the T intersection with their 26 lights blazing along the side. The ore is trucked from the mine site to Wyndham, where it is loaded onto barges, (see photo), and taken out to the waiting Chinese Ship. A lot of transporting of this fine grade ore. It starts to cool down about 11pm and we get some sleep.

Wyndham has a lovely caravan Park, with a resident donkey, and we stay here for two days while we see the sights of this old town. The croc feeding is great, but it puts me off fishing on the brand new jetty they have built there. They are mean looking beasties and I don’t want to end up in the muddy brown water of this river. This is where the five rivers meet, and we go up to the lookout to see this awesome view. It is well worth the steep climb, and the sunset falls on a beautiful view. A drive out to the bird sanctuary is a must, we are the only ones there for some time and we watch the brolgas and the rainbow bee eaters amongst dozens more in this perfect setting, a hide has been built on this billabong and it is a good place to observe the birdlife.

Kunnunurra, and we stay at a caravan park in front of some red rocky formations. Greg and I go out to Ivanhoe Crossing and try and catch a barramundi, but it’s just not going to happen, I am not going to catch a big fish in WA! The council arrives with a big back hoe, and start flushing out the concrete tunnels in the weir, tons of mud comes flooding down into the fishing spot! So instead, Shirl and I string up a rope between two trees, and we hang out her washing in the most beautiful washing line in Aus! Next day is market day and we get some lovely fruit and veggies and see a famous aboriginal artist with her paintings. They are beautiful.

On the way to Lake Argyle, the scenery is mountainous and at the first sight of the Lake there is blue blue water for miles. The Ord River Scheme, a massive project that flooded The Durack property. Patrick, Patsy for short and his wife Mary who wrote the book, Kings in Grass Castles. When finished they thought it would take years for the dam to fill, it took two wet seasons, the people of Kununurra came out and took the house apart brick by brick as the water rose. They saved as much as they could, but there are still trucks, 4WDs and machinery underwater there in that vast area of water. We visit the home that was salvaged, now a museum, there's lots of interesting reading material there. A bower bird has made his nest in the hedge out front; which has lots of colourful pieces in it.

We joined the sunset cruise which was just magnificent seeing lots of freshwater crocs and rock wallabies along the way. We all sat in our chairs and had our history lesson, our captain a great tour guide. At sunset he stopped the cruiser took off his captain’s hat and donned his barman’s cap, and served up beer and champagne. Meanwhile, this was the spot where we could swim in Lake Argyle. Previously sedate matrons, began to strip off their clothes with gay abandon to climb down the back steps into the 24deg 60metre deep, water. We all had a lovely swim about before climbing back on board to have our glass of champagne and nibbles. There’s nothing like and experience like that to break the ice and the happy conversations continued all the way back to the boat ramp. The sunset on the Lake was Magic!

Next day the float plane came in, it was just like waiting for a bus, and picked us up for an aerial tour of the Bungle Bungles, and Argyle diamond mine. I’d always wanted to go water skiing, and this was the next best thing, taking off and landing, great experience. It’s amazing to see Lake Argyle from the ground but from the air you can see the huge expanse of water, and the inhospitable surroundings, but beautiful as well. The Diamond mine is a kilometer deep hole in the ground and employs thousands of people, although there were going to be 600 put off in the next few months due to a change in the operations. On the way home from the three hour trip we stopped over for afternoon tea at our very own island, tea, coffee and cake, was served in one of the most unique places in Australia. Then it was back in th eplane and zooming over the water again heading for home. It was a great experience.

The pool at the Lake Argyle caravan park has a million dollar view, its only disadvantage being it is only 16degrees! But it’s over 30 on the day we get in there, and it’s a very refreshing cool off. We sit back on the sun lounges and enjoy the beautiful view all afternoon. All eyes are on the couple who are dressed as Superman and Wonder Woman, and we all laugh when he picks her up and threatens to dump her in the icy water.

Wednesday the 17^th of August 2013, we wake early and catch our very last sunrise of Western Australia, for today we cross the border into the Northern Territory. These last three days at Lake Argyle have topped off our WA experience. The drive from the lake is magnificent in the morning sunlight, it’s only 7am, and the shadows fall on the red escarpments, the sun lights up the walls like fire. The odd Boab Tree is still visible, the leaves stripped by a recent undergrowth fire. Ghost gums sprout out of the ground, lit up by the warm rays of the sun.

We cross the border into the Northern Territory at 7.30am, and a sign tell us we can now do 130ks and hour in the car, and another sign, We Like our Lizards Frilled not Grilled!

Katherine is 470 ks away.

We’ve had a great trip, and I hope you have enjoyed the photos and the travel writing.

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Photos

Camel drivers grave
They bury their camels with their driver, hence the very big grave

Boab supposed to be a 1000 years old
At Wyndham caravan park

Comments

[MargAndRob]

Lake Argyle
Loved the picture at sunset on the lake. Spectacular colour. We are a couple of weeks behind you going clockwise around the block. Cheers Marg and Rob

[Mabaker]

Thanks Marg and Rob
We had to keep on driving after Lake Argyle, I'm not a good traveller in the hot weather so we had a couple of long days after Katherine. Had a lovely swim at Mataranka which revived us enough to get to the Elliot roadstop, albeit a very noisy one! Hope you are travelling well. We are at a little place now called Red Rock for a couple of weeks before getting down to the cold weather in Melbourne, and the boat to Tassie. Thanks for the feedback. Maree

[Di]

Relived every moment of our trip to WA when I read your stories and saw the pictures. So much to see and discover.