Freshwater frolicking in Lake Argyle

On August 3rd, we drove only an hour from Kununurra and we were once again in an absolutely exquisite part of Western Australia. We had heard a lot about this caravan park, its infinity pool and the magnificent backdrop which was the enormous Lake Argyle.

Lake Argyle is Australia’s largest man-made lake by volume. It is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme. Lake Argyle normally has a surface area of about 1,000 square kilometres. The storage capacity, to the top of the spillway is 10,763,000 megalitres. Lake Argyle's usual storage volume is 5,797,000 megalitres, making it the largest reservoir in Australia. At maximum flood level, the lake holds 35 million megalitres of water and covers a surface area of 2,072 square kilometres. At its peak the Lake is 9 times larger than Sydney Harbour. It was enormous!

We were lucky to get a lovely shady spot under some mature trees. Little did we know that these trees would bring bats through the night, loud and hungry and defacating all over our caravan.

The kids were getting impatient waiting for our friends from Broome to arrive. So, in the meantime we took a drive down to the dam wall and viewed the hydro-electric station which supplied electricity to Lake argyle, Kununura and the surrounding towns.

The kids finished off a bit of school work, Rubes and Trace had a great game of scrabble and Jem and Josh began a very large 2000 piece puzzle. 

The puzzle became an obsession for Josh throughout our stay and for at least a week to come. In fact there were nights where the kids wanted to go to sleep at 9.30 and Josh insisted just a few more minutes. 10 o’clock came and we had to tell Josh enough was enough! Eventually we managed to finish the puzzle with a great sense of satisfaction shared by all.

Finally Sean, Olivia and the kids, Mila, Alex and Nieve arrived our kids were so excited. Their oldest daughter was developing a fondness for Oscar and was enjoying every moment with him. We had waited for them to book a sunset cruise together on the Lake and were recommended that this was a magical way to see the vastness of Lake Argyle and enjoy a swim at the same time.

We were certainly not disappointed. It was a four hour cruise which, at first, we wondered might be too long. We were more than pleasantly surprised at how interesting the cruise was and how much fun the kids were having with their friends. Sunset was nearly upon us and most of us hopped in for a swim. Oscar, Ruby and the girls were happy to take a leap off the top of the boat. A glass of wine, beer and cheese and crackers topped off a wonderful afternoon with friends on Lake Argyle It’s times like these that we have to pinch ourselves at how lucky we are to be sharing experiences like this with our children.