Kununurra and Lake Argyle

There’s no denying it, WA is massive. Almost a third of Australia in fact. So we’ve allowed ourselves around five months to have a good look around, mentally preparing ourselves for a LOT of driving to get from place to place.

Our first stop in WA is Kununurra, a town that was only formed in the 1960’s but I think it’s fair to say that it’s a town in decline. It was quite busy with tourists though, partly because it is an obvious stopping point on the way to and from places, but also because it is a starting point for the nearby Gibb River Road, and also close to Lake Argyle, which is an enormous man-made lake.

Through most of the NT we found that accommodation was pretty expensive, and WA is shaping up to be the same. Here, we ended up staying on private property. At $44/night for absolutely nothing but the patch of dirt it was expensive (the most we’ve paid for unpowered/no amenities camping), but still cheaper than anything else we could get in town. The people who owned it were lovely though, and they had four little kids who entertained our kids all the time we were there (by the last night our two were inside their house sitting on their couch watching cartoons).

It’s just the way it is though, and to be in the area that you need to be you just have to pay it.

We hadn’t really planned anything for our stay here, except for a boat trip on Lake Argyle. There’s always the school and work to be done as well of course. One thing Kununurra has in its favour is an excellent public library. Jim took the kids there for a schooling session one day then I spent a Saturday there working on another day. It was nice to be in the air conditioning for a bit, and to work without any interruptions.

We braved the heat to go for a couple of walks in town too – one to the top of a hill called Kelly’s Knob for an excellent view of the town and surrounds. Just across the road from that is Mirima National Park, nicknamed the mini Bungle Bungles. We won’t get to go to the real Bungle Bungles (the caravan park is closed for the season, and anything within the park is not dog-friendly), but these mini ones were a good taste of what we were missing. We took turns going for some short walks there while the other looked after the dog.

On one of our days there we took a day trip up to the north to an interesting town called Wyndham. It’s the northern-most town in WA and also one of the hottest towns in Australia, with an average daily temperature of 36 degrees. It had quite an interesting history too, which we read about on our little drive around the town, and up at the lookout. At that lookout, you could see five rivers, all big ones, heading out to sea.

On this day we also went along the first section of the Gibb River Road (the sealed bit) to El Questro Station. On the recommendation of our accommodation host we went to Zebedee Springs in El Questro itself. Unfortunately everyone else in the world was there too, and it wasn’t dog friendly, so I walked the 600m or so in there with the kids, had a brief look (you couldn’t even get the water there were so many people), then turned around and walked out.

Our host’s second recommendation was much better though. Emma Gorge, just up the road was quite spectacular. Also not dog-friendly, but they just sent a text out to the staff who weren’t working to see if anyone wanted to dog-sit. Lucas put his hand up and earned himself a quick $20 while lying on the grass reading his book with Jett at his side while we walked into the gorge. The gorge was quite a challenging rock-hopping walk, but the falls and pool at the end of it were spectacular. After lunch and a swim we walked back out again, then had an icy cold beer at their pub/restaurant. Perhaps one day we’ll come back and do the Gibb River Road. We’d prefer to do it with another vehicle (i.e. travelling in tandem) just in case. Some of the water crossings can be a little hairy I think.

On our last day in Kununurra we went to Lake Argyle. The only way to see the lake is by boat (or plane, or helicopter, but that’s out of our budget), and fortuitously there is an option to hire a dog-friendly pontoon boat with a BBQ on board. This is exactly what we did, and with fishing rods in hand we set off to explore the lake.

Of course the lake is massive (72km long) so we could only explore a bit of it. They tell you where the moorings are so you can park up and fish and swim (and they also tell you where the crocs are, so you don’t stop there to swim). Apparently there are 25,000 crocs in the lake…

I wasn’t interested in the crocs. I wanted to go fishing. After we’d driven out a bit, Jim started to set up the fishing gear. “Where’s the tackle box?” he said. “No idea” I said. In the back of the car. That’s where it was. Well I hadn’t come all this way to sit there and watch one person fish, so back we drove and I jumped out and got the tackle box out of the car.

The fishing proved quite fun. Lots of bites and two catfish to take home with us. If we’d been out there longer I think we would have had a good haul but we’d only booked the boat for four hours (the other option was nine hours – I didn’t think the kids would be up for that).

The on-board BBQ was great too – we cooked up our sausages and had a “Bunnings lunch”. The kids and Jim had a quick dip in the lake then we motored on back to shore.

The whole thing was really fun and it was nice to be out on the water, and to be able to take the dog (although he wasn’t sure about the whole thing I don’t think).

By the time we were packing up to leave Kununurra (after five nights), I think we were ready to move on. We’ve all been looking forward to getting back to the coast (even if we can’t swim with all the crocs and stingers). Just a short 1,000 km two day drive to get there!