Lake Argyle Cruise

At 9:40am we walked over to reception as Scott had been advised the bus would arrive at 9:50am sharp to pick us up for the cruise. The bus arrived and we boarded and the driver gave us an overview of Lake Argyle.

During the 1960s, 650 people lived at Lake Arge while building the dam wall and there used to be a hospital and police station. We drove over the dam wall and were advised that the Ord River is 651km long, and from the caravan park lookout you can only see 1% of of the lake as it is 21 times for the size of Sydney harbour. We continued past some rock rubble where we were advised it was the site of the biggest non nuclear blast and 500 tonnes of ANFO was used. We drove past the Hydroelectric station where 35m3/second of water flows through. The Hydropower station powers Lake Argyle, Wyndham and Kununurra.

We drove down to the boat ramp where we boarded the boat. We were advised that Lake Argyle is 1000km2 and holds 10,700 GL at full capacity. There are also estimates that there are up to 35,000 freshwater crocs in Lake Argyle. We started across the Lake which had beautiful views of the mountains surrounding. We arrived at Crocodile Cove and we were able to spot a couple of crocodile. The tour operator advised us that freshwater crocodiles are more like puppy dogs compared to salt water crocodiles.

We then continued on to another quiet area where we fed the fish some bread. We could see catfish and a few other smaller fish. We then were advised we would feed some wallaby’s. We were told that as the dam was flooding there were lots of native animals and not all could be moved so a wallaby population was placed on an island where they are protected. A couple of wallaby’s came down out of the cave and we could see another younger one.

We arrive at our swimming area. We jumped into the water and were provided with pool noodles as it’s easier to drink cans of beers floating. They then proceeded to throw drinks at us. I had a glass of Prosecco. After about 30 minutes of swimming we boarded the boat for lunch before returning back to the Caravan Park. Scott and I both really enjoyed the tour.Read more