Kununurra and the Ord River

Kununurra is a great little town which came into being when the Ord River Scheme was developed. The Ord River winds its way through some amazing gorges and it was decided that if it could be dammed it would provide all year round water to irrigate the Ivanhoe plains which is a very fertile area nearby. The first dam was the Diversion Dam at Kununurra. This provided water for irrigation and converted the river from a dry creek bed in the Dry and a raging torrent in the Wet,to an all year round water supply- Kununurra Lake. However with all the irrigation that took place it was draining the lake so they decided that they could dam the river in the gorge area. The Argyle Dam was created and it contains 19 times more water than Sydney Harbour and has the ability to hold 84 x Sydney Harbour and could provide enough water for the whole of Australia but how do you get it there??? It is amazing as the dam wall is built if rock rubble and a clay core in a pyramid shape across a very narrow opening. It’s hard to believe that such a small dam wall could hold such a large amount of water. The lake is kept at a constant level by the dam.
A hydroelectric scheme had been developed at the dam wall by the Argyle Diamond Mine which is one of the largest diamond mines in the world. They produce the rarest diamond – the pink diamond. One tiny pink diamond was worth $42000. It also produces yellow, blue, orange and champagne diamonds. I had no idea there were so many varieties of diamonds.
When we arrived we had shopping and washing to do –as usual and then we just sat and took in the view.
On Tuesday we went for a drive to the Ivanhoe plains which are the fertile area that is irrigated by the lake. Originally cotton was grown but it was attacked by a beetle. Then they tried rice but the magpie geese ate this. The Ord river scheme was turning into white elephant. They started growing fruit and vegetables which were successful but the transportation costs were prohibitive. They still grow these but the land is being converted to growing sandalwood. Indian sandalwood is a very lucrative crop which is ideally suited to the area and now thousands of acres are being planted with it. Sandalwood is planted with a host tree so it can attach itself to the root of the host. It takes about 15 years to mature. We visited the sandalwood factory where we saw a video of how it is produced. It is really a display rather than a factory and of course there are lots of products for sale.
Next stop - the Hoochery which is a rum distillery. My, they had some delicious liquors and rum as well as the most amazing mango liquor cheese cake and rum chocolate cake.
We then travelled past more crops growing,irrigation channels and lots of lots of newly planted sandalwood plots. Last time we were here it was about a month earlier and nothing had been planted so it was great to see fields of green for which the area is famous.

We also saw the Ivanhoe crossing which featured in the movie Australia. It always seems to have a large volume of water flowing over it and is often closed. It was open but only a few daring souls took up the challenge. This area is a popular fishing spot.

On Wed morning we went for a bike ride along the bike path which goes right past our CP. We rode around to view another part of the lake. There is just so much water in this area.
I had booked for a cruise up the Ord River. I will tell you about this amazing journey in the next blog.

We woke to windy and overcast weather on Thursday morning which is unusual for this time of the year. We went for a walk in the Hidden Valley in Minima National Park which is tucked away at the back of Kununurra and I feel is not promoted enough. Here you see the most amazing rock formations and colours. Even though it was overcast the red in these ancient rocks was breathtaking.
It is like a mini Bungle Bungles with weathered bee hive formations of layers of black and red. You walk close to these and then climb up to a lookout to view the town and the surrounding green plains back dropped by the beautiful Kimberly’s. The walks here are very short and you feel you want to linger longer to take it all in.
There is lots more to see here but as we have been here before we didn’t revisit some of them