Towards WA

Zebra Rock Mine

This mine & camp-site is situated on the NT side of Lake Argyle (which is in WA) – confusing? Well it certainly was for our devices! They didn't know what time zone we were in! This was a great unpowered campsite run by a unique couple. We got to see the open cut mine – one of only 2 places in Australia where zebra rock forms. We got to choose a family piece to keep which will look great all polished up. Interestingly, scientists are still undecided on how zebra rock forms. Miss E got to babysit a 2 year old and a turtle. Unfortunately the turtle escaped (but not the 2 year old!) There was a fantastic communal campfire and some of the grey nomads encouraged the girls to have a go at cooking damper. So their first go at damper was ok – a bit gooey still inside but the golden syrup made up for it!

polishing the zebra rock with Opal

I was also lucky enough to score a cruise out on Lake Argyle one evening while Kieren looked after the kids. It was absolutely stunning – comparable to Kakadu in bird life but the sunsets were sublime. A highlight of my trip so far. And having silence for a few hours was priceless too.

Lake Argyle, NT Sunset

Lake Argyle

From Zebra Rock Mine we went through Quarantine at the WA border. Kieren wasn’t paying attention to the inspector who asked if we had 5 in the car and Kieren answered ‘yep’. The inspector was a bit surprised therefore to find a 6^th person in the boot of our vehicle. He inspected our vehicle & caravan very carefully after that! Oooops Too carefully in fact – he opened our snack cupboard in the caravan and was bombarded by falling biscuits that had come loose over the corrugated road. :P

We got to Lake Argyle Village in the afternoon after visiting Durack Homestead (pioneering movie Kings in Grass Castles). It’s certainly the best caravan park for amazing views. The orange Kimberley mountain range against the brilliant blue water was stunning. We drove down across the dam wall late afternoon and saw the water pump in action – it pumps a ridiculous amount of water per second for irrigaton in the Kununurra region. The infinity pool perched high on the side of the park was the main drawcard but it was so freezing it was a 1 minute photo dip!

This was a very noisy park though so we moved on the next day towards Kununurra (and also to shop after coming through quarantine!)