The infinity pool at Discovery Resorts – Lake Argyle picked up Travel + Leisure's award for Australia's best hotel pool in 2025, and you'd reasonably expect it to come with a matching price tag. It doesn't. Day access costs $10, and if you want to stay the night, unpowered campsites start at $70.
The pool sits on the edge of Lake Argyle in the East Kimberley, about 70 kilometres south of Kununurra in Western Australia. The water itself is the first draw in a region where daily temperatures regularly push into the high 30s. But it's the view that justifies the hype: swim to the edge and you're looking straight out over a vast expanse of water framed by red Kimberley rock. Since the award, the resort says online searches have spiked – though on a recent visit at the start of high season, the writer found the pool nearly empty, with a couple of people dozing in the shade and nobody else in the water.
Lake Argyle itself is a curiosity: a man-made reservoir opened in 1972 as part of the Ord Irrigation Scheme, now Australia's second-largest by volume with a catchment roughly 21 times the size of Sydney Harbour. Its creation permanently altered the Ord River, but the lake has since become a Ramsar-listed wetland and, unexpectedly, one of the region's most attractive holiday spots. It's now home to an estimated 25,000 freshwater crocodiles (the relatively harmless kind), 26 species of native fish, waterbirds and plenty of other wildlife.
For travellers, that translates into a genuine base for exploring rather than just a photo stop. The lake offers walking trails, boating, fishing and water sports, plus cruises. Back at the resort, there's a camp kitchen, laundry, shared barbecues, a general store and a restaurant with a beer garden; accommodation ranges from campsites to studio, one-, two- and four-bedroom cabins, with cabins starting at $331.
Getting there is straightforward enough. Virgin Australia flies non-stop to Kununurra from Perth, or you can reach Broome or Darwin from the eastern capitals and connect with Air North. Kununurra itself makes a good hub for the wider East Kimberley – the UNESCO-listed Bungle Bungle Range in Purnululu National Park, the Ord River and the Gibb River Road are all within reach. In town, Waringarri Aboriginal Arts runs cultural tours and a gallery worth a visit.
The appeal here is the gap between what this pool looks like on social media and what it costs in real life. Infinity pools of this calibre are usually marketing tools for five-star resorts; this one belongs to a laid-back campsite where the main competition for a lounger is a nap in the shade. For anyone road-tripping the Kimberley or flying in for Purnululu, a $10 swim with that view is about as good as value gets in Australian travel.
Story first reported by Traveller (Sydney Morning Herald).
