W. A. or Wait Awhile Country

Greetings from Kununurra in Western Australia!  Arrived here yesterday (Friday) morning at what was 1100hrs (Northern Territory time) but The Deckie forgot about the time change and it was only 0930hrs - no wonder it seemed like a very long day!

Unfortunately, we have managed to catch up to all of the Grey Nomads that have been heading north for the winter and things are getting very busy and packed.  We managed to get into a lovely Caravan Park - right on the water and 200 metres away from the boat ramp - only an unpowered site to begin with but we were upgraded to a powered site this morning.  But apparently that is the way things happen at this time of the year with the great number of people around.

Kununurra is celebrating its 50th Birthday this year - it was only built as a workers township when Lake Argyle was being built and the Ord River Irrigation Scheme commenced.  There is the main dam holding back Lake Argyle and closer to town they have the Diversion Dam which forms Lake Kununurra and a lovely water frontage for the township.  The main highway actually uses this Dam wall to cross the river!  Further downstream there is a 4WD crossing of the river - Ivanhoe Crossing - and an alternative route to Wyndham.  For something different - the area has had an extended Wet Season.  Now where have we heard that before?  Due to all of this extra rainfall they have had to open the gates at the Diversion Dam and, consequently, the have had to close Ivanhoe Crossing due to the extra water flowing over it.

The Diversion Dam

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ivanhoe (Nobody) Crossing

But at least they warn you!

 

The Captain and The Deckie at the Crossing

We also spent a couple of hours at the annual Kununurra Show.  Amongst all of the normal Show things - great arts, crafts, needlework and cooking - there were displays from the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and the Argyle Diamond Mine both of which were very informative and interesting.  Unfortunately, the diamond mine people were not giving away any free samples :-((

Tomorrow we hope to head out to the local National Park which is supposed to have the same sort of landforms as the nearby Bungle Bungles.  So be prepared for some more rock photos tomorrow night!!