Blowing a well-kept secret

The Keep River National Park provided us with our best campsite and most accessible and varied walk of the trip so far. Arriving late last evening we only really caught a glimpse of the setting sun colours while hastily making camp in the last of the light.

In the morning I rose to catch the sunrise from a rock near our camp. I was joined by a couple of birdwatchers (one only six years old, but knew his three varieties of Gouldian Finch). We enjoyed the light on the rocks, but the birds were not so forthcoming.

Back to camp for breakfast, and to cook our way through some of the food we couldn’t take into WA (see separate post). Since it was such a nice place, we weren’t sure whether we would stay another night, so left camp and went on the Gurrandalng Walk based at the campsite. Terrific landscape, trees, flowers, birds  and bugs. Starting to hint at what we will see in the Bungle Bungles in the next few days just west of here.

Got back around 11:30, and while it was very nice, nothing else to keep us there, so broke camp intending to move up the road to the other campsite in Keep River, Jarnem. On the way we stopped at the Keep River Gorge for lunch and a walk down the gorge to an art site. Extensive, but a lot of it indistinct except for some notable exceptions. I expect the best stuff is beyond the No Entry sign at the end of the rock shelter, which asks you to respect the privacy of the Aboriginal custodians. We complied.

On to Jarnem, which we had been told was better than Gurrandalng. Perhaps, but in the early afternoon it seemed hot and desolate. Uniform derision from the back seat, with some support from the front. After a brief walk around and a read of the sign I decided that this was what we were here to see, so I offered a walk to the lookout, noted as 4.5km return. I wound up going by myself. Another good walk along the floodplain then up one of the rock hills to look across at other hills. Quite spectacular, but I had given myself 1hr 20 mins, and I reckon it was nearer 6km so I had to keep moving.

Back in the car and off to the WA border. A brief stop for a photo and to consume the last of the fruit and honey, then sit in the queue for 20 minutes to wait for quarantine inspection. We had dutifully sorted all of our contraband into our rubbish bag intending to deposit it into the disposal bins we were told were provided. No such bins were found, and they would only accept illegal items. Funnily enough when I sorted mine, the only stuff I found I could take away was the plastic bag…

From there 20 minutes down the road to Lake Argyle. Most notable so far as a chance to wash off the dust from the last few days without swimming. This included my crawling under the car effort so I was completely filthy. The kids enjoyed a swim in the pool while I cooked, but the pool shuts at six.

90 minutes of jetlag to overcome tonight, so it is a little weird having sunset slip back to 5pm. That’s more like winter, but it doesn’t feel like it. Even though it has been cooler the last few days, we still comfortably get into the 30s, although the mornings have been cooler.

Lots planned for tomorrow, and the intention is to get into the Bungle Bungles via Kununurra after seeing what Argyle has to offer. Given we need to restock and also drive 400km, I think it is optimistic. We’ll see.

Statistic for the day. Louis has calculated that with three cameras on the go and 100 photos per camera per day, we will have 30000 photos to go through when we get home. I think his estimate is conservative, based on current rate of production. Still, perhaps the holiday will get boring so we won’t have as much to photograph…