23rd Sept - Cross the border WA

Quarantine check at the WA border, we have arrived!  And yes they do a thorough check of fridge, pantry box and any supermarket bags.  We passed with flying colours and were on our way.  Before we hit Kununurra we spot the sign to Ord River Dam so take the scenic route out there, the road meanders through the escarpments, beautiful. 

My Darl decides to do his own little celebratory dance in the Ord Dam picnic area, luckily there were no other tourists around at the time.       Go Darl!!         We almost scored a swag on the way here on the main road, come across it sitting high and dry in the middle of the road, Darl threw it into back of ute, but just as we were taking off a young bloke pulled up behind, he had come to retrieve his swag and was most grateful, nearly!

The dam was completed in 1972, it opened up 76,000 hectares of land irrigated agriculture.The rockfill dam is 68 metres high and 355 metres long and originally impounded 5.8 million megalitres of water. In 1996 the spillway was raised 6 metres, doubling it's capacity.

We also visit the Durack Museum which not far out from the Argyle River Tourist Park (near Ord dam).  The Duracks were the pioneering family  in this area.

We head into Kununurra to the tourist info to get the go on the local hot spots.   We decide on a few activities including drive out to Wyndham, WA's most northern town.  We picked up a brochure at Katherine for Hidden Valley van park, looks good big shady sites.  We got there and the shade was mango trees and the sites were small.  We headed over to Lakeside Resort and van park, much much nicer.  We saw a couple fresh water crocs in the arvo swimming on by.  Site big, we put up the annex and settle in.