Scout Camp at Lake Argyle

One of the nice parts about staying somewhere for an extended period of time is having the opportunity to get involved in the local community. The girls have really enjoyed the time at their new school, Elly at netball and of course, Scouts.

The local scouts have found benefits to having us in town too as running activities like camps with only 3-4 leaders in the group is a major challenge so when you get the offer of help from 2 leaders you take it. Thus we found ourselves taking part in the Kununurra Scout Group family camp at Lake Argyle. We have been really keen to get back to Lake Argyle after our sunset cruise so this was a great opportunity to head down and experience it with some locals.

Setting our swag up on the top of the hill with the almost full moon above us was beautiful and just as good as the sunrise we awoke to on Saturday morning. After the standard scouting breakfast of cereal, toast and baked beans, the cubs and scouts hit the walking trail before the heat of the day to check out the view over the Ord River and the lake. It was an amazing view and we even spied a crocodile swimming in the water down below us.

By the time we returned to camp we had been joined by the joeys. The group was then split in 2 for our main activities of the day. I went with the joeys and their families on a Lake Argyle cruise while Dave and the girls went canoeing. There are 2 boat operators on Lake Argyle and this gave me the chance to go out on a tour with the other company and we saw a few different areas of the lake and different animals. We got up close with rock wallabies, crocs, birds and fish. When it came to the option of swimming most of the parents were reluctant to go in as they felt it too cold. Me being the Melbournite I am, braved up and offered to go in as really it was like swimming in Eildon during summer at home. A couple of the kids and one other parent joined me and they all decided I had lived up to my name of dolphin. We arrived back as the others were winding up their canoeing which they had all enjoyed.

As we were waiting for lifts back to the campsite, I spied someone out using an inflatable paddle board. I had really enjoyed having a go on Aunty M's board a while back and we had discussed what an inflatable one would be like to use. I decided to be the crazy person to go up and ask about it and was offered a turn which I accepted of course. It was better than I thought it would be.

Surprise, surprise, when it came to meals I quickly stepped in and began coordinating the kids in the kitchen so I found myself instructing the cub boys how to cut up salads for our hamburgers at lunch. Then once we were all recharged it was off on our alternate adventure.

I enjoyed the solitude of paddling around by myself and taking in the view while all the joeys were out paddling with their parents. Meanwhile Dave and the girls were enjoying their cruise and getting up close and personal with Boris the croc. They were all in for a swim later with Charli deciding she could jump off the boat.

After our spaghetti dinner we all joined the campfire where I was leading the singing (a benefit of being a kinder teacher is you really stop caring about standing up doing crazy stuff in front of people). During the campfire, Elly and Charli both got invested as honorary Kununurra cubs so they now have 2 scarves they can wear.

Sunday morning started much the same with a hike out the other side of the park to overlook the homestead museum which we are yet to visit. We then headed home earlyish as Dave had been feeling terrible all weekend and really needed to go home to bed to recover ready for work.

By the end of the weekend the next camp was already being planned to take advantage of our time in Kununurra.

And just for fun, here is Charli jumping off the boat ...