Dark & misterious the ranges crowd down on the road.
Looking out across a very small part of the Lake!
Ord River below the Dam.
Specifics of the Dam (double click to read)
The bride is in the bower!!Hello everyone, I am writing this from Kununurra on the day after the elections – we are a bit behind the news up here, but from what we could see from watching the idiot box last night, what an amazing election this has been! We managed to get our vote on in Katherine, so didn’t have to worry about it yesterday. We were pretty surprised by the number of people on the road who hadn’t made sensible arrangements for their voting. So many having to muck up their plans to go find voting booths! So very grateful for our mates Pete and Fleur recommending we vote early. Brilliant thanks folks!
Well, you know I always thought I had a reasonably good imagination, but I now realise I had nothin’ – there was no way I was prepared for the majesty of the Kimberley Region. Mind you, so far, we have seen only a little part of this wonderful part of the country. We drove into the Lake Argyle Caravan Park and I have to say I was just awe-struck! To get to the lake you must drive thru’ the most amazing country – huge and primeval the ranges flank you on every side, rearing up around the car and caravan, threatening to lunge and fall on us as we dared to pass thru’. The colours were rich and vibrant reds and greens, daubed happily with the vivid yellow of the plentiful Kapok trees. I don’t believe my jaw hit the ground once as we traversed those rocky ranges. We crossed small dry creek beds and the stony overflow creek as we approached the caravan park. The park itself was fine – we had been told it was without shade, but in our inimitable fortunate style, we were directed to a beautiful site shaded in full by a couple of lovely gums. We had a stunning view across the ranges and right in the middle stood a pretty white eucalypt which decorated the entire vista in great style. A family of Great Bower Birds cavorted happily in front of us, clambering along our hose to sip the drips running down our hose. Bright Bee Catchers stunned us with their colourful aerial displays as they hunted the bugs overhead, Red Winged Green Parrots happily searched for seeds in the bush adjacent to our van and Red Tailed Black Cockatoos flew overhead into the vivid sunsets.
The Lake itself is absolutely awesome – I will tell you more about that on the next blog however, as we plan on taking a cruise on the lake, but leaving from Kununurra – so more about that experience next time. Whomever we spoke with regarding Lake Argyle Caravan Park, regaled us with stories and descriptions of the swimming pool there, the park itself describes it as the best swimming pool in the world, well, I don’t know about that, but I have to tell you, it is pretty amazing. A beautifully appointed, yet chilly infinity pool overlooking the lake – considering the temperatures there, we were very grateful for this wonderful and glamorous amenity.
We took the opportunity whilst at Argyle to go and visit the old Durack homestead. This has been painstakingly moved from its original position to the new location near the lake. Had it remained where it was, it would now be under some 18 meters of water! Two of my heroes descended from the original Duracks, that is Elizabeth (painter), and of course Mary Durack – one of Australia’s best known authors. The old house was packed with memorabilia of the settlers and these two wonderful women and of course, some of their work. There was an added bonus awaiting us at the homestead, I had been told of a Bower Bird who has a bower in the garden there, well, I was really spoilt – not only was this character in residence, he was working overtime on his bower and appearance and definitely on a mission to attract a lady bower-bird. We were all lucky that morning, as a lovely young hen flitted around in the bushes driving him into a veritable frenzy of whirring and chuckling, he fully displayed his crest and put on a real show for his lady love. She then in turn, decided to give the bower a once over and Doug scored a wonderful shot of her shyly peering out of the bower and he fully displayed alongside – just stunning. TBBITW really is turning into a great photographer these days. Needless to say, apparently the male bird’s only involvement in bringing new Bower Birds into the world, is building the bower and acting the goat in order to get ‘the deed done’ – he then deserts his lady love and goes hunting more girls. The hen is then left to make her nest, lay the eggs and all alone bring the chicks up – hmmm, doesn’t it sound like he has the “Life of Reilly”?
Ah well, as you might have guessed I have become a bloody boring old bird watcher, sorry, but it really is lovely seeing these wonderful creatures in the wild – hope you don’t mind too much.
Well, from here we will be going into Kununurra, so until next time, be patient, be nice and be happy! Stephanie.
Incidentally, we found the Lake Argyle Caravan Park to be perfectly fine, the trees are a bit sparse, but early in will find you a good spot. The amenities are fine and the pool is fantastic. The park is dog friendly.
Well, you know I always thought I had a reasonably good imagination, but I now realise I had nothin’ – there was no way I was prepared for the majesty of the Kimberley Region. Mind you, so far, we have seen only a little part of this wonderful part of the country. We drove into the Lake Argyle Caravan Park and I have to say I was just awe-struck! To get to the lake you must drive thru’ the most amazing country – huge and primeval the ranges flank you on every side, rearing up around the car and caravan, threatening to lunge and fall on us as we dared to pass thru’. The colours were rich and vibrant reds and greens, daubed happily with the vivid yellow of the plentiful Kapok trees. I don’t believe my jaw hit the ground once as we traversed those rocky ranges. We crossed small dry creek beds and the stony overflow creek as we approached the caravan park. The park itself was fine – we had been told it was without shade, but in our inimitable fortunate style, we were directed to a beautiful site shaded in full by a couple of lovely gums. We had a stunning view across the ranges and right in the middle stood a pretty white eucalypt which decorated the entire vista in great style. A family of Great Bower Birds cavorted happily in front of us, clambering along our hose to sip the drips running down our hose. Bright Bee Catchers stunned us with their colourful aerial displays as they hunted the bugs overhead, Red Winged Green Parrots happily searched for seeds in the bush adjacent to our van and Red Tailed Black Cockatoos flew overhead into the vivid sunsets.
The Lake itself is absolutely awesome – I will tell you more about that on the next blog however, as we plan on taking a cruise on the lake, but leaving from Kununurra – so more about that experience next time. Whomever we spoke with regarding Lake Argyle Caravan Park, regaled us with stories and descriptions of the swimming pool there, the park itself describes it as the best swimming pool in the world, well, I don’t know about that, but I have to tell you, it is pretty amazing. A beautifully appointed, yet chilly infinity pool overlooking the lake – considering the temperatures there, we were very grateful for this wonderful and glamorous amenity.
We took the opportunity whilst at Argyle to go and visit the old Durack homestead. This has been painstakingly moved from its original position to the new location near the lake. Had it remained where it was, it would now be under some 18 meters of water! Two of my heroes descended from the original Duracks, that is Elizabeth (painter), and of course Mary Durack – one of Australia’s best known authors. The old house was packed with memorabilia of the settlers and these two wonderful women and of course, some of their work. There was an added bonus awaiting us at the homestead, I had been told of a Bower Bird who has a bower in the garden there, well, I was really spoilt – not only was this character in residence, he was working overtime on his bower and appearance and definitely on a mission to attract a lady bower-bird. We were all lucky that morning, as a lovely young hen flitted around in the bushes driving him into a veritable frenzy of whirring and chuckling, he fully displayed his crest and put on a real show for his lady love. She then in turn, decided to give the bower a once over and Doug scored a wonderful shot of her shyly peering out of the bower and he fully displayed alongside – just stunning. TBBITW really is turning into a great photographer these days. Needless to say, apparently the male bird’s only involvement in bringing new Bower Birds into the world, is building the bower and acting the goat in order to get ‘the deed done’ – he then deserts his lady love and goes hunting more girls. The hen is then left to make her nest, lay the eggs and all alone bring the chicks up – hmmm, doesn’t it sound like he has the “Life of Reilly”?
Ah well, as you might have guessed I have become a bloody boring old bird watcher, sorry, but it really is lovely seeing these wonderful creatures in the wild – hope you don’t mind too much.
Well, from here we will be going into Kununurra, so until next time, be patient, be nice and be happy! Stephanie.
Incidentally, we found the Lake Argyle Caravan Park to be perfectly fine, the trees are a bit sparse, but early in will find you a good spot. The amenities are fine and the pool is fantastic. The park is dog friendly.
1 comment:
Hi Steph,
The park has certainly improved since we were there - definitely need to visit again!
Thanks again for stirring the memories!
Lots of love,
Sue XX
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