Kununurra - day 6

Kununurra - day 6

30 July 2013

Our Kununurra adventure continued today as we decided to undertake a cruise on the Ord River as opposed to yesterday's cruise on Lake Argyle. That was nothing short of spectacular so we are interested to see how a cruise on the Ord will compare. We drove to Lake Argyle after booking our tour with Triple J Tours for a 10am pickup. We elected to undertake a three hour tour commencing from the dam wall and heading down the Ord for some 23km before turning around. The scenery was spectacular and simply stunning.

Cruise boat "Odyssey"

Motoring at 30 knots

Canoeists - 3 day hire package

 

 

 

Having a land break

500 year old boab

Enjoying the ride

Cruise boat Odyssey

Bats

The cruise down the Ord exceeded our expectations - we have found all the tour groups up here to be very professional in their approach. All have the typical Aussie humour that we take for granted and what appears to have disappeared within our city confines. They are a great bunch and are truly representative of what it means to be an aussie. Our overseas visitors truly experience what it means to be an Australian when they come up here. We are a little sad today as it is Rob's last day with us. He heads back to Perth tonight so we will need to give him an unforgettable farewell tonight.

Kununurra - Day 5

Kununurra

Monday  30 July

We have been keeping busy as there is much to do up here. On Monday we decided to take a drive up to Lake Argyle, a distance of 70km from Kununurra. We were keen to see the lake and the dam wall and of course check out some cruises. We also managed to view the reconstructed Durack homestead near the dam. Of course the homestead would have been underwater when the dam filled but the Government of the day put up money to have the main homestead dismantled and reconstructed later. The Duracks were the original pioneers of the area.

Durack reconstructed homestead - "Argyle Downs"

Homestead

Rob at Argyle dam wall

We managed to book a tour of the lake with Kimberley cruises which was scheduled to run one of their cruises from midday through to 6pm that night. There was a total of 12 people on our cruise including the driver/tourist guide so we had plenty of room to move around on a boat designed to carry 30 people. Also with 2x 250hp Honda motors on the back we moved at a pretty fast pace. The Lake is 70km long by about 40km wide and we cruised, or should I say flew, down to the souther edge of the lake where much of the birdlife is.

Our cruise boat "Silver Cobbler II"

One of many islands late afternoon

 

Just relaxing

 

Heading out

Rock Wallaby

Bird watching

We are moving!

A relaxing dip

Coffee and recovery for Rob

 

Tree growing in rock

Where is the horizon?

 

We viewed animals on the islands like Rock wallaby's, saw heaps of fresh water crocs, viewed the birdlife and fish in the lake, fossicked for zebra rock on one of the many small islands, had an opportunity to swim in the lake and viewed the beautiful sunset while enjoyed beer, champagne, wine with dips and biscuits. Simply stunning!

 

An Argyle sunset

 



Kununurra - days 2, 3 and 4

Kununurra

26-28 July 2013

We have settled into our campsite at Kimberleyland Caravan Park and just love the location. We have been keeping busy doing the tourist bits and enjoying what is on offer. All of us are in good health and are simply overwhelmed by the vastness of this region and the potential for further growth and development.

We got a hot tip from one of the locals regarding a good spot to fish for barra so headed out to the site which just happened to be off the Kununurra Wyndham road on the old Hall's Creek road. It was a 4 wheel drive track to get into the site but it was worth the effort as Robert managed to catch a barra in excess of 60cm in length. Given that they are fairly scarce at this time of the year because of the cooler climate we were extremely lucky to catch this one. Rob only had his line in the water for less than 5 minutes and caught this beauty.

 

After an hour or so we decided to drive onto Wyndham and check it out and also do a spot of fishing after viewing the sites.

 

Port of Wyndham

View of Wyndham from 5 Rivers Lookout

West Arm from 5 Rivers Lookout

Fishing off the new community wharf

 

Whilst in Wyndham we also visited the croc farm where crocodiles are bred for their skins. We managed to be in location for feeding time, probably the only time the crocs are active. I cannot believe how big these monsters are - their bulk and width, particularly the mature crocs, is hard to fathom.

 

A breeding pair

Feeding time

 

Today we took a 2 hour flight with Kimberley Air and flew over the Bungle Bungles, Lake Argyle and the Argyle Diamond mine. Wow what a flight - the views were simply breathtaking and awe inspiring.

Our Cessna 210 - 6 seater aircraft

Lake Argyle/Ord dam wall

Lake Argyle

Views of the Bungles

Bungles

Bungles

Kimberley views

More Kimberley views

Beehives

Beehives

Happy campers after the flight

Lake Argyle