Lake Argyle & The Bungle Bungles

Lake Argyle Spillway....this is where we set up camp for the night.

Rick fishing..... chasing some Black Brim

Before long....Black Brim (Also known as sooty grunter) for lunch. Very good eating fresh!!

Another one but a bit smaller 

And another

Very fast flowing and noisy, did'nt have the best night sleep
because it was such a roar of water.

Another small one...it was actually pretty scary fishing off these rocks, one slip and in you go....there was no saving you if you fell into the water.

Silver Cobler

 

Our camp setup.....the spillway not far away!

Mist rising of the water early in the morning. Looked very specy!

Fishing first thing in the morning...can't believe I was up this early taking this photo :)

Fresh water croc sunning himself

This is right near the dam wall of Lake Argyle....it was so beautiful.

And this is the dam wall. Most effective dam wall in the world
because it is such a small wall for holding such a large amount of water.

A Bower Birds nest

Historic Durrack Homestead....this has been moved from the basin of Lake Argyle before they flooded the dam.
It is now located on higher ground and is a tourist attraction in memory of the Durrack Family, Pioneers of this region.

Stop dreaming Rick, one day we might own a homestead too....

We took a 2 and a half hour scenic flight from Kununurra over Lake Argyle, Bungle Bungles and Argyle Diamond mine.
This is Kununurra.



Lake Kununurra and Kununurra



Huge Irrigation scheme around Kununurra and these are some sandlewood plantations.
They grow all sorts of crops and vegies up here, its like being in the Riverina or back on the Darling Downs.

This is the over flow spillway of Lake Argyle, we camped right on the bend in the centre
of the photo

  



That is where we camped and caught all the Black Brim



 

Spill way again



Lake Argyle from the air, Approximatly 65kms long and about 45kms wide



The Dam Wall





An old Diamond mine.




Apparently these ridges were made by the earths techtonic plates shifting




Bungle Bungles





Argyle Diamond Mine. They extract about 10kgs of diamonds out of the mine each day.

Captain Rick and his Leutenant 

Where they sell all the smelly sandalwood oils and stuff. Rick was just so thrilled to be here!!!

This is the Hoochary at Kununurra where they make rum the real old way.

Rick was in his element here.



Bought a few bottles. Not a bad drop at all.





Darwin to Kununurra

Hi All

These are some photos taken along our travels between Darwin and Kununurra. Our last few days in the NT which we loved but we were also excited about finally reaching WA and starting the Gibb River Road which essentially is the Kimberley Region!! During our stay in Kununurra we also did a scenic flight over Lake Argyle and The Bungle Bungles but because there are so many photos, they're in the next blog!! Hope you enjoy!

Love Rick & Tegs

I think this sign says it all!!

These black stumps were all termite mounds. They're called Magnetc Termites mounds. It was pretty interesting. They are built tall and plate-shaped because the termites can't migrate underground to escape the heat (which they normally go underground, termites like warm, stable temps.) but most likely because of flooding, the termites have nowhere to escape so the mounds are constructed on an angle to catch the sun to create a stable temperature for most of the day on their eastern faces. I thought it was pretty clever!



Probably one of the biggest termite mounds we'd seen so far.

Another big one...

Bluey Rock Hole. It was pretty packed here with tourists!!

Rick enjoying a 'spa' at Bluey Rock Hole.

 

It was so beautiful here! Very relaxing :)



  

Florence Falls in Litchfield National Park.

 

Rick thought he would go for a dip but it was rather cool for his liking..hehe

Shady Creek.
We went for a walk all along this. It was pretty spectacular and actually quite humid.



Crossing a bridge over Shady Creek. We were nearly back to the car. It was a good walk.



On the road again. We've left Litchfield National Park and we came along the entrance to "Coolibah" station.  It is where the TV show 'Keeping up with Joneses' was shot. Looking on the map it is actually quite a small station compared to all of the other stations in and around this area. It is still quite a large station though! Milton Jones, the owner, also owns nearly every helicopter and scenic flight tours in NT & The Kimberley region. Very wealthy man I would say!

Entering Big Horse campground which we ended up staying for 3 nights.



Victoria River.  Big Horse campground backs onto this river.



Our camp all set up and ready to go!

Relaxing reading my book....

Trying to fish in the river. Rick and I both went home empty handed but so did a lot of other people!!

Feeling very sorry for myself. Kicked my litte toe on the toilet door. A lot of blood but only small cuts!
Very painful though!

On the morning when we left Big Horse campground, we went to visit "Gregory's Tree". Along the way there were boab trees called the "Twin Boabs". Compared to me they were pretty big not to mention Rick didn't even get the whole tree in the photo! 

This is Gregory's Tree, 15km north-west of Timber Creek, NT. It is at the campsite of Augustus Gregory back in 1885!
It was massive and pretty unreal to be standing in history!!

Back in Daly Waters (NT) we came across a lady who made jewellery out of 'Zebra Rock' which we thought was pretty fascinating. Anyway when we were at Big Horse campground, we saw an advertisement (on the back of the toilet door mind you!!) for the Zebra Rock Mine which was along the way to Kununurra.  Remembering the beautiful jewellery, we thought it was worth a quizzie to see where the rock actually comes from! It is the only place in the world where this rock is found so it is pretty rare!

We were lucky enough to have our very own personal guided tour of the place from the owner Kim. He was your dead set true crocodile dundee. The stories he told were amazing and quite funny. This man has certainly lived life!!  Anyway you should have seen Ricks eyes lit up when he offered to take us fishing on Lake Argyle in his boat.  A very happy husband indeed!!

A view of Lake Argyle from our boat. We were fishing on the eastern side of Lake Argyle.

A nice fat freshie sunning himself.

Ladies get the best posie on the boat..according to Kim! Such a gentleman!

Another view of Lake Argyle. You must see it to believe actually how big Lake Argyle really is! Magnificant.

Me pulling in a Silver Cobbler. Only caught in Lake Argyle.

Yum o. We caught enough Silver Cobbler to have a few meals and we invited Kim and his lovely partner Ruth down for a camp-oven dinner of baked fish and vegies.  It was so good. Nothing better than eating fresh fish!

Our camp fire. Our new camera takes awesome photos of the fire going. Well we thought anyway!!!

Kim taking another couple for a tour of the mines. The husband was super duper keen on rocks so he was loving it here at the Zebra Rock Mine.  We also invited them over for dinner but because we were so close to the WA border (where you basically have to get rid of all fresh fruit and veg) they had food they had to eat but they settled for drinks and nibblies with us instead.  It was a lovely night talking with this couple.

After Kim came back from taking the couple on a tour, he gave us some firewood for the night (he does this for everyone who camps there!) and Rick LOVED his mode of transport....it was a toyota.....of course!!

The new "Thunder" boys???

This is from on top of a hill at the mine. It is the only place where we could get phone and internet service and also have an awesome view of Lake Argyle!! Mum this is where I rang you from!

This is basically a view of where we were fishing in Lake Argyle.

We made it to Kununurra and stayed in the Kimberleyland Caravan Park. Here I am blogging!!

Our view of where we were camping. This is Lake Kununurra.

A Praying mantis came waltzing into our campsite, it was huge!!! 

We decided to go canoeing on Lake Kununurra.
Reel, check.....cold beverage, check.......personal floatation device, check.....I'm all set to go to fishing...!!!

Its a barra, no its a cod......no its just a hunk of sea weed.......

Woo Hoo!!! I caught the first fish for the day. Another Silver Cobbler.

Haha, mine was bigger darling!! Actually this was pretty funny. Rick thought he would be tricky and tried to throw this silver cobbler back into the water balancing on the paddle (note:......these fish have very nasty spikes which are very painful when stung) so instead of this fish flying away from us back into the water, somehow it was thrown 10ft into the air and landed back into the boat and stung Rick on his foot!!!!! I was cracking up with laughter but also very mindful he was in pain! That will teach him for being silly won't it??? You just HAD to be there!!!





We decided to go for a walk down to the boat ramp where a croc is reported to come pay a visit after dark. 

At first we were looking out on the water for the red eyes crocs have and we were standing on the edge of the jetty. Rick happened to shine the torch in front of us, and there he was. Must admit, we got bit of a fright.

Yes, Lukey this is the croc we saw when I was talking to you on the phone!! Rick left me to go back to the car to get the camera so it was good to have you on the end of the line to keep me company.....not that you could do anything if the croc came and ate me!! Unlikely though as this was a freshie but I was not about to stir it up to find out!!
Next blog everyone is of Lake Argyle & Bungle Bungles!!!