Day 138 – 30/9/2019 on a Midlife Adventure.
As a result of a slight mistake when I came over the border I kept going straight through to Kununurra, WA instead of my intended idea to go to Lake Argyle, WA first. So today it was time to backtrack a little (about 70km) and do some exploring.
In 1971 the Ord River was dammed up and in its way was the Argyle Homestead. So a small group of workers in a rush pulled down the main homestead numbering each stone. Not thinking they all started at 1. The stones were then stored in containers in the humidity where most of the numbers rubbed off, so it was rebuilt in the same style.
With the heat rising and the wet season approaching many things have been closing down, today was the last day at this location before it shuts down for the season.
The Argyle Homestead was the family home of the Durack’s who were pioneers of the area and setup cattle in this region by droving them all the way from Queensland starting off with 3000 head of cattle only 1500 of them actually arrived.
The museum gives the story of life on the land and the challenges in the top end.
Heading into the Lake Argyle Caravan Park I quickly setup and headed for the best pool on my adventure so far.
At 1:15 it was time to prepare for the sunset cruise on the lake with a video on how the dam was built.
Built over 3 dry seasons it was quite a engineering achievement and built primarily from locally sourced product, some of which included blowing up entire hills to use for rubble.
Heading out on the bus we then went over the dam wall.
They provisioned in the build for a hydro power station which was only completed 20 years later.
The dam wall is holding back up to 10,763 gigalitres of water to give you an idea how much that is, Sydney Harbour is only 500 gigalitres. It currently looses 2cm of height a day in mixed irrigation use and evaporation as it is spread over 1,000 square kilometers, which makes it bigger than Singapore.
We then headed out with Sam on the boat for a tour of the lake.
He took us past the dam wall with the dam currently sitting at about 50% of capacity there are parts of the lake now exposed that haven’t been since it filled up.
We then went touring the lake, where we got to have our first swim. A swim we would share with approximately 30,000 fresh water croc’s.
Then further out stopping to feed some fish.
Sam then pulls down a map and shows us just how little of the lakes surface we have covered.
After stopping to feed some Wallaroo’s that live out on one of the Islands it was time for a swim whilst the sun set behind us.
There are some times you are just blown away with the beauty of the country and the circumstances you find yourself in. Drinking wine, in the water during sunset rates highly up there.
Oh and did I mention chips and dips to enjoy in the water.
There really isn’t much more of a perfect ending to a day than this. Gosh Australia is a wonderful place!
Cruising back in the glow of sunset hitting then hitting the bar for a few more cold ones before calling it a night and the end of my quick trip to Lake Argyle on this Midlife Adventure.
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