Keep River National Park NT

Saturday was our last day in Western Australia after 57 days (63rd day away from home). After 2nights at our spot at Spillway Creek it was only 14km to Lake Argyle.

It is the biggest man-made lake in the southern hemisphere. Created by the Ord River Dam, at its peak it can hold a staggering 32 million cubic metres of water. That's more than 20 times the size of Sydney Harbour.

The construction of the Ord River Dam was completed in 1971. The dam wall is 335 m long and 98 m high. In 1996, the spillway wall was raised by 6 metres which doubled the dam's capacity.

The sealed road continues past Lake Argyle Village across the dam wall and ends at the day use picnic area at the base of the Dam. From here we had a view of the Hydro Electric power station.  Some scenic lookouts were located along the road and along the top of the Dam wall itself.

As we had no plans to do a boat cruise we headed back out to Victoria Highway and turned right to cross the border into the Northern Territory. We didn’t need to be checked through but we did stop for the border sign. We also had to set our clocks forward 1 1/2 hours. 

Not far from the border was Keep River National Park. We bought our NP pass online $60pp for 12 months (the other alternatives was $10pp per day or $30pp/2 weeks). The camp site was $10pp per night. We booked #6 at Goorandalng.

We drove in and crossed paths with Gavin and Robyn once again! It was 32km to the end of the park where we stopped at Jarnem to do the 6.5km/2 hour loop walk. The timing wasn’t ideal as the temperature was getting pretty warm but we managed it ok.

The track took us through some lovely shaded woodland. 

The views from the lookout were stunning and we had a breeze to cool us down a bit after the uphill trek.

Pretty Turkey Bush

The section of Nigli Gap had us following the base of the beautiful escarpment with plenty of palms.

Notice how the growth is like a spiral.

Our camp for tonight.

114km today

Kununurra WA

It was another peaceful night at Doon Doon lookout awaking once again to blue skies and sunshine. As Victorian’s we can’t get over how stable and consistent the weather is up here at this time of the year. We can certainly understand the attraction of escaping the chilly winters of the south.  Anyhow, we are on the road again heading north back to Kununurra. We fuel up, enjoy a breaky pie, pop into Coles for a few items and fill up with water next to the tourist office (And yes, we did get some brochures from there hehe). Luckily we did go in as the lady pointed out the Ivanhoe Crossing. just 10km out of town. It is a causeway built over the mighty Ord River – and beware, this is salt water crocodile country! But we didn’t spot any. 

Along the way we noticed cotton fields and other plantations that can grow here due to the waters of Lake Argyle and the Ore River Scheme. 

We returned into town and went to Mirima National Park often referred to as a mini version of the Bungle Bungle Range. We bumped into Gavin and Robyn again in their Cooee truck. The secluded valley harbours rugged cliffs, gullies and ridges. There are a few walks within the park, each offering stunning views and each at varying levels of distance and difficulty. Mirima is the name given to the area by the local Miriuwung people and retains many sites of significance. They sheltered in the rocks and used the animals and plants in the area for food, medicine and tool making. Along our walks there were signs telling us of their uses. 

We leave town travelling eastbound on the Victoria Highway, but turn off just before the Northern Territory border in the direction of Lake Argyle. 24km in and 10km short of our destination we take a dirt track near the Spillway Bridge and find a lovely spot on the banks of the water… just the place to reset for a couple of days before our next adventure. The next morning Gavin and Robyn called in for a cuppa which was lovely to have a catch up. 

187km today