Kununurra

This is the view from our bus at the caravan park.  Parked up on green grass, have a lawn in front of us leading down to the lagoon, lots of birds and one very small freshwater croc.  Whilst we sit at the waters edge having happy hour he watches us, taking great pleasure in the waves of the fishing boats and cruise boats returning at sunset and giving him a roller coaster ride.  We go down at dark and shine the torch on him, whilst we have been told there are more in the lagoon he is the only one we can find.

 We spent 4 days in the caravan park at Kununura, a lovely spot by the waters edge, no complaints here.  The town is clean and tidy, lots of water here so everything is green.  Visited the small nature park here and saw some lovely rock formations.  Went out to the Hootchery Disillery, the oldest legal still in W.A.  Rum and liqueurs brewed here.  3 tastings for $5, as they start at 36% proof and go up to 75% it can be dangerous to try too many.   The chocolate/coffee/liqueur was my favourite but at $46 a bottle decided to give it a miss. Next stop was Mt. Romance, the sandalwood factory.    The products, from make up to skin care to insect repellant types were on display, to try and to buy.   This Company is the worlds largest single supplier of natural Indian sandalwood.  This is a huge project here in Kununurra, lots of big $$ invested, the plantations are everywhere, have been growing since 1997 and still have a few more years before the first harvest can be done.  Divided opinion as to whether its good for the town as it has eaten up a great deal of the land set aside for agriculture/food production and pushed the price of land up thru the roof.   The Ord river scheme provides a constant water supply and this town was going to be Australias Food Bowl of the future.  The Federal Govt own vast tracts of land and arent giving it up as easily as the food producers would like.

This is the dam at the Lower Ord River.  This water flowing out of here goes straight out, eventually to the Timor Sea.  They release, at the moment, 70,000 Litres of fresh water PER SECOND here.   Lake Argyle holds enough water to cover 22 Sydney Harbors and is full all the time, the water release is continual, being released into Lake Kununurra and then out into the Lower Order River.   It is an amazing thing to think there is so much water that they simply dont need it.   We took a cruise on both Lake Argyle and the Ord River, it was a full day, starting at 8 and finishing at sunset.   It was something we were so glad we did and is a MUST DO for anyone coming this way.   Impressive and beautiful.    Everywhere we drive its been dry and dusty and then you drive out thru the town and all you see is fields of green crops, a lovely site.