SUNDAY 1 JULY     KUNUNURRA

After the usual morning getting-going routines, we drove out to Lake Argyle Resort.

There is only the one road out to there, leaving the highway back east of Kununurra, almost to the NT border. The day was much nicer than when we’d passed this way over a week ago!

The drive out to the resort, dam wall and surrounds was well worth doing, just for the scenery along the road.

Out there, we did a little walking – to a couple of lookout areas.

At one of them, we were distracted from the views by a noisy group of red tailed black cockatoos, feeding in the trees, quite close to us.

From one of the lookouts, we could see down over the Ord River, to where we had cruised up yesterday.

Drove across the dam wall to the far side, parked near the boat landing, and wandered around for a bit longer than we’d had time to do, yesterday.

It really is such a small dam to hold back such an enormous volume of water! What struck me as noteworthy was that Patrick Durack was suggesting damming the Ord, decades before it happened.

John wanted us to have a fish and chip lunch at the Argyle Tavern, where they served the silver cobbler fish. As we’d previously discovered, this was the more palatable – marketable – name for the catfish caught in the Lake!

I was feeling a bit off colour before lunch, and was even more so after the meal, which was very greasy and tasted like the cooking oil was rank. It was a pity, because we’d talked this up to M, and because we had really enjoyed previous meals  of this fish, even buying some for the van freezer. Not this time!

On the way back, stopped at the Stonewall Creek crossing and wandered about there for a little while. It was just being an ordinary creek, without a great deal of water. It was hard to describe to M what it was like when raging with overflow waters.

Our other destination on the return trip, was Mirima National Park, close to town. This is only small, but contains unusual rock formations and  great short walks through them. The rocks are the banded sandstone formations similar to the Bungles – and like Keep River.

We walked through the valley between the rock formations and up to a lookout over Kununurra and its surrounding farmed plains.

One of the rock formations here has a name that both amused and fascinated me, the first time ever we came here – translated from the indigenous as  Head Lice Dreaming. I love it.

Came across a bower belonging to a Great Bower Bird. It was always interesting to see which types of items individual male birds collect to decorate their bowers. This one had found some pale green glass – it looked like he was still experimenting with this.  Presumably he had also brought the plastic drink can insert, to try out?

I went to bed very early, feeling very flu-ey. I couldn’t work out how much was due to the awful lunch, and how much was some illness.

John had to cook his own tea. I think it finished up being baked beans from a tin!