Kununurra and Surrounds

We stopped at the entrance to Keep River National Park to re inflate our tyres. We crossed the border into Western Australia, and went through the rigmarole of having the van and 4wd searched at the Quarantine Checkpoint before continuing towards Kununurra.
We'd already consumed our fruit, veg and honey so there was nothing to declare.
We were surprised to see about eight different lots of campers who were obviously unaware of the restrictions, devouring their fruit before proceeding through the checkpoint.

We are camped at the Ivanhoe Village Caravan Resort but I think they are having themselves on and should drop the word resort and replace it with park.
Our first nights site was dirt with only a few blades of grass and a tree overhead that dropped leaves continuously that kept us awake. Behind us and on a rise a van vacated a lovely green grass site so I hightailed to the office and luckily it hadn't been pre-booked so here is where we have remained.

On one of our days we drove north to Wyndham. Its referred to as the Top Town of the West. We drove up on a 4wd road known as Parrys Creek Road then back to Kununurra on the black top. Part of this road ran parallel to the Ord River and we stopped at a campsite known as Mambi Island boat ramp. There were three groups of people camped here and obviously into fishing.

The port was originally established in 1885 after gold was discovered at Halls Creek and over five thousand miners passed through here to the goldfields.
The Fiver Rivers Lookout is the main draw card to visiting Wyndham. The lookout atop the Bastion Range at 330 metres gives a birds-eye view over the port and the five rivers that empty into Cambridge Gulf. The rivers are the Durack, Pentecost,King, Forrest and the Ord. Unfortunately we could not capture with our cameras just how spectacular the view from the lookout really is. I would imagine sunset may help to improve ones photos.

Talk about 'Boot Hill'. The rocky ground that this cemetery sits on reminded us of the Farina cemetery. Digging graves here with pick and shovel would certainly be hard yakka. This pioneer cemetery was used between 1886 and 1922 and reading the tomb stones provides you with an idea of just how harsh conditions must have been in those early years.

On another one of our outings we visited the Hoochery and the Sandalwood Factory. The Hoochery is the only legal distillery in WA. Locally grown sugar cane is used in the process and they have the capacity to produce 50,000 bottles each year.

We tried one of their tasting paddles and then sampled their rum and mango ginger cake with a coffee to follow. Both cakes were totally yummy.

Our tasting paddle from left to right consisted of:

Aguardiente Verde Aniseed Liqueur, Cane Royale Liqueur with chocolate and coffee and Ord River dark rum. I think Royal Liqueur made by Bundaberg Rum beats this one hands down.

The sandalwood factory and plantation is just north of Kununurra. The company has two plantations in Western Australia, two in the Northern Territory and one in North Queensland. Processing plants are located in Kununurra and Albany in the south of WA. The trees are actually Indian sandalwood trees but the trees in the wild are now endangered because of illegal harvesting and theft. The oil is in high demand and is used extensively in Pharmaceutical, Fragrance and Aromatherapy markets.

Photos taken from Kelly's Knob with this one showing the main irrigation channel that provides water to the many plantations located throughout the Ord Valley.

We have just completed an Ord River Cruise with Triple J Tours. When we were last in Kununurra we viewed the dam and the museum which is a replica of the original Durack family Homestead which uses the original stone from their homestead.

Our tour involved cruising the 55 km up the Ord River to the base of Lake Argyle and return. We were then joined at the dam wall by people who had completed the Ord River day tour where they were bused to the dam.

Lake Argyle and the Ord River scheme is a gigantic undertaking that was originally the brainchild of Kimberley Durack, but unfortunately he passed away in 1968 and never saw its completion.

The damming of the Ord River created Lake Argyle that normally covers 1000 sq km, but during a good wet season like 2011 the surface area increased to 1500 sq km.

The dam wall was constructed from materials that were sourced within 1 km of the wall. Its not made of cement and steel but of clay and rock. The type of clay used is strengthened when it becomes wet.

Originally before the dam was completed there was a pumping station on Lake Kununurra to help divert the river if the water levels were too high. It now sits idle and is used as a restaurant. Aptly named the Pump House Restaurant.

Unlike the Snowy Mountains Scheme that uses pumping stations and holding dams to move water back and forth to produce its hydro power the Ord River scheme uses only gravity. The difference in height from the dam wall to the ocean is 42 metres, so the water is continually running downhill.

The hydro power station at the base of the dam produces enough electricity to power Kununurra, Wyndham and some of the diamond mines to the south of Kununurra.

Lake Argyle is equivalent to the volume of twenty Sydney Harbours and holds an estimated 30,000 freshwater crocodiles. This ones only a baby hiding in the reeds:

The 55 km stretch from the Lake Argyle dam to the diversion dam at Lake Kununurra has an estimated population of 6,000 freshies. I have never seen freshwater crocodiles that grow to the size that we have seen. Grant our skipper explained the reason why, and it is because their habitat never changes but remains constant no matter the season.

To increase the agricultural output on these black soil plains by having more plantations is as easy as digging more drains running off the main drain.

The water that is taken from the lake and the upper reaches of the river are diverted for agriculture but then returned to the river without altering its flow.

We stopped to view a large and smelly population of fruit bats that have been estimated at over 1 1/2 million which we see fly north each evening to feed. Grant explained that they were not a nuisance to farmers who grow crops like mangoes, because their habitat like other areas in Australia has not been cut down to make way for farms or civilization. They are more interested in feeding from nectar than from attacking the crops.

Comb Crested Jacana and young or Jesus Bird because it spends its life living on floating vegetation: