Advertisement
Published: July 13th 2011
Edit Blog Post
The Ord River
a giant among rivers Tuesday 5th was the day of our trip to Lake Argyle but as it wasn’t due to go until 11:30am we were in no rush to get out and about. We idled away the morning and at about 11:20 we made our way to the park entrance where there was a special lay-by for tour buses to pull in. Quite a few people were already there but some got onto a minibus which was taking them to the airport for a flight over the Bungles. Our bus – a full sized coach – turned up and about 12 of us got on to join the 25 or so that were already on there. Then another minibus arrived and people transferred to our bus so that there was just one empty seat and 51 people in all. We would be going towards Lake Argyle and the driver gave us a running commentary including some background as to why Kununurra has developed the way it has and why it is so strategically important. It took about 45 minutes to reach our first stop – The Durack Homestead. The Durack family had been pioneers in the area establishing a successful cattle station and other
Durack Family Homestead
moved piece by piece in the early 1970s to make way for the Argyle Dam businesses which initially put Kununurra on the map. When, in later years, it was decided to build the Argyle Dam, the homestead area was flooded but, in recognition of the contributions made by the Duracks over the years, their homestead was painstakingly dismantled and rebuilt in its current location and has become a museum to the family and to the pioneers of early modern-day Australia. In the grounds were original headstones that had also been moved – the very young age of some of the memorials were a stark reminder of the hardships faced by the early settlers. There was also a bowerbird’s ‘bower’ being built up in a hedgerow – he seemed to have been collecting white or silver items to impress the females – will it work we wonder?
The next stop was at the Argyle village which has a very popular caravan park, a thriving restaurant and visitor’s facilities. It was here we ate our picnic lunch as eating on the bus and on our next mode of transport, a boat, was discouraged. So after our hastily eaten picnic, the bus took us to a lookout where we could see the extent of the lake created
Face of a determined pioneer
Patrick Durack who trekked 3000 miles in 1882 from Queensland to the Kununurra area with 2000 head of cattle by the dam. It is vast – so big that, reputedly, if you were to take the time to reach its very centre, you wouldn’t see anything but water and in fact the surface area is about 1000 square kilometres! The source of the water is the River Ord, one of Australia’s most prolific waterways. The main dam wall was completed in 1972 - it was so strategically placed that the surrounding hills created a lake which collects water in abundance and will never drop below a certain level – equivalent to 22 Sydney Harbours! It often holds water equivalent to 44 Sydney Harbours and, at its peak, can accommodate 88 Sydney Harbours. This means that, with clever distribution of the water for business use and irrigation, the Kimberley region is probably the best naturally resourced area in the whole of Australia where the fertile soil and appropriate climate combine to create perfect growing requirements. It is expected to develop to become the country’s “food basket” providing crucial employment for the area and a degree of independence for Australia’s ever growing food market. Nevertheless, such is the clever design of the water system that vast quantities of water will always
A male bowerbird's bower
will it be good enough to entice the female? flow through the system and out into the ocean.
The bus drove us across the dam wall and down to the banks of the on-going River Ord. There we boarded a “speed” boat called ‘Peregrine’ which would take us the 55 kilometers back to Kununurra. The journey began gently enough but on occasions the full speed was employed and the boat careered around fairly tight bends and through quite narrow openings. We were thrilled when the shout went up “crocodile”! More often than not they were sunning themselves on the bank of the river. Quite a few crocs were spotted and a wide variation of bird-life was seen including white-bellied sea eagles, jacanas and a nankeen night heron. The surrounding cliffs made for some special scenes and plenty of photos were being taken. After a while we stopped and moored for a short period. Grant produced a map indicating the full extent of the waterways in the area and demonstrated why Kununurra was so well placed. It seems that the only reason why Kununurra has not established itself already as a leading food manufacturing area is the occasional cyclonic activity. But the area is adapting to this and Grant
was fully confident that, in just a few years time, the area will become one of THE places in Australia for business investment and development. Already land is being released for housing and it is anticipated that it will become a mecca for tradesmen as the boom takes off.
Soon we were back on the water speeding through some “narrows” and slowing to view some crocodiles and other wildlife. The crocs that live in the Ord River are the fairly harmless freshwater variety but they can still grow to about three metres in length. We also saw a couple of rock wallabies and hanging about on a ledge was a white bellied sea eagle – apparently they sometimes snatch young wallabies if they wander away from the shelter of the rocks. There were a few water birds about – a couple of jacanas (a bit like our moorhen but with huge feet), pygmy geese, cormorants and a darter. The scenery continued to be fascinating with some stunning gorge formations and everyone’s cameras were working overtime. Then Grant manoevered the boat through a very narrow opening which evolved into a small “retreat” which had been carefully developed out of sight
of the main waterway. There were several large picnic tables and benches and even some loos. Grant produced all the kit required for a small picnic so we all indulged in teas, coffees, fruit juices, cakes, scones and pieces of tropical fruit - it was a very pleasant stop and a chance to pass the time of day with fellow passengers. After a bit of tidying up, off we went again and we were then approached by a young fellow in a canoe. He was desperate to obtain some matches or a cigarette lighter. He and his partner had canoed out from Kununurra, about 10 kilometers, to a special camp site designed for canoeists, but he had nothing with which to light his gas cooker and fire. Fortunately one of the passengers was willing to part with his lighter so he paddled of a very happy chappie.
Time was passing by and it began to become darker. The sun was very low in the sky and we were about to witness a beautiful sunset. Again cameras were put to good use and it was quite a special moment. The river had widened considerably by this point and we sped
Lake Argyle spans an area of over 1000 kms
and is the second largest man-made lake in Australia on down towards Kununurra arriving at about 5:30. The coach trip back to the caravan park brought an end to a very different and special trip which was very reasonably priced.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.353s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 15; qc: 73; dbt: 0.131s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb