Kunnunurra Part Two
On our return from El Questro we had three days in
Kunnunurra to wash away the dust and have a bit more of a look around. We had already visited iconic sites such as
Ivanhoe Crossing where Jim had a fish and we watch millions of litres of water
pass by us every second. 90000 litres
of water is released from Lake Argyle every second for hyrdo electricity, some of this goes to irrigation but the vast
percentage goes down the river. Ivanhoe
Crossing is a nice place to watch the world go by for a while.
Ivanhoe Crossing
We also visited Rockalong Stonework where Zebra rock from
the surrounding area is refined and polished. It is a very fine sedimentary rock that has
quite unique patterns and most tourists leave Kunnunurra with a pendant or some
other form of it.
We drove straight past the Bungle Bungles turnoff as we had
not booked to visit and there is only a set number of people allowed in the
park every day. We had also heard that
the road in was horrendous (50km in 3 hrs) and so decided to do a flight. We booked a 6am flight with Kimberley Air Tours
and were picked up at 5.30am from the caravan park by Nigel our pilot for the
day. The plane was a Cessna 210 six seater and we were soon in the air heading
over the Diversion Dam and the irrigation areas. We headed out over Lake Argyle with a great view of the dam wall
and Spillway Creek. When full, the lake holds the equivalent of 22 Sydney
harbours. It holds about 11,000 gigalitres, the city of Albany uses about 6
gigalitres a year. It fills up every
year with all the overflow going to the sea, which is a waste to say the least.
Kurt At 2500 feet
Lake Argyle from the air.
Before long we were on our way to the Bungles which could be
seen in the distance. It is amazing to
think that they were undiscovered by Europeans until the 1980’s. They are
100million years old and the unusual shapes created by wind erosion on the
sandstone. They were amazing to see from
the air with their distinct orange and black beehive patterns.
The return journey saw us fly over the massive Arglye Diamond mine which produces 9000 carats of diamonds every day in both its open cut and underground mine. It is like a whole town and the mine site itself is huge. It is unbelievable to think that is may well close by 2018.
After almost two hours in the air we were back in Kunnunurra. The flight had put our stomachs to the test, especially Will’s but we all survived and it was an amazing experience that will be remembered for a very long time.
Argyle Diamond mine
Back on the ground in one piece
It was certainly heating up in Kunnunurra with 38 degree days and our
caravan Air-conditioning packed it in on Saturday morning with no chance of a
repair before Monday.
On Sunday we headed off to Lake Argyle for the night which
was a pleasant 70km away. The park was
very orderly and well maintained. The pool was something else, a horizon pool
on a cliff edge overlooking the lake with stunning views. It was also by far
the cleanest pool that we have been in to date on this trip. We also ran into our first cane toad at Lake
Argyle, and the count was three by the
end of the day. Our challenge is to come up with an acceptable way of disposing
of them without a baseball bat being involved.
Lake Argyle Resort Pool
Lake Argyle has to be seen to be believed. Here is some info
that interested us.
·
When full it holds 11,000 gigalitres (22 Sydney
harbours) Albany uses 6 gigalitres per year
·
Hydro electricity releases 90 cubic metres of
water a second, lowering the lake level by 7mm each day. The electricity powers
Kunnunurra, Wyndam and the Argyle Diamond mine.
·
22mm is lost to evaporation each day.
·
During the 2011 the lake swelled to 22,000 some
44 Sydney harbours. At this time Perth’s annual water supply was being released
every four hours, via spillway creek and other outlets. The Ord River was depositing 80,000 cubic
metres of water a second into the lake at times during the flood.
·
There are no water meters in Kunnunurra.
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