Tuesday 17th July 2012 Lake Argyle (WA) –Keep River National Park

Trip Meter Reading Start – 7107

Trip Meter Reading Finish –  7277

Total Km Travelled – 170 km

Filled up Lake Argyle Village (no choice really)

$2.02 / litre; $114 for 56.44 litres

Comments -  Luke Baker

Today I went to Keep River and did two really big walks and saw lots of different rock formations.  We went and had a look at Lake Argyle’s Dam wall which is very large. 

Did you know that Lake Argyle has 21 times more water in it than Sydney Harbour?

Dad and I went fishing for silver cobbler which is good eating catfish and it sounds like a chicken when you take them out of the water.  We caught about six.  The mozzies were bad.

Comments – Mum and Dad

The Keep River National Park is back over the NT border just left past the quarantine.
We took the 2km Gurrandalng walk from the campground which weaved through the sandstone presenting magnificent views of rock formations similar to the Bungle Bungles..this is nice easy short walk particularly for kids and older species of humans to take.  The views from the mid section of the escarpment were absolutely beautiful.



Luke standing in from of the Dam wall that separates
Lake Argyle from the Ord River

The Jarnem walk to the lookout was a painful 5.2 km return walk; it wasn’t hard its just that it was in the middle of the day and 36 degrees (which is a dumb time to do a long walk); anyway it was great exercise and we coaxed Luke with the promise of an ice cream if he completed it (he wasn’t really impressed); on the way up to the top of the lookout we met two very nice, hardworking aboriginal National Park guys building stairs to the lookout (note, they were hardly breaking a sweat as I think they are used to the heat). Mark helped carry some concrete down from the top of the lookout for them (what a nice guy!)

There was a nice breeze at the top of the look out and the view was great.  My tip though is, if it’s 36 degrees, take the Gurrandlng walk (which takes 30-50 mins) and give this one a miss or do it late in the afternoon.

Driving back into Lake Argyle we explored the Ord River dam wall and picnic areas.  The water at the bottom of the dam wall was so clear and green (so inviting for a swim); glad we gave that a miss as when we viewed the river from the top there would have been about 3 or 4 2-4 meter crocs cruising on the surface.  As clear as it was, you just can’t see them.

The boys decided to fish for the arvo (hooray!) while I lazed by that magnificent pool on the escarpment, drinking Sauv Blanc accompanied by a novel by James Patterson.



View from the Dam Wall down the Ord River.