Some views do not need a filter, and the infinity pool at Lake Argyle in the East Kimberley is one of them. It has just been named Australia’s best hotel pool, according to The Age, beating out resorts with far bigger budgets and far flashier marketing. For anyone plotting a Western Australian adventure with a decent dose of scenery thrown in, this is the one to put at the top of the list.
We will admit the water itself is the first drawcard. Out here, daily temperatures regularly climb into the high 30s, so a clear, cool pool to slide into is no small comfort. But it is what happens once you surface that changes everything.
Pull yourself up to the infinity edge and the view opens out across the whole of Lake Argyle, Western Australia’s largest artificial reservoir, framed by the deep red rock the Kimberley is known for. The pool simply disappears into the water beyond it. There is no hotel tower, no high-rise backdrop, no crowd noise. Just rock, water and sky.
Our pick for seeing it is the pool at Discovery Resorts – Lake Argyle, and the best part is you do not need to be staying overnight to enjoy it. A day pass costs $10, which makes this one of the more affordable ways to tick off a view most visitors would expect to pay resort prices for.
It is worth building a day around rather than squeezing in on the way to somewhere else. Mornings bring softer light across the lake, while afternoons show off the full heat-haze drama of the Kimberley sky. Either way, bring your camera, though we suspect no photo quite does it justice.
For those who have spent decades ticking off the better-known pools of the world, this remote stretch of Western Australia offers something rarer, a swim with nothing between you and the horizon but water and ancient red stone.
