Seashalia: Lake Argyle and Kununurra 26-30th July 2011

Lake Argyle is on the site of the old Durak homestead and was the brain child of Kim Durak, who also gave the region its name – “Kimberley”. Lake Argyle is formed by the damming of the Ord River. There is a giant spillway, which can fill Sydney Harbour in just 4 hours in a wet year like this one. They had 3 metres of rain in the most recent wet season.

Sunset cruise on Lake Argyle

Sunset on Lake Argyle

Underneath Lake Argyle is a mountain range and only the tallest mountains can be seen jutting up out of the water. We saw 16 foot crocs on Lake Argyle. It is a huge dam, for the purpose of irrigation water and electricity generation. The surrounding rocky walls to the dam are really red and extremely interesting and dramatic. We cruised Lake Argyle and also the Upper Ord River.

Kununurra is quite an interesting place with a population of about 7,000 it is also the site of HCJB, a Christian Broadcasting Station, broadcasting into SE Asia. Our friends, Mary and Howard Jones have been coming up for three years to help erect the towers and assist in getting the programs into the right countries. We will go over and visit the station tomorrow for “open” Sunday.

Entrance to HCJB

They also grow bananas and sell banana jam or spread, very delicious. Many of the wonderful things to do near here are on The Gibb Road, which can be a difficult place to negotiate, so Graeme does not want to drive to these places, instead, we will come back and do them from Perth, on another trip, where the road is better.

Sunst on Lake Kununurra

Ord River - cruising Lake Kununurra

Spillway from Lake Kununurra

Yesterday we went to Wyndham. An Aboriginal town with a great historical past. It is a port and has seen many kinds of goods shipped out of Australia. The Cambridge Gulf cuts a huge swag out of the Australian Continent right here, take a look on a map. We are in the NE corner of WA. The cutting is so wide it is mind blowing and it is surrounded with massive miles of mud flats on both sides. It is hard to get your head around the size of the gulf. Five of our rivers empty into the gulf: King, Ord, Durack, Forrest and Pentecost and you can see them emptying their contents there. It was a bit of a hazy day for us to see well. Just think Very Big. We also did some 4 W-Driving to see some falls, springs, creeks and watery landmarks, as well as Parry’s Wetlands and Bird Hide, where we had a wonderful time photographing the birds. The Highlight was visiting Parry’s Resort, in the middle of nowhere, where we had lunch and a very funny waitress to serve us. Her husband was the chef there. They use all the food in season from their garden and even had food that Graeme could eat. What a joy. I also picked up a new Christmas dessert recipe.