Lake Argyle

On the morning we left Dundee beach (24th July) the plan was head down to Katherine for a few groceries & some fuel & then see how much further we could get & free camp along the road somewhere for a night. We had seen plenty of 24 hour rest stops & some of the Gregory national park camps right on the highway as well, so we thought it should be no problem. We shopped & refuelled in Katherine & headed west. The first free camp we came to not far from Katherine was empty, but it was too early to stop so we kept going, after that every single rest stop was completely full of caravans, including the Gregory ones, we called into them all, but there was no space, we kept heading west, knowing our only real options were the Victoria river roadhouse or Timber Creek. We had a very dewy pack up that morning, so we wanted to arrive at camp with at least a couple of hours to dry out the tent. In the end we pulled into the Victoria river roadhouse, it had a camp out the side right on the river that was actually really nice & unpowered camping was $7.50 each per night, so pretty good really. They had good amenities as well, so it all turned out in the end. 

We only set up a basic camp, so the next morning we were off early heading towards the WA border, we stopped just before to eat our last coupe of oranges, you can have no fruit or veggies as you cross the border back into WA. Before long we were at the quarantine checkpoint & after a quick check in our fridge we were on the road again, we got through very quickly. After that it was only a 40km or so run into Lake Argyle. 

On the way into Lake Argyle

As we drove towards the lake, we were surrounded again by beautiful escarpments & hills & as we turned around a corner you could just see the water & the caravan park perched on the side of a hill. When we arrived there was a huge line up to get into the park, mainly caravans & motor homes, great we thought this is going to take forever or we might not even get a spot. But then caravan park employees called parking attendants were running around everywhere, showing everyone where their site was, so after you go inside to pay you come back out to your personal chaperone to take you to your site, we had never seen anything like it, but it did work pretty well. We were in the unpowered section & had plenty of room. Unpowered camping was $30 a night. The park has pretty good facilitates, a restaurant & bar, boat & helicopter tours, there is no phone reception at lake Argyle, they have wifi but it wasn't working during our stay. 

The view from the caravan park was amazing over looking the lake. We were camped pretty close to their famous infinity pool, a pool that sits on the edge of a cliff over looking the lake, & it is as amazing as the photos show, it was freezing cold though, but you just have to have a swim. The rest of the day was spend soaking up the view & watching the colour changes on the cliffs as sunset. 

View from our campsite

Infinity pool

The next day we went off exploring, learning about the lake itself at all of the lookouts & you even get to drive over the dam wall & alongside the Ord river. The views are really beautiful. 

Boats on the lake

Lake Argyle

Dam wall

Ord river

Lake Argyle

We then went & had a look at the Durack homestead museum. The Durack family originally owned all of the land where lake Argyle now is, they were an amazing cattle pioneering family. The original site of their homestead is under the water now, but they removed the homestead, stone by stone & rebuilt it looking over the lake. They have turned it into a really great little museum & it is worth a look, entry was $4 an adult & $2 for kids, money well spent. There is also a video playing in the museum of how they built the dam including all of the construction, it was fascinating. The total cost of building the lake was only $22 million, they say that today it would cost $225 million to build the same thing. Very cool. 

Durack homestead

After the museum we went to a place called Dead Horse springs, a beautiful little spring on the edge of the lake. Lots of people had been camping here & if we had of known about it we would of, as it was a great spot. Back to camp to again have a lovely afternoon in beautiful surroundings. 

Dead horse springs, you can just see the water of Lake Argyle in the background 

The next day was another get sorted day. Ruby was filthy & it was driving me nuts, so we gave her a great big bath, two washes later & a lot of hosing & she was shining, if you looked closely there was still some red dirt on her, you just can't get rid of it all, but she was a million times cleaner, we then topped up her oil & the whole car & trailer got their grease points done. We were ready to head off again. This time up towards Wyndham to most northern town in WA. 

Ruby before her bath

Ruby after her bath & our campsite