After the slow dusty exit from Purnululu NP to the Great North Highway and a brief top up in Kununurra, our final stop in the Kimberley was beside Lake Argyle. This man made lake is the largest freshwater lake in Australia and holds 21 times more water than Sydney Harbour. The water is renown for its dazzling blue colour and the site is all the more spectacular as the dam is filling a dramatic red cliff gorge so typical of the Kimberley region.

The Van Park’s infinity pool appears to flow right into Lake Argyle 🙂

The water that flows from this catchment into the Ord River scheme allows the irrigation of this area and it’s subsequent abundance of primary produce. The Dam also produces hydro electricity which powers the region.

Thanks to the advice of a fellow camper we investigated some of the side roads on our exit to the highway to discover some seldom seen Aboriginal artwork. Like many other sites they are not advertised or signposted and local knowledge becomes essential to find these treasures.

Ancient Aboriginal depiction of a crocodile.

Our leaving the Kimberley marked the end of all of the “must see” items we had on our list for this trip. We had thought we might head home via the Stuart Highway, Alice Springs and Uluru – which we still haven’t seen. Having a little extra time up our sleeves we decided to call by in Sydney to visit our parents before the final leg home to Melbourne. A quick check of the map revealed – to our surprise – that the distance to Sydney was about the same via the north of Queensland or all the way down to Port Augusta and then back up through central NSW. The rough desert tracks through the centre aren’t as appealing at this stage of our holiday 🙂

The red wing parrot is native to the Kimberley. It’s hard to get a good photo of them.

The decision was made to actually “do the full lap” of this little island. Markus was particularly excited at the prospect of arriving at the Queensland coast in the area that houses most of Australia’s leading off road camper/expedition vehicle industry… just for a look! This will also be a return to the site of many happy family holidays on the Qld & NSW Coasts when we had young kids and lived in Northern NSW. We haven’t been to some of these locations for over 15 years.

Welcome to the Northern Territory! These speed signs are right over the border from W.A.

Our lunch stop was at a Little Rest area come National Park called Big Horse Creek which is on the banks of the Victoria River where Big Horse Creek enters. The place was packed with caravaners and travellers many of whom had fishing rods out and boats on trailers. A conversation with a couple of ex-farmers from Gatton in Queensland revealed that this was Barramundi heaven. Every year they head about 70 km up the river and catch the big ones. In case it sounded like a good yarn to impress they showed us pictures from last year with her cradling a Barra that was over a metre long! Might have to return with some fishing buddies… only trouble is they share the river with crocs “as long as their caravans”, they reckon.

The Victoria River – full of big Barra and big Crocs. This bridge is to a vast, secure military training facility.

Those of you who have been to the top end via the east coast know that it is a long haul from centre to sea… about 3,000 kilometres. This is only a 2 or 3 day stint for our friend Ash on his motorbike, but for our set up the next week will see us travel at a comfortable pace from the Northern Territory to Noosa. The road is a little less interesting now. Perhaps that is why some folk deal with the boredom of long distances with strange rituals …like dressing up the termite mounds as people? We saw hundreds of variations.

This stretch of road will also see us taking advantage of the many “bush camp” opportunities that present themselves on Australia’s outback highways.

Ahh the serenity… no one for miles and plenty of firewood!

There are many 24 hour rest stop areas designated on West Australian and Northern Territory roads. They usually have toilets, garbage bins, a shaded area, some tables and chairs and fireplaces. The only trouble is, with the steadily increasing volume of “Grey Nomads” looking for that free camp, these places start to fill from lunchtime. Some just stop there for days with their generators humming and their satellite dishes pointed north east so they can watch their TV shows – like at home!

Packed in! the view as we entered the roadside rest area where 24 hour stops are allowed.

The result is us choosing to leave the sardine-can-roadside spots for those who seem to enjoy it and we explore the side roads and tracks a little further on. Having a vehicle and trailer that can handle the rough is a HUGE advantage if you like to get away from the maddening crowd 🙂

We drove on just a couple of hundred metres and found this spot instead!

We made a brief stop for the shops and fuel at Katherine. We haven’t been there for 27 years. This town was our first experience of seeing groups of people just sitting around in public spaces in the shade all day, often intoxicated. It was pretty much as we remembered… no significant improvement in the apparent lifestyle of the original inhabitants of this country which saddens us both.

Lunch was enjoyed at Mataranka Thermal Springs with a delightful swim in the therapeutic warm pools which were also pretty much the same as last time we visited over two decades ago.

WWII troops created this pool from the natural springs that flow here.

The water is crystal clear and a comfortable 28º …some say it has therapeutic benefits.

Our last night in the NT at a roadside spot called Avon Downs about 10 minutes from the Queensland Boarder.