Kununurra and Lake Argyle

Large volumes of rain fall in the Kinberly region in the summer, the wet season. Kununurra had 1,172 mm this summer, 10 times the amount in Hay. The dry season has virtually no rain.

The vast amount of summer rain in the Ord River catchment is stored in Lake Argyle near Kununurra and used for irrigation and generation of hydro electricity.

One of the most common Ord River products is Sandalwood, used for very expensive perfumes.

Lake Argyle is the largest storage dam in Australia. It holds about 18 times the volume of water as Sydney Harbour. It covers over 1,000 square km, stretching 50 km long.

There is a hydro generator at the  dam wall and a separate spillway some distance away. 

Because of the big wet season, water is flowing over a metre higher than the spillway, creating huge rapids downstream.

We stayed at Lake Argyle Caravan Park, near the dam wall. I had a swim in the Infinity Pool (Google that) and we went for a flight over the lake and a boat trip in the lake.

We went on a sunset cruise in a very comfortable boat over a small part of Lake Argyle.

The boat anchored at a buoy and we all jumped in the very deep water for a swim, then we had drinks and nibbles.

Can you see the freshwater crocodile on the bank?

It was quite dark when we got out of the boat and went in the bus back to the caravan park.

Next Blog, a diamond mine and the Bungle Bungles.