Up the River without a Paddle

Hello All
With the Ord Valley Muster in full swing, the Town has filled up. And with that comes some benefits.
I have flown over Lake Argyle and the Bungles, and enjoyed the sunset Cruise on the Lake on previous visits, but never got around to doing the Lake to Lake Triple J cruise.
To celebrate the 30 year anniversary they were doing the Tour at 30 year old prices, so instead of $185, I got the tour for $80 too good to miss.

Powering up the Ord River

 It is a 55 kilometre trip to the Argyle Dam Wall and another 55 kilometres back again via the River.

Ord River

 Lake Kununurra Diversion Dam backs the water up for some considerable distance before you reach the river proper.

along the Ord River

 Once the River is reached things get a bit more exciting.

the rapids begin

 Now, ripping along at over 50kph in a 50 seater boat in a river not much wider than the boat, and in less than a metre of water gets the blood pumping.

Lake Argyle Dam wall from below

 The boat was quite impressive with 3 x 350hp outboard motors pushing it from zero to hero in no time.

the beast

 At the base of the wall is a 30 Megawatt Hydro Power station built in 1996 and powers Kununurra, Wyndham and the majority of power to Argyle Diamond mine.

Argyle Hydro Power Station

 On the way up we were on a Schedule to meet the bus with more passengers, so the down river trip was more informative.

Fruit Bat having a strech

 

big boat, narrow river

The Skipper, Jeff, was very knowledgeable and informative.

Jacana and chicks

 Late afternoon cruising down the river was displaying the colours of the Kimberley.
 

Late afternoon in the kimberley

 

afternoon colours

As the afternoon drew to a close we made out way back towards Kununurra.

We sat and watched the sun go down over Lake Kununurra before docking for the day.

Bye for now