Kununurra – Lake Argyle Clear Blue
Skies perfect for flying! Temp – 36C
(Late posting because we have been staying at Lake Argyle with no phone, no internet – therefore no blog)!!
I had to be up early for the pick-up for my flight over Lake Argyle, The Ord River System, The
Argyle Diamond Mine and the Bungle Bungles etc – a 2 hour flight. I was due to be picked up a 5.15am for a 6am take-off so it was an early start.
The bus arrived on time and then picked up the 3 other
passengers from another resort – that gave us a full plane as it is a small 1-engined
Cessna. On arrival at the airport we
went through the usual preliminaries – being weighed to get the weight distribution
correct, safety instructions which pretty much amounted to no smoking and not
talking to the pilot on take-off or landing.
Then we walked out to the plane and I must admit it was
smaller than I had anticipated but I wasn’t nervous. I had every confidence in our pilots. We boarded if that is the right word for
scrambling over seats and it was pretty snug! We were given head-sets for the
pilot to give us a commentary on where we were flying and the various points of
interest.
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| Linnie & the Cesna plane |
We taxied up to the runway and took off – quite smoothly
considering how small the plane was.
Well, the flight was wonderful – better than I could have imagined. We were low enough to see cattle on the
ground but high enough to see the full extent of magnificent Lake Argyle which
has been designated officially & internationally as an inland sea. If any of you have read “Kings in Grass
Castles” by Mary Durack – this is where it all happened. Briefly, Irishman, Patsy Durack trekked from
Queensland to The Kimberleys with 75,000 head of cattle to find new pastures
and he set up the massive cattle station, Argyle Downs consisting of 7 million
acres. This was the start of the cattle industry in this area. He built the homestead on the bank of the
Behn River, a tributary of the Ord River in 1894-1895 out of blocks of rock
fixed together with crushed rock mixed with bullock blood. (The book is well worth reading if you are interested in Australian
history).
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| Take-off |
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| Lake Argyle |
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| Lake Argyle |
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| Lake Argyle |
Lake Argyle covers the area where the homestead was built and
much, much more but before it was flooded they moved the house brick by brick
to a new location close to the Lake Argyle Resort & Caravan Park which we
could also see from the air.
We also saw
Lissadell Cattle Station (400,000 acres) & Texas Cattle Station – named as
such because its boundaries resemble the State of Texas in the United
States. It is the same size as Belgium. The cattle population in The Kimberleys
peaked in 1980 – 790,000 head. Now it is
approx. 500,000.
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| One of the cattle stations |
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A series of wave-like formations showing
how the land has moved over time |
We flew on to see the spectacular World Heritage listed
Bungle Bungles in the Purnululu National Park. This range was formed over 360
million years ago and is a series of huge beehive domed-shaped sandstone towers
with distinctive stripes. I had seen
many pictures o f them and have wanted to see them for years but what amazed me
was the numbers of them and how extensive the range was.
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| Bungle Bungles |
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| Bungle Bungles |
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| Bungle Bungles |
On the way back we flew over the Argyle Diamond Mine (owned
by Rio Tinto) and could look right down on it.
The mine is one the world’s
largest suppliers of diamonds producing approx. 20 million carats each
year. The diamonds from here are of
various colours but in particular rare pink diamonds.
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| The Argyle Diamond Mine |
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| The Argyle Diamond Mine |
I cannot adequately describe the scenery in this area – it
is so varied and extensive. I
can only say that the trip was definitely for me the highlight of our journey
so far! You will see from the photos
that Lake Argyle is vast and has many islands including the one shaped like a
crocodile and aptly named Crocodile Island.
Incidently, there are thousands of fresh water crocodiles in Lake
Argyle. Freshies, as they are known locally are smaller than their salt-water
cousins and also not aggressive like them.
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| Kununurra from the air |
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| Coming into land |
After our wonderful 2-hour flight we returned to Kununurra
and landed safely. I was then driven
back to the caravan park to pack up and move on to Lake Argyle Resort &
Caravan Park approx. 70km from Kununurra.
The road to Lake Argyle Village passed through spectacular
country with majestic mountains. Lake
Argyle Village is the caravan park – there is nothing else there apart from the
dam wall, the relocated homestead and a
boat ramp.
We settled into the park and then had a wander around. Wow!!!
What a wonderful pool. It is an infinity pool but with the lake below and
behind it, it looks as if the water is spilling over into the lake. Absolutely fantastic!
We booked onto the Sunset Cruise on the lake. Another fabulous afternoon cruising around
Lake Argyle. We saw lots of birds, roos,
crocodiles and cruised around and between the many islands. We stopped for afternoon tea. The captain also showed us where the Durak
homestead had been.
Below is a picture of the Argyle Dam Wall which is not made from concrete.
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| The Dam Wall |
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| Cruising of Lake Argyle |
Lake Argyle is 70km long and 40km wide and took 4 years to
fill. It has been designated an inland
sea.
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| A Fresh Water Crocodile |
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| A Baby Crocodile |
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| Wallabies |
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| Lake Argyle |
At sunset, we stopped in the middle of an open area of water
where we could swim from the back of the boat.
The Captain also served wine, beer etc and nibbles as the sun went down with a
beautiful sunset over Lake Argyle.
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| Sunset over Lake Argyle |
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Swimming in Lake Argyle at sunset
before enjoying a glass of wine
(Linnie in the centre of pic) |
What a lovely way to end a perfect day!!
