Awesome day On The Lake

 

Monday 29 May 2023 – Lake Argyle

Up early this morning and heading off by 8am so as to get out to Lake Argyle by 9am in time for our booking on a BBQ pontoon boat.  The Esky full of ice was soon full of beer and wine but not so full with Shaun’s newly acquired steak for the barbie which was back at the caravan.  Not to worry, as we had bought a family sized pack of sausages as had the Adamsons.

We puttered off onto the lake having had our briefing from the lovely Lucas (from near Paris – great to see all the backpackers back working in the Kimberley – two years ago in Covid times it was a much less international workforce).  There was a bit of a stiff breeze so we found a sheltered spot and tried a bit of fishing (no luck) and then puttered around the edge of the lake taking shelter from the easterly.

By the middle of the day the wind had dropped and we parked up next to the Jump Off rock (Instagram famous apparently) and braved the water.  A few even braved the Jump Off and had a bit of a competition to see who could make the biggest splash (Shaun won!).  Jenny was content to bob around on one of the fat pool noodles provided but the breeze meant getting pushed away from the boat so it took my best swan impersonation to get back to the barge (ie a calm appearance top half and frantic kicking underneath to move forward!)

It was quite nice in the water and although the others had been terrified about being bitten by crocodiles it wasn’t as though the water was teeming with them.  In fact we probably only saw about half a dozen lying around on the banks all day.  Interesting to see that the much higher water level this year means that the banks are all a bit steeper than when we were here in 2016 when the lower levels and flatter banks were much more conducive to sunbathing for crocs.

We found another sheltered bay and anchored up and got the barbie happening.  In the end we just oped for a sausage sizzle with bread and onions and sauce and the salads stayed in the esky.  One small disaster with a rogue gust of wind blowing L’s bbq tool bag overboard and we watched it slowly sink to the bottom of the dam despite Shaun’s heroic efforts to hook it on the end of fishing line (for heroic read useless!)

Another couple of hours pottering around the lake and the kids were ecstatic to get a go at driving the boat with the big kids encouraging them to drive donuts and go really fast (Arthur’s face was picture of concentration at high speed despite there being exactly no change of hitting anything within a 5 mile radius). 

We called it a day by 3.30ish to give us time to drive around the dam wall and check out the surrounds before getting back to Kununurra before dark.  Jenny on driving duties as the boys had worked their way through the esky and there was only 10 seconds of panic driving as the setting sun right in my eyes meant not really being able to see the road at all.  Oh well, at least the boys would have died happy clutching their beers!

We made it safely back to the vans and after showers to sober up, it was heated up homemade minestrone soup for dinner.  That made up for a lack of vegetables at lunch time so we could go to bed feeling virtuous and very satisfied that the day had lived up to expectations.