Kununurra

Kununurra was established in the 1960s to service the Ord River Scheme. The Ord River was dammed in 1971 to form a storage reservoir to supply water for irrigating farmland. 'Argyle Downs' cattle station was flooded to create the biggest man-made lake in Australia - and is classed as an inland sea now known as Lake Argyle. It got light at 4.30am so needless to say we were up and about quite early. Caitlin and Cooper found some kids to play with. Mid-morning we went to have a look around the town and drove to the other side of Lily Creek Lagoon for a look at Celebrity Tree Park and a large Boab tree. We then went to the nearby Mirima (Hidden Valley) National Park but decided to drive back into town to buy a National Park Pass. On the way to the DEC office we saw a frilled neck lizard on the road. The kids started protesting at the mention of walking (it was 39 degrees!) We did a short walk through the sandstone formations which they say resemble mini Bungle Bungles. We then went for a drive 7km out of town to Lake Kununurra and the Diversion Dam over which the main highway passes. It provides water to the farming area by gravity fed irrigation channels. We drove up Paddy Creek road which was a dirt road to Valentine Springs which was all but dried up. Further north we got to Middle Springs before heading back to Ivanhoe Crossing which was closed as the water was flowing too fast. So we had to drive right back around where we had come from. We had lunch at a cafe in town and went back to the van. We cooled off in the pool and got a phone call from Gary to say they would meet us at Home Valley tomorrow.