Kununurra and Lake Argyle

14th July - 18th July 2016

Kununurra

Kununurra was established in 1962 to house the workforce constructing the Ord River Diversion Dam. The brainchild of Kimberley Durak, grandson of pioneering Patsy Durak who settled here in the late 1800's. The dam was completed in 1963 and comprises 20 radial gates that are raised or lowered to regulate the water level of Lake Kununurra, primarily to maintain water flow to the irrigation area and manage wet season flood levels. The water is then channeled across the 13,000 hectares of rich farmland. A huge array of produce is grown here. Two of the main crops are chia and Indian Sandalwood trees.

Water being diverted from the main channel to water the chia crop.

Chia. Looks like lavender. Very pretty. Acres and acres of it.

Our stay in Kununurra was in town. No National Park or free camps. So water connected and 240 power. Nice shady trees. Walk to "town". All the luxuries. Even nice quiet neighbours!

Kununurra camp.

Saturday morning is local market day. It was really good for a small town.

Plenty of colourful stalls.

American Slow Cooked Smoked BBQ.

Smokey beef ribs. Mouth-wateringly delicious!

I thought this food truck was really neat. As well as their frozen fresh tropical fruit!

Just not right...an Asian playing the didgeridoo?!?

Time for some sightseeing. The first stop The Hoochery. Hmmmm, actually a rum distillery.

Apparently the oldest, continuously running distillery in W.A.

Now, I don't like rum, but the coffee liqueur blend was very approachable!

Next stop the Sandalwood Factory. Indian Sandalwood is a massive industry here. It will eventually be the largest in the world! The trees take 15 years to mature. They have been harvesting for the past 5 years. Every year the harvested areas are larger and larger. Products include personal care, oils, sandalwood incense sticks, fragrance, jams, toffee. Very, very interesting.

To finish off our tour of Kununurra a walk up Kelly's Knob lookout overlooking the town.

Looking towards the town and where we are staying.

My bestie and me.

There is another Zebra Rock mine on the Kununurra side of Lake Argyle. The shop and information centre is set on the banks of Lake Kununurra. Acres of beautiful grassland. So peaceful. What a spot.

View of the Lake.

Picnic paradise.

Better have a cuppa and a scone.

For a $1 donation to the RFDS you can get some bread to feed the catfish down at the jetty. Bit of fun.

There is a National Park on the edge of town for walks only. No camping. More stunning scenery, red rocks and pretty flowers.

These scrappy trees are all over the north. They are the Kapoc tree. The pods when ready will pop open like cotton pods. They have a white fibrous filling. This was used many, many years ago for stuffing mattresses, pillows, soft toys and the like. The Aboriginies also use them as their crocodile calendar. When they are in flower it is mating time. When the pods appear they lay their eggs. And when the pods open the eggs will be hatching. How about that!

Happy hikers.

View of Kununurra from the top.

Trees that grown out of rocks fascinate me.

Had a great time in Kununurra as well as catching up on some shopping and chores.

Lake Argyle

18th - 25th July 2016

The drive into Lake Argle is another spectacular drive. This time through the Carr Boyd ranges.

Roadie shots.

Outback Australia is full of magnificent red rock, blue sky and green Spinifex. Love it.

Argyle Downs Homestead Museum is the first stop. The homestead was dismantled and relocated to the current site when the Ord River was dammed to create Lake Argyle. It was the home of Patsy and Mary Durak and thei family. The original pioneers of this area.

Argyle Downs Homestead. The solid construction, and wide verandah keep the home incredibly cool.

Many of the Durack decendents headstones were also relocated to the new site.

Patrick "Patsy" Durack 1834 - 1898. Patsy came from a very poor farming family who moved from Ireland in 1853 to New South Wales. Two months after arriving his father died. He moved to Victoria and returned 18 months later to the family home with £1000. In 1862 he married Mary Costello and they had 8 children. Along with his brother and brother-in-law they established cattle property in South West Qld. They pegged 44,000 sq. klm of land and by 1877 they had 30,000 head of cattle. In 1979 they drove 7,250 head of cattle and 200 horses north to the East Kimberley arriving in 1882. The 4,800 klm journey of cattle to stock Argyle Downs and Ivanhoe Station is the longest of its type on record.

It's a fascinating story of courage and foresight. There is a great book Kings in Grass Castles for the full history.

This place is one of Australia's best kept secrets. Stunning just doesn't describe the beauty of Lake Argyle. The pristine water, breathtaking red rock islands, balmy weather. We planned on staying for 3 nights and ended up being here for a week. It is a place you could stay for months. In fact, the staff are people who come and work here in the dry season every year and stay for 6 months. Tempting!

This is a resort that starts with amazing villas set on the escarpment, bungalows, caravan park and camping ground. It has it all. Amazing infinity pool, beer garden and cafe/restaurant. Oh, and helicopter rides and boat cruises.

The operation here is a well oiled machine. Check-in at the office, then you are escorted to your campsite personally. Given the rundown of the resort and park. The staff cannot do enough for you. They told us they were sorry that this was the only spot for us! I guess it will have to do. The powered sites were all in rows with no view at all!

Camped on the escarpment with Deb and Harry. Not a bad view.

Sunset shining on the rock.

The helicopter flies by at eye level. Dezzi loving it.

The first three nights were the build-up to the full moon rising over the ridge in front of us.

Activity number one. Half day dinghy hire to go exploring and get some fish. The main catch is catfish or silver cobbler as it is called here. Also barramundi and sooty grunter.

Try and get Dez to smile for the camera. Dam near impossible. He was concentrating. Been a while since he was skipper.

First little rocky island to try our luck.

So peaceful.

There is this quirky thing between Dez and I. Whenever we go fishing, I always catch the first fish whether it be a keeper or not. Nothing changed. First catfish on the hook goes to Bevie. Pity it was so small.

Next one to Deb!

And so it went. All good for the girls and not much action for the boys ha ha ha!

Finally Dezzi got lucky and caught the biggest Cobbler of the day. I also got one just a little smaller than this.

Fresh pan fried Cobbler and chips for dinner. So yummy.

There are three walking trails here. Deb and I headed off late in the afternoon to do the 6klm Bluff Walk.

Looking back up the track towards our camp.

You can just see Durak Homestead on the left of this photo.

Plenty of Spinifex plains.

End of the trail at the Bluff looking south. You can just see the dam wall on the right.

Sunset and moonrise walk back.

The evening view from our camp when we got back.

The. Most. Amazing. Day. Lake Argyle cruise on the Kimberley Cat. Picked up from the park at 12noon and a five minute drive down to the boat ramp to board the catamaran. Only about 25 passengers. Delicious lunch, afternoon tea and cheese platter at sunset.

The Lake is huge. 21 times Sydney Harbour. Pristine fresh water at a perfect 24 degrees. 70 odd islands created when the Lake was dammed back in 1972.

Heaven is a swim in perfect water.

Just relaxing.

Drink o'clock. Jim, Dez and Harry.

Deb and Harry soaking up the serenity.

Bliss, bliss, bliss.

There are estimated to be around 25,000 freshwater crocodiles in the Lake.

Group photo.

Sundowners.

So many laughs meeting new people.

The lovely Laura and Skipper Rod. He has been doing this for 4 years. Tough job. There are only three tour boats on the Lake, so we were all alone out there.

When we got back to the Park, it was Trivia Night. Teamed up with a young couple from California and another couple from Pelican Waters! It was a hoot of a night and we managed to come third!

The best day!

Short walk next day to the lookout over the Ord River. You can see the dam wall to the left. This was built over three dry seasons - 1970/1971/1972 at a cost of $22 million dollars. The clay core and all the rock was quarried from the local area keeping the cost down. This wall dammed the Ord River creating Lake Argyle. The Lake covers 1000 sq. klm; volume is 10,873 GL; Farming allocation is 875 GL p/a. The dam was built to control the flow of the Ord River to farmland.

Not the best photos, but this is the information at the river lookout.

This is the Kimberley Rose.

The next walking trail is short, but incredibly steep. Straight down from the pool to a pontoon to swim in the Lake. But, man, what a hike back to the top!

Plenty of time wasted around the stunning pool.

Three nights a week live music on the hill at sunset.

Love cooking outside. Omelette for brekky.

Sadly time to say goodbye to Deb and Harry until we catch up again in Broome. We are going on the Gibb River Road (4WD) and they are going on the bitumen.

Took a drive over the dam wall to have a picnic day on the banks of the Ord River. Beautiful park.

View of the dam wall. The concrete structure is the water inlet for the hydro electric system on the other side.

Looking down to the park to the left, and the hydro system on the right.

The water that flows from the dam into to the Ord River hydro electric system eliminates the need for diesel power in Kununurra, Wyndham and Lake Argyle.