Friday 25th July

This morning after some domestic jobs around the Karavan, we left the Caravan Park for a big \day.

Today, we did a wonderful tour of the Ord River, including Lake Kununurra, and Lake Argyle by boat mainly. We were collected by bus from our location and transport to the jetty on a tributary of Lake Kununurra. Here we joined about 40 other travellers for a trip up the Ord River to the base of the dam wall of Lake Argyle.

The boat we travelled on was powered by 3 x 300 hp Suzuki V6 outboard engines. All up, the boat and passengers, the weight is around 8 tonnes. It has a shallow V bottom to allow it to pass through reasonably shallow water. The owner, Jeff, was the very informative skipper. He has a wonderful knowledge of the whole area including the plants, birds and animals, the industries in the Ord region as well as a wealth of general knowledge.

As we travelled up the Ord River, which included passing through Lake Kununurra, we saw many examples of the bird life and the various types of trees, shrubs and grasses. One fact we were told is that there is about 70,000 litres per second passing any given point. Most of that flow goes out to sea while a small portion is used from agricultural or horticultural pursuits in the Ord Valley.

Another fact is that Lake Kununurra was the original storage for the pursuits in the valley by the construction of a diversion dam. This was used for a number of years until the construction of the dam that has made Lake Argyle into the biggest storage in Australia covering about 1000 square kilometres.

After Lake Argyle was filled, it has been used to keep a constant level in Lake Kununurra and so ensures that the irrigation water is gravity fed to the farms. They pay only $3 per megalitre which is so cheap compared to all other areas of the country which pay up to at least $2000 for the same volume. The disadvantage is that the produce from this area is subject to heavy freight costs due to the distance from markets. There is enough water in Lake Argyle to keep this area going, without any rain, for many years. The catchment area is massive although the rain is not so big, about 830 mm per year.

We had a beautiful lunch consisting of 3 cold meats, salads and fruit preceded by cheese and biscuits. This was prepared by the company’s commercial kitchen. Cool drinks and tea and coffee were on hand to quench any thirsts.

After lunch we arrived at the base of the Lake Argyle dam wall where we left the boat for a coach. The coach took us to a lookout where we could see only a small area of the massive water storage. The furthest part of the Lake from the lookout is over 60 kms away and so the horizon hides the end.

Then the coach took us for a visit to the rebuilt Durack’s Argyle Downs homestead. It was removed from the floor of the Lake and is the only building saved as the Lake filled quicker than was expected so many buildings are still under water and never likely to be seen again. Also, in the homestead were various items relating to the Durack family and some of their aboriginal employees.

From the Durack homestead we then went to the Lake Argyle wharf where we boarded another impressive boat for our sunset cruise on Lake Argyle. First up we went around to the dam wall and were told of its construction which is a clay core and protected by granite rock which was obtained from blasting a hill nearby. This hill is now part of the emergency ‘relief valve’ if the water was getting close to overtopping the wall. There is a spillway a bit further around that takes normal overflows. The base of the wall is 300 metres wide.

The mountains and hills, that are now submerged, have become islands in this most scenic and massive lake. On these islands are remnants of animals trapped when the water rose. The submerged hills were cleared by various organisations and volunteers before the water inundated them.

Eventually, the afternoon was fast getting away and we slowly made our way back to the wharf. Before we did, we stopped to have drinks and nibbles’ as the sun dropped over the horizon. Several travellers jumped in for a swim. Some great colours were seen of the sunset and just after.

Finally, we joined the coach for the 50 minute drive back into Kununurra. This is a trip not to be missed. Prue and I would really like to see this area in the “Big Wet” during January or early February some time. The waterfalls would be active and the volume of water would be some much bigger and faster.