Lake Argyle and The Ord River

I had a very minor mechanical mishap that needed my somewhat immediate attention, so that was how I started my last day in Kununurra. I had a slow leak in  the front passenger side tyre. I had checked all the guff you should do regularly to your car in Broome. Oil and water were good but one recalcitrant tyre needed more air than was acceptable. I thought maybe I had been lazy and not checked it properly before so I re inflated it and headed off to Kununurra. I mean what could go wrong over those 1044 kilometres? It looked fine when I arrived so I thought I would check it again the next day. Well I kind of forgot. I drove to Wyndham and back, just another 200 kilometres, and noticed that it was quite flat when I got back so I topped it up again. It was too late to do anything about it Friday night so I thought I would fix it on Saturday morning (yeah right). 

Well I lobbed into one of the two tyre places in Kununurra and they were too busy. So I tried the Bridgestone dealers, well I couldn't have asked for more. The last thing I wanted to do was have to put the spare on. It's not that changing the tyre is that big of a pain its just unpacking all of the stuff that's on top of it that I was dreading. Well they had the tyre off, fixed and back on in under 15 minutes. It was the best $ 25.00 I have ever spent. He seemed happy that I paid in cash if you know what I mean. We spent the time chatting about what a bunch of know it all wankers caravaners are and the 15 minutes breezed by in no time. Now I had lobbed in there at 10.30am. I had to be on the cruise at 11.30am. I even had time for a cup of tea. So let me say in no uncertain terms, for all your tyre needs I recommend Bridgestone Kununurra.

The cruise was a treat I must say. I was kind of dreading the first part. In entailed a 70 kilometre bus trip out to the dam where the cruise would start. We stopped at the old Durack homestead which was bit ho hum but check out the accommodation at this Camping Ground/Caravan Park/Motel. I took a photo of their infinity pool and if I am ever in this part of the world again I am staying here just so I can say I have swum in this pool,

We then jumped on board the boat literally at the dam wall, where the obstruction behind us was holding back the equivalent of 20 Sydney Harbour's. It didn't seem to bother the fresh water crocodiles which were sunning themselves on the banks. Sorry I have no picture of them, they were all too small or too fast for me, although I did see one that was over 2 metres in length, pretty big for a fresh water croc.

Lake Argyle

Lake Argyle (Left) Ord River (Right)

View of the Dam Wall from the Ord River

The Ord River drops a further 10 metres on the way to Kununurra (a 55 kilometres trip) so you can see from the middle photo how much water the dam is holding back. It's all done so that Lake Kununurra retains the same height all year round keeping a steady supply of water available to the Ord River Irrigation Scheme.

The plan was too turn this part of the world into the nation's food bowl. It hasn't quite worked out that way. A number of crops have been tried and failed. Their failure has come about for a variety of reasons, insect infestations, poor costing models but by far the biggest issue is the cost of bringing the produce to market. Its 3213 kilometres from Perth, 3225 kilometres to Adelaide, only 3621 kilometres to Brisbane, a bum numbingly 3950 kilometres to Melbourne and a sleep deprived 4175 kilometres to Sydney. The two crops that have been a success are Indian Sandalwood, which takes two host trees and 15 years to mature (the tree is a parasite and attaches itself to the roots of others), and Chia which is a member of the mint family and is rich in omega 3. Apparently Australia is the world's largest producer of this crop. Its saving grace is that it is small and light (hence cheap to bring to market). The only other significant crops are melons, apparently they grow a lot of watermelons, rock melons and honeydew melons.

So enough of the agriculture lesson because even I am getting bored and onto the rest of the trip. lots of stunning scenery (of course). Plus I have to say these guys know how to cruise. This was not one of those poncy cruises where they meander down the river at a stately 8 knots, these guys had 3 V8 Yamaha outboards on their boat. Each with a 350 horsepower rating. They fired these up on a number of occasion and cruising speed was more in the region of 35 knots. It was a real boys and their toys cruise. Mind you I spoke to the skipper and he told me return trip burnt about 310 litres of premium unleaded so it was not a cheap vehicle to refuel. 

I had crashed a tour group from APT who had just finished the Gibb River Road (this is the signature piece of off roading that one does to gain your 4WD drive street cred). They had done it as a tour group in a chauffeur driven modified Isuzu truck. Anyway we all met up later at Kununurra's premier restaurant, The Pumphouse. Five lovely ladies (Judy, Mignon, Sally, Jane and Wendy - I hope I have remembered them correctly), their self appointed chaperone (Brian) and I all dined together on kangaroo, smoked barramundi and other local delicacies. Below our feet were thousands of catfish who were obviously used to being fed scraps from the table and a somewhat tame fresh water croc. All in all a very diverting evening. 

It's an early start tomorrow so I can arrive in Darwin at a seemly hour. Its only 830 kilometres this time but I have to wind the clock forward 90 minutes so I am aiming to be in Katherine for lunch. It's only 514 kilometres and seem likes a reasonable first pit stop. If I leave at 7.00am I should get to Katherine about 11.30am, then add an hour and a half for the change of time zones (making it 1.00pm). Have a light lunch then push on to Darwin, quite literally a new territory.