Day 32: A Day at Lake Argyle

 Lake Argyle is Australia's largest or second largest man made reservoir. It covers around 1,000 square km, and holds a volume equivalent to 18-21 Sydney Harbours, depending on your datasource

There are a number of lookouts where you can see some of the lake and dam. Yesterday, we drove to the Watertank lookout, and across the one lane road over the dam wall, to a scenic day use picnic area below the dam level. This morning we went for a hike along the Ord River Gorge trail, setting out at about 8 am, before it gets too hot.

Whilst the trail is clearly defined, it is a bit rough under foot, but the climb is steady, so not too arduous.

The view was well worth the walk

Looking down the gorge to the dam wall in one direction, and the Ord river below the dam in the other direction.

We could also see the park on the other bank of the Ord that we visited yesterday after driving over the dsam wall.

The dam is built from rock, clay and sand, all sourced locally. We can see part of the quarry from which the stone was sourced.

On the way back down the hill we saw a bit of flora and fauna. This tree is knwn as the Sticky Kurrajong or Kimberley Rose. We were lucky enough to see it in flower.

A hopeful spider had spun a huge web between two trees and was patiently waiting for lunch.

A whistling Kite was hunting overhead.

Back at the caravan we had a bit of time to have a shower and relax, before our planned afternoon adventure, a sunset cruise on Lake Argyle.

Promptly at 2pm the bus picked us up at the caravan park and took us for a little tour before taking us to the boat ramp. The drivers commentary was very informative, and before we had even left the park, we were told that the reception building is the last remaining building of the original village of Lake Argyle, which is now the caravan park. On completion of the dam building which took 3 dry seasons, the village died as workers left the area.

The short tour included a drive over the dam, which we did yesterday, without the commentary. There is a cruise that runs from the Diversion Dam in Kununurra, to the Ord Dam a distance of 55km away, each way. It would have to be one of the longest day river cruises in Australia We were luck enough to see them near the dam wall turning and heading back to Kununurra.

The Kununurra to Lake Argyle river cruise heading home

Once again we saw the water outflow from the Hydro plant which now supplies Kununurra, Wyndham and Argyle, if water levels co-operate. Previously, the Argyle Pink Diamond mine took 60% of the output of this plant, and the towns were supplied by diesel generators. Without industry, renewable energy works !

The Lake is currently at 110% level, so all is well

Mining at the Argyle Diamond  mine ceased production in November 2020. Despite being the World's highest producer of diamonds in 2018, most of the production was low quality brown diamonds. However, rare pink and red diamonds found at Argyle, constituted 90% of the World supply of these rare gems.

Our boat was waiting at the boat ramp in Lake Argyle  to take us on our cruise. It was a big group, with most seats on the boat taken, and a surprising number of young families. I guess the children are getting home education.

Once at water level the scale of this project becomes real. The Ord River Scheme is a truly amazing project which gets very little recognition and, is one of the great  achievements in Australian infrastructure  in the period after WW11 when government was focused on Nation Building projects, a far cry from where we find ourselves today where the political class appears driven by self interest.

The enormity of Lake Argyle reveals itself as the cruise begins to take us out into the real expanse of the lake. 

The landscape is awesome.

Our first experience with wildlife was to go to Croc Bay, where the freshwater crocodiles like to sunbake when the water temperature gets colder.

We saw enough to convince us that there were plenty of fresh water crocs in the lake. Fortunately, the freshies are not aggressive, and generally not a threat to humans, unlike their salt water cousins.

Islands created by flooding the valleys

A termite mound on an island

A colony of Spinifex Grass Termite mounds on the "mainland"

Next we went to an area to feed some fish. Initially it was thought that Lake Argyle would be a great place to breed Barramundi, and huge efforts went into making this a reality. It turned out to be a failure, as damming the river stopped the barramundi going to salt water to breed, and the taste of Lake Argyle Barra got a bad name. Today the most popular eating fish is Silver Cobbler (catfish) a masterful piece of marketing. No one would eat catfish, but somehow Silver Cobbler is sought after. Sooty grunter is the other popular fish.

Fish fighting over a bit of bread

The other wildlife experience was to take us to an island where there are some Wallaroos, who look forward to a visit from the cruise boat to get a free feed.

A female with a Joey in her pouch

It was time to start heading back to base, but part of the deal was a stop for a swim in the lake, for those who were interested. It was also time to open the bar and provide free drinks and snacks before returning home. There were a surprising number of swimmers, and drinks were provided for those in the water, as well as those on board.

Crew member who kept the drinks flowing. Beer cans were tossed out to those who were thirsty.

Finally, the sun was going down and we had to get home. It gets dark very quickly. We were back home by 5.30 pm and it was dark. A few pictures below of just before sunset.

The cruise went for almost 4 hours and was a great insight into the scale of this project and the vision that made it possible.