One of the most amazing things about Kununurra is the amount of available water - coming from dry South Australia we can only be amazed and envious. The damming of the Ord River produced Lake Argyle which holds 35 times the amount of water in Sydney Harbour and only a small percentage of the available water is used locally for crop irrigation. The main crops are Indian sandalwood, mangos, pink grapefruit (exported to Japan), chick peas, melon and pumpkins and a variety of other crops and vegetables. The township of Kununurra itself was built to accommodate the workers on the Ord River Scheme and is now a popular tourist venue for those wanting to explore the region and visit the Bungle Bungle Ranges. We have been told that at the moment it’s not as busy as it has been because it’s getting too hot - day time temperatures are about 36 so more time in the pool for us! Although we have been away for 3 months we aren’t in a rush to get back to cold weather!.
One of the best ways to see the Kimberleys is by air and we took a 2 hour scenic flight which took us out over Lake Argyle, the Argyle diamond mine (famous for its pink diamonds) and then over the Bungle Bungle Ranges with their distinctive bee hive shapes and stripes of brown and grey. I am slowly getting more comfortable with small planes, if only the pilots didn't look fresh out of secondary school!
We head further west soon.
No comments:
Post a Comment