A flying visit to Wyndham, Kununurra and Lake Argyle

We decided to head to Wyndam for a quick look at the historic port town.  The best place to get a perspective of the Cambridge Gulf is the Five Rivers Lookout.  

The Five Rivers (Pentecost, King, Ord, Forrest and Chamberlain) can all be seen from the lookout, but we decided the author of the Wyndam Visitors Guide deserved special mention for their description of the view:

"You will marvel at the intricate patterns of the brilliant green mangroves that line the serpentine meandering of the crocodile infested tidal rivers and creeks."

Five Rivers Lookout

We returned to the town and checked out some bronze figures of an Aboriginal family and other Australian animals.  They were impressive, but sadly hard to find as they weren't signposted, and when we did find them, they were not in the best state of repair

The Little Helper takes in the sculptures

And so we made one last stop at the giant crocodile in town, politely declined to purchase a carved Boab nut, and headed south to Kununurra.

The 20 metre crocodile at Wyndham

We had planned to spend a couple of nights in Kununurra to catch up on shopping, washing and contact with the outside world.  We envisaged a couple of quiet nights in a campground getting our affairs back in order, paying dreaded bills and generally checking the world was still revolving perfectly happily without our constant facebook updates and the like.  That went out the window the moment we checked in and we bumped into some other travelling families who had become firm friends.  

Thus between movie nights at the caravan park, catching up with Nick and Jodie and kids, and then Paul and Cassandra and kids, we ended up with just the bare minimum checked and paid before we headed out of town and out of phone range.  We figured it can all wait - catching up with friends was much more important.

Swarming catfish at Zebra Rock Gallery

We had managed to visit the Zebra Rock Gallery and marvel not only at the rock, but also at the catfish and black bream that feed off the small jetty.  We also found a delightful little place called Spring Cave filled with butterflies.  In between we had somehow managed to spend a small fortune at the supermarket and fuel bowser - but it was all good fun.

Boys check out the butterflies at Spring Cave

Our final destination for the day was well and truely off the tourist route, but before we headed across the border, we turned right off the highway and headed down to Lake Argyle for a lunch time cruise.

We soon found ourselves afloat on the largest reservoir in the Southern Hemisphere, large enough to be classified as an inland sea.  

The Little Helper lends a hand at the helm

Of course nothing beats having a go at driving the boat - and the staff were really helpful and friendly in making our day so much fun.

Then big brother shows how it is done

We even braved a dip in the water - made all the more enjoyable with a cold beer tossed down from the boat.  They do some things really well up here!

The water was calm on our cruise, but waves can get to three metres!

Magic Lake Argyle

Lake Argyle is simply unbelievable, and we decided we would return to explore and enoy it further.  For now though that would have to wait, as we had a date with something completely different.