Flying The East Kimberley, WA.

We weren't idle while staying in Kununurra. We also decided to take an air tour, with Kingfisher Tours, over many of the locations we experienced on land and also some that we have yet to visit.

Tomorrow morning we will be leaving Kununurra and Western Australia heading into Northern Territory and on to Katherine.

The spillway for Lake Argyle is a natural creek system that returns the overflow back into The Ord downstream of the wall.

Lake Argyle and the dam wall.

There are many islands formed in Lake Argyle and are known to be ideal breeding habitat for The Johnson Crocodile. Estimated population of 35000.

Bungle Bungle Range from the air.

Beehive structures of the Bungle Bungle Range.

Piccaninny Gorge at The Bungle Bungle Range.

The Western Escarpment of The Bungle Bungle Range.

Another view of The Western Escarpment of The Bungle Bungle Range.

An overview of The Argyle Diamond Mine.

The Open Pit of The Argyle Diamond Mine. The mine now descends below the pit floor as an underground operation.

The extremely high priced El Questro Station Stay. Not much there to see!

The Gibb River Road with The Cockburn Range in the background.

This range was used as some of the setting in the Film 'Australia'.

Home Valley, another super expensive resort station stay.

The King River flood plain and tidal flats approaching Wyndham.

Wyndham from the air.

The Wyndham Port area and to the right side 5 Rivers Lookout.

Ivanhoe Crossing just outside of Kununurra. This river crossing is no longer maintained by the local council.

Irrigation branch channels and the beginning of farmed land.

This is part of the 30,000 hectares of irrigated land in Stage 1 of the Ord Scheme. another 15,000 hectares is being released in Stage 2.

The Ord River beside irrigated farms.

The Diversion Dam as we approach the airport.

Inside the plane mid flight. I am the fill in co-pilot today.

Jude outside our plane for the day.

Our Pilot, Bunzel, I think that was his name, in the process of tying down the plane.

The Ord River, WA.

While based in Kununurra we took in a Launch Tour of The Ord River system. The river banks are varied and interesting to pass through. The tour takes in the Ord River, upstream of The Diversion Dam to the base of the Lake Argyle Dam Wall, a distance of about 55 km. This stretch of water is also known as Lake Kununurra.

These riverside farms are too small in area to be viable enterprises but are keenly sought out as 'Lifestyle Blocks'.

On one of these riverside blocks a Brolga was sighted.

The main Ord Irrigation Area water is gravity fed but for The Ord #2 Irrigation Area the water needs to be lifted from the lake by these four screw pumps.

 

The Tour passes through several Gorge sections as you travel upstream.

We have a riverside lunch stop.

The river narrows as we travel further upstream and in some sections is very narrow. The final 15 km the water flow is quite rapid as the river drops 10 m over the distance.

We approach the Lake Argyle Dam Wall and the end of our river journey.

The Hydro Power Station supplies electricity to The East Kimberley towns of Kununurra and Wyndham.

This is the vessel that we travelled the river in. We vacated the vessel at this point and a Coach Load of new passengers boards for the downstream journey.

We board the Coach here for the return trip to Kununurra.

Part of Lake Argyle from the top of the dam wall.

Looking down from the dam wall to the river. The tour boat has cast off and will soon head downstream.

On our return journey we pull into The Historic Durack Homestead.

Beautiful lawns surround the homestead.

The homestead has verandas right around and all rooms have their own exits to the veranda.

The Headstones of all The Durack Family have been bought here although the actual graves remain as they were.

Kununurra, WA.

We enjoyed more of The East Kimberley winter temperatures at Kununurra. Staying for five nights before we leave Western Australia after more than eight months touring the State. We stayed at Kimberleyland Caravan Park and while there I was able to repair two leaky water pipes. It seems strange how these leaks manifest themselves after travelling for over twelve months with no issues!

Looking across Lake Kununurra to the Sleeping Buddha, as viewed from our Caravan Park.

Friendly Johnson Crocodiles come up to the lake edge looking for a 'hand out'.

Rare Gouldian Finches in The Kimberleyland CP Aviary.

There are also Double Barred Finches. I've also seen these in the wild.

Downstream side of The Ord River Irrigation Scheme Diversion Dam. The retained water forms Lake Kununurra.

Initially water was pumped into the Main Irrigation Channel through this Pump House. The pumps are still housed there but the building is now The Pump House Restaurant.

Three delivery pipes from under the Pump House.

The three pipes shown above exit into the cage structure in the foreground and the gravity fed water from Lake Kununurra is flowing past in the background.

Wyndham, WA.

Most other travellers would have left Spring Creek RA and driven through to Wyndham in the one day, but not us. There were several other RA's between the two places and we couldn't pass all of them without calling in and talking to some of our fellow travellers. After all, that is how to find out about the great "not to be missed" places of interest along the way. Therefore Dunham River RA, only about 90 km short of Wyndham, was to be our camp site for a night. This RA was a very good, level, gravelled area with toilets and a dump point. We arrived early, before lunch, so we could, literally, choose our camp location at will. Within 2 to 3 hours most of the area was taken up with campers in all manner of vehicles.

The following morning saw us make the remaining 90 odd km to Wyndham for an early entry into Wyndham CP. Sharon in Reception saw us signed in and we selected our van site from the several available for our three night stay. The sites are large, grassed and shaded by large eucalypts. The climate here in Wyndham, at this time of the year,  is mild with a gentle breeze and as with most of The Kimberley Area, very few annoying or biting bugs.

Wyndham is a fairly quiet town and the pace of life here is definitely slow! Suits me fine.

Adjacent to the Wyndham Port Area are the ruins of The Magistrates Residence, only the foundations remain. Strangely the Magistrate never took up residence in the home.

There are huge stacks of Mahogany and Sandalwood Logs at the Wyndham Port awaiting export. This is Mahogany. The Sandalwood is farmed and shipped from nearby Kununurra.

Alongside the port area there is a museum, of sorts, of the machinery and locomotives of the ports early days.

Two more of the early locomotives.

In town is the Wyndham Historical Museum. This museum, manned by volunteers, is well worth a visit. Inside, are photographs of the town and port from the early days. In several of these photographs the locos pictured above can be seen during their working days.

Only erected in 2012 is the new Public Jetty. The boarding pontoon is floating, of course, to accommodate the hugely variable tides of the area. Note the colour of the water, it is more like liquid mud. Saltwater Crocodiles are known to inhabit the mangroves along the shore line here, although we didn't see any.

A high level view of the Port area from the Five Rivers Lookout.

From the Five Rivers Lookout looking East over The Ord River Estuary.

Looking West from the Five Rivers Lookout you can see Wyndham township in the centre with the Estuaries of the King, Forrest, Durack and Pentecost Rivers. The view from here during the Wet Season would be phenomenal.

The Big Croc welcomes visitors to Wyndham. It is about 23 metres long and contains 5.5 km of steel rod, 10 rolls of bird mesh and 6 cubic metres of concrete. It was constructed by an artist and volunteers from the local TAAFE College in 1987.

Constructed at about the same time as The Big Croc is this Aboriginal Family in what looks like copper. The male stands about 3 metres tall.

The female sitting with the child between the two.

Also in the display, the animals that they once hunted are also depicted.

Behind the male statue, there lurks a massive python.