Finally some free wifi today. And some time to catch you up, and to catch me up. Early I decided to check the forecast. When I opened the app it gave me the last place I’d checked – Castlemaine. Forecast max 11! Very glad I’m not there! 33 in Kununurra sounds much more acceptable.
But we still didn’t get a sleep-in. I’m becoming accustomed to 5:20am alarms. First up was a cruise upstream on the Ord River. 55 km roughly to the Argyle Dam. Interesting though not spectacular enough to get out the camera much.
First they built a small dam, not much more than a weir at Kununurra and that started the Ord irrigation scheme in the 1960s. So the first 2/3 upstream is in still water of the Kununurra Dam. The huge Argyle Dam gives long term certainty of water supply and the irrigated area is being expanded.
but it seems that there’s is still no continuity of what the best crops will be. Initially cotton failed though currently GM cotton is being trialled. Rice failed (magpie geese from NT came in in their thousands to feast on the crops). Not as much fruit and vegetables as initially – too far to transport fresh produce. Sandalwood has been a big crop. 20 years to mature and they’ve just had the first harvest. Apparently the big owners have recently gone out of business, though still a lot of area under the crop. CSIRO has a research station to find the next crops. Later today we passed a bit of maize and legumes. Irrigation process is interesting – individual pipes coming out of the channel to service each furrow.
Hey, I got diverted. The Argyle Dam wall is clay filled and rock. No concrete because of the nearby fault line. A small hydro plant at the dam provide some power to Kununurra, Wyndham, and most of the Argyle Diamond mine needs.
So then we visited the old Durack homestead which was relocated from the station site which was flooded by the Dam. They only rescued the outside walls of the old house. And relocated it to near the dam wall. Now a museum.
FInally a visit to Ivanhoe Crossing, the original crossing place of the Ord. then a causeway was added.Flowing pretty fast I wouldn’t be keen to try it!
Bit of of a break this afternoon before a few hectic days. Might get a report to you from El Questro, but then nothing until mid-late next week.
travellingkathy 