The Kimberley

Sunday 10 June

Our first true day in the Kimberley and it’s an early start. Not necessarily because we are going on a tour but it’s full daylight about 5.30am!!!! It seems totally weird that at 5.30 am here, 30 km away it’s 7am. At least it will make it easy to be ready to leave early when we have to head back to Katherine. Anyway….enough whingeing, back to the tour.  A large tourist coach picked us up around 9am and continued to collect others from various caravan parks/hotels on the short drive to the tour boat on Lake Kununurra. This was a very slick operation. Very professional and knowledgeable from the moment we stepped on board. Very comfortable boat made specifically for this part of the world. About 1000 horsepower of outboards and a cruising speed of 30 knots. We headed into a small creek out of the wind where the skipper started his talk on the geography and history of the area including a pull down map. After talking for a while and answering questions, we headed on down Lake Kununurra towards the Ord River. We would be travelling around 70 kms in total to the Dam wall at Lake Argyle. He stopped quite a lot along the way pointing out places of interest and wildlife. It was just fabulous speeding along with the wind in your hair with the most amazing scenery going past. There are the usual pandanus lining the banks but also masses of boab trees in all sizes and shapes. The lake narrowed coming into the Ord River and it was reminiscent of Katherine Gorge with steep red cliffs along one side of the river. It was also here we saw the elusive freshie. The crocs were almost everywhere you looked. They are a lot more skittish than the saltie and very quickly would slide back into the water if the boat got anywhere near them. As I said this was a very organised tour company and they had their own picnic area that they had built on the banks of the Ord. Permanent table and chairs set up, shadecloth to ensure you were comfortable and an amenities block all right next to a small pond and waterfall and for their exclusive use. Lunch was really good too.

The experience the skipper had with jet boats came in to good use as we headed further towards the dam wall. The river narrowed even more and in some places became very shallow with very small rapids in the odd spot. He was twisting and turning between submerged logs, stumps and rocks and around dead trees. Once again stopping at various points along the way to impart some more history or interesting fact. We arrived at the dam wall just near the hydro pumps just as the second tour group (doing it in reverse) arrived by bus – which would be taking us back by road. We headed up to the lookout with views over Lake Argyle. It is not only spectacular but absolutely massive. Then on to Lake Argyle Tourist Village for a look at the infinity pool and a visit to the loos. I think it was really to spend money in the shop as the driver strongly advised an ice cream would go down well. The Durack Homestead was the next stop and one Brian had been looking forward to. The original homestead was flooded during the damming of the river and is now 20 metres underwater but was rebuilt exactly as original on the high ground overlooking the lake. I bought Brian two books written by Mary Durack so his history lessons continue. They have done a really good job looking after the homestead and we had a short talk by one of the historians on the family history.  We were herded back on the bus for the 70 kms trip back. A video on the history of the Ord scheme was shown, but I think most of us had Nanna naps on the way back. Brian and I certainly did. A fabulous day.

Snap of the day