6th Sept

We travelled toward Kununurra and decided to stay at Lake Argyle Motor Camp, as it have been recommended to us and told it was worth a look. We weren't disappointed,even though it was a 35 km trip in off the main road.
The scenery was spectacular and the camp was an Oasis in the dry Countryside.

The highlight of the camp, was the edge pool,situated on a cliff overlooking the lake. The only problem, was the water was a bit cool (22deg)

Very spectacular and once you got used to the cool water, it was nice to just float and look out over the lake,very nice around Sunset. The Air temps were still in the high 30s.
While there we decided to do the flight over Lake Argyle,the Bungles and the Argyle Diamond mine.
It was a 2 hour flight that left from Kununurra, which meant we had to drive in there the next day,about a 70km trip.
The first thing you notice about the Town , is how modern and green it is. Its the newest Town in Western Australia  and you realise why its so green when you get in the air, its surrounded by water.

This is due to the Ord river scheme, the reason for Lake Argyle.

This is the Ord river Dam that supplies all the water for the irrigation of the area which is very comprehensive with all sorts of crops grown. The main one is the Sandalwood Tree used for perfumes and other assorted things.
Once over the lake you could see the size of the thing. It was huge,about 35km wide and 75km long and that's in the dry season. It gets to 75 times the size of Sydney harbour in the Wet season.

This last photo shows how remote the camping ground was. It was originally the construction camp for the workers on the Dam project. The swimming pool is about dead centre of the photo. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

There are a lot of Islands in the lake, which go under in the Wet season when the Lake reaches 200% full.
The land past the lake on the way to the Bungle Bungles was interesting with seismic activity evidenced by the uplifting of the surface in ridges. A feature most Kiwis would relate to!!

The flight continued on to the Bungles but that's for next time.
See Ya
Dave and Helen