5^th July: Kununurra

Today, we visited the reason for the existence of Kununurra – the Ord River Dam and its lake Argyle. Gail was stunned by its size. She had no idea that it was so large.It holds 21 times the volume of Sydney Harbour when full and is deep and blue. Its size .and colour are very clear memories Glen and I both have. We saw it in 1977 and it had only been finished 4 years earilier . For such a huge dam, the rock wall with a compacted soil core, is not large as it is built in a deep gorge in the very rugged Carr Boyd Range.

We drove around it and then went to the reconstructed Argyle Homestead. This was the cattle property of Patsy and Mary Durack (of “Kings in Grass Castles Fame”) He had taken out a lease on the very large tract of land and in an effort to stock it, a condition of the lease, he and 3 other owners drove 70,000 stock and horses from Cooper's Creek in Queensland to here in WA. It took 2 years and they lost 1/3 of the mob but these four properties were the basis of the cattle industry in North Australia. The site of the homestead was at the bottom of the dam and it was removed stone by stone and reconstructed on its present site. The dam rose so quickly in the first year that everyone was taken by suprise and nothing else survived. Harry Butler (remember him?) was the leader of Operation Noah to retrieve the cattle and horses marooned on islands created by the suddenly rising water. The homestead is now a museum and there is some memorabilia but also much of the story of the Duracks. I will read the books again when I get home. (I'm only reading tourist brochures and museum displays at the moment. No time!) One thing they did get time for was to remove the gravestones and reposition them in the yard of the reconstructed house. It is a fitting memorial to the family and their significance to the district.

We had met up with Larry and Gail from NZ again and arranged to have drinkies by the lake as the sun set and then dinner. Well, it was standing room only down there as most of the park were doing the same. Then when we went up to the Bistro to have dinner, they had lost our reservation and had no table as two busloads were arriving for dinner. We kicked up a bit of a fuss and we were given a table in the pool enclosure which was fine. We felt a bit exclusive! But then they didn't have any lamb left! The staff were rushed off their feet as one had been rushed to hospital that afternoon. So it was a bit like Faulty Towers. But we had a lovely evening and will meet up at the Bungle Bungles as Larry wants to drive with Glen. The road is a dodgy 4WD track!