Lake Argyle Xmas Weekend

On our return from our Adelaide holiday, we were greeted with emails from Steve's employers regarding the annual Christmas work celebration.  Last year was an 'adults only' get together at one of the local pubs which we didn't attend because we had not long arrived in town and didn't have anyone to babysit the girls.  We also didn't feel the girls had developed a familiarity with anyone yet for them to feel comfortable being babysat.  Besides, we were a bit puzzled as to why an employer would have a Christmas party without kids when the two employees had 5 kids between them and the owners also had grandkids which weren't invited.  Every other employer that Steve has ever worked for has organised a Christmas party with kids high on the priority list.  These have been larger organisations however which have large numbers of families working for them.  I can see why it would be a bit odd organising face painting and jumping castles for only 5-7 kids but to us Christmas is for the kids so why exclude them. 
This years Christmas do, however, was organised for all the families and was probably one of the best Christmas events we have ever been involved in.  It wasn't just one night but an entire weekend.  Woohoo!  There was us and Steve's workmate and his family along with the boss and his wife, their kids and grandchildren plus a family friend.  We were all booked into the Lake Argyle villas which overlook the lake and provide a slice of luxury.  There are two villas at Lake Argyle resort and they can be used as one big space or be divided into 8 individual accommodation options.  Our villa was split in half with Steve's workmates' family on one side and us on the other side.  Our zone had a queen size bed, single bed and bathroom but there was also a queen size bedroom and bathroom separated by a door with a fully equipped kitchen, dining and lounge area overlooking a huge covered deck with beautiful views of Lake Argyle.  The other villa had been split between the other three parties and an unrelated couple were staying in the fourth space.  Our deck was open between our two families but the other villa had their deck divided because of the couple staying in the separate room.

The view from our villa room

The lounge, dining and kitchen
in the villa

Everyone finished work early on the Friday and we all drove down to Lake Argyle for a BBQ dinner.  It was BYO meat and alcohol and a salad to share between the group.  We used the outdoor facilities at the resort which are shared with the cabins. tent cabins and other accommodation located nearby.  The kids just ran amok after having a quick bite to eat as there was too much playing to do to be wasting time eating.  We all had a dip in the infinity pool before that closed at 6pm so then the lawn areas and villas became a great play area.  It was slightly awkward for me later in the evening even though I knew everyone because these people were all long term locals so when the alcohol kicked in and the conversation turned to reminiscing I decided to get Becca settled into bed.  As it was, our kids were now all tucked up in bed with the neighbouring kids watching dvd's on their ipads so at least they were chilled out.
I managed to separate Becca and Erin by explaining that we had a huge day tomorrow and that they should get some sleep.  Hollow words for kids but then it was more about me not wanting to deal with them if they were ratty due to lack of sleep.  Erin retired into her queen bedroom which she begged to have to herself and listened to her music while I laid with Becca on her bed to help get her off to sleep.  A rustling in the room caught my attention and I opened my eyes to see Steve returning from the bbq to get some shuteye.  It was only then that I realised it was nearly an hour later and that I had fallen asleep on Becca's bed.  Becca was still awake!!  So it was lights out - night night for all of us.

Boat number 1

Boat number 2

The next morning was a flurry of packing lunches and snacks as we were going out in one of the two boats that had been brought down to the lake.  One boat was a shared family boat between Steve's workmate and his cousin's family.  The other boat belonged to Steve's boss.  We were going to experience a day of water fun on a lake which equals 21 Sydney Harbours.  I didn't take a lot of notice of what everyone else was packing but I did see a number of large eskies go into the bosses' boat.  Mmm!  Wonder what they were full of - haha!.   Once we launched from the boat ramp, it was a fairly speedy boat ride out onto the lake whereupon we started looking for a portable bbq on a beach.  Our fellow boaties had got some inside info. from the resort owners about a likely place to park ourselves for the day.   It needs to be remembered that Lake Argyle was once a series of ranges carved through the Kimberley with not a sign of a beach anywhere, only rivers and creeks.  Once this region was flooded with water all those years ago, mountain tops became islands but there are no fine, white, sandy beaches associated with these islands.  Beaches on Lake Argyle resemble an English beach of pebbles and rocks, not the fine sands of the Whitsundays.  Anyway after some eagle-eyed searching, the bbq was spotted and we headed for our English beach.

Erin and Becca ready to go

The mini Bedouin camp

Another interesting thing to note about Lake Argyle is the deception of distance associated with it.  The feeling that you have travelled such a large distance only to discover that you've barely left the boat ramp.  We had been moving for nearly half an hour at high speed before finding the bbq on the beach and I assumed that we were a fair distance from the resort.  We felt isolated, as if we had the entire lake to ourselves.  It was pointed out to me upon our return later that day that we were within site of the resort the whole day but our position was just hidden by some of the higher islands.  We had travelled 10 kilometres and had barely scratched the surface of the lake so to speak.

A group cool off

The kids playing

Once we landed beachside, what followed was the construction of a mini Bedouin camp rivalling anything I've seen on Discovery Channel .  There were umbrellas and Gazebos being erected with camp chairs, tables and blankets followed by all those eskies I had seen earlier in the day.  We were rather embarrassed to erect our beach shelter (which was the size of a one person dome tent) to put our meagre supplies under.  Having never experienced a day trip quite like this before, we were a bit overwhelmed by the extravagance of it all.  We are used to picnicking where sandwiches are quickly made before the bread dries out or the flies take off with it but today we realised that boats carry way more than a 4WD.  So here we were, set up on a beach with a pebbly shoreline resembling England's finest with a water temperature not unlike that of Fiji or the French Riviera with an air temperature resembling an Arab desert in which our Bedouin camp was assembled.  What a mixed bag!  The temperature on this particular day was hovering around 43 degrees so we were grateful for the shade.

A chilled but sunburnt Steve

Soon after, everyone was in the water with hats, stubby coolers and pool noodles bobbing everywhere.  The beach umbrella which was placed in the water to keep the grandchildren shaded kept everyone close as people took turns jostling for a break from the seering sun.  One of the boats tied up close to shore also became handy shade as all the guys lined up along the hull on the shady side.  All the kids had life jackets on because although they were good swimmers, the water became very deep very quickly so it was a precaution.  Besides, it was a great way to keep their sun protection rashies on as sunburn was a real issue.  Keeping hats on and sunscreen applied was a constant battle as the kids just wanted to play and not be bothered with such trivial things.  I didn't want to battle with the resulting sunburn later should they not be protected.
After several hours turning into prunes in the water, one boat with some of the guys went out to do some waterskiing.  Almost everything about this day had Steve completely out of his comfort zone.  Anything associated with water makes Steve very nervous and it was a  credit to him for being out in Australia's largest lake.  Understandably then, he didn't go waterskiing.  The boss came back with some sort of calf injury after it was suggested that he wouldn't still be able to ski at the age of 60, which he had just turned.  Lunch came out once they had returned and this time, it rivalled a feast of Henry the eighth.  Steve and I pulled out our glad wrapped sandwiches while everyone else brought out Tupperware containers full of bbq chickens, salads, hard boiled eggs and fruit.   Wow...these people are experts at picnicking on a grand scale.  Obviously those huge eskies had other delights in them besides alcohol.  After the girls had eaten their sandwiches and fruit, I offered my meagre fruit container which was snapped up because it had different fruit in it.  We also shared the shade of the gazebo which had to be shifted several times as the sun moved around.
The kids had already been out on the 'biscuit' which is a floatation device towed at speed behind a boat on which people ride and squeal.  Their nagging and protests after lunch had us heading out for another round of fun.  Steve went out in the morning but stayed boatbound whereas I came out in the afternoon with camera poised to grab some awesome action shots and try it for myself.  What amazing fun we all had.   Steve's workmate was swinging the boat around to try and get us surfing in it's wake and the girls' were surprisingly unfazed.  I, on the other hand, was freaking out especially at the prospect of hitting the water at high speed should the biscuit upturn.

Nearly airborne on the biscuit

The face says it all

It's hard work hanging on for dear life while being flung around and I think my arms were several centimetres longer afterwards due to all the hanging on.  Steve's workmate was relatively gentle with us but when his three kids got onto the biscuit, all bets were off.  Obviously these kids are used to being flung around and so dad just let them have it.  At one stage the biscuit became airborne and all the kids were catapulted off into the water.  The eldest boy elbowed himself in the nose as he was flying and gave himself a blood nose.  Luckily there are no sharks or salt water crocodiles in Lake Argyle.

Daredevils Erin and Becca

What a view in the background

The next challenge for us was knee boarding.  This is something I have never tried before.  I have water-skied on the Murray River many years ago but not this.  Erin and I got a demonstration from one of the daughters and the wife who made it look easy.  It was anything but easy!  Steve once said that hovering in the helicopter was like balancing on a barstool and I could now relate to that analogy.  Erin and I had to be dragged behind the kneeboard and then in one swift movement climb up, slot our knees into straps on the board
while using our elbows to hold the board steady.......piece of cake, Ha!....Not!  After several false starts of my making, we finally got some wave time on the boards.  Erin looked like a pro.  All these life experiences don't seem to hold her back from having a go.  Becca desperately wanted to do it but she was just too small, not that it dampened her enthusiasm.  The greatest difficulty was keeping your upper body steady while your lower body wanted to move all over the place as we surfed over the water.  It was also very tiring trying to keep it altogether.

Attempting to get to my knees

Both of us up and knee boarding

By this time it was late afternoon and the other boat had already packed up and left the beach because young babies and toddlers have a limited social lifespan.  We headed back to the bbq beach, packed up all our stuff and headed back to the resort boat ramp with a little extra biscuit fun along the way.  The scenery during the day had been absolutely magnificent with spectacular backdrops of ranges, wide spans of water and building wet season storm clouds. 

Erin looking like a natural

Me about to fall off at any second

Once we had returned to our villas, it was time to assess the sun damage from the day while getting ready for our Christmas party dinner at the resort restaurant.  Our menu had been preselected by us before we arrived so that it would be ready when we got to the restaurant.  As storm clouds loomed over Lake Argyle we all walked over in our finest threads for Christmas dinner.  The boss' wife had asked for us to celebrate our Christmas party on the outside deck but the resort owners said that a wild storm was on it's way so we had to shift inside.  True to form at about 6pm, the thunder and lightning made a grand entrance with pouring rain falling in sheets.  Thankfully we were all inside enjoying a beautifully prepared feast.  There was a selection of chicken, fish or beef dishes with an amazing dessert of warm sticky cake and a caramel sauce while the kids had icecream.  A facebook photo was taken for the resorts' advertisement page and that finished off a wonderful evening meal after a cracker day.
On returning to our villas, the kids mixed between our two family areas while the adults just sat on the rear deck in the dark and watched the lightning.  I always think of the song,  "this is Australia" with the line "out on the patio we sit.....we watch the lightning crack over cane fields" during storms like this one.  It was truly spectacular and a fantastic end to a ripper day for everyone.  Most people mellowed with a wine or beer while I just chilled with a nice hot cuppa.  It's incredible the stories that come out of the closet with a few bevvies under the belt.  A bit of light entertainment for me and a relaxed atmosphere all round.  The intermittent wind gusts associated with the storm kept the sweat off my brow while drinking my hot beverage.  Everyone slowly dribbled off to bed and by 9.30 it was all quiet.
The next morning was pack up time but Steve's boss and his wife had some Santa giving to attend to first.  A large pile of presents appeared on one of the deck tables and soon after an eager group of small people also assembled.  All the kids received some beautiful gifts from Steve's boss and his wife.  The presents were craft orientated which suited both our two and the other family's kids.  With hugs and thankyous all round, it was time to finish off the tidy up and depart our villa.  The entire weekend had a feeling of a close-knit family Christmas as Steve's employer is only a small business.  Obviously we have a lot to learn when it comes to extravagant weekends like these but then I feel that most of the long term locals up here make a career out of day trips in the Kimberley especially where boating is concerned.  It isn't necessarily our cup of tea but having an opportunity to experience a day out on Lake Argyle with local families was indeed a privilege and another adventure chalked up on the 'to-do' list, not that it was something we ever imagined we would do.