The Kimberley - Part 3

Our last few days in this region was spent at Lake Argyle, relaxing, doing some homework and exploring while we waited for the mechanic in Kununurra to be able to fill the mystery substance into the mystery tank!



Lake Argyle is the biggest man-made lake in the southern hemisphere. It was formed when the Ord River was dammed in the 1960's. It has a capacity 21 times that of Sydney Harbour. The down side is that vast tracts of significant Aboriginal grounds were flooded - without any discussion with their elders. The up side is that it produces hydro-electric power for the region, and assures permanent water for irrigation for the Ord basin around Kununurra and Wyndham. There is SO much water!! They only ever use 5% of the yearly catchment, so lots is just released regularly to flow out to sea 120km away. In fact, during the 2010 wet season they released enough every day to service the needs of the whole state for a year! There has been talk of a pipeline, but it has been dismissed as too costly/ infeasible.

Sorry - can't work out how to rotate!

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Would love to stay longer, but must roll on into the Northern Territory...