Day 38 Lake Argyle

4 Juli 2021, Australia

Spending the day checking out Lake Argyle area. Went down to the dam wall and checked out the force of water being released. Apparently there is enough water to keep the Ord River flowing for 14 years of no rain. We went and checked the replica of the Durack homestead. It has been built as a museum, very interesting. Went on the 24 minute Lake Argyle helicopter scenic flight. The helicopter is a Robinson 44, a four seat version of the popular Robinson 22 mustering helicopter. No doors on the front. Gave Karen the front seat and I had the back. Was a very different view of Lake Argyle and the Ord River Dam scheme. We flew over the quarry where all the rock was gathered for the wall. Apparently they blasted the rock out snd it was tyre largest chemical explosion in Australia at the time. There was quite a bit of wind around (again) and the little machine got buffered around a bit. The links to my YouTube videos are below.(will update and provide links when I have enough internet speed to upload videos to YouTube)
We are leaving the state tomorrow and heading to Katherine. Managed to get into a van park for two nights.
We are parked near the front of the van park and see most vehicles coming and going. On the trip the largest proportion of van towing rigs have been Toyota Landcruiser LC200s. It seems in WA especially the Nissan Patrol Y62 is give the land cruiser a run for its money. Seen more Y62s in WA than the anywhere else. The Irish neighbour in the van park has one and is very happy with them. Interesting to see the varying vehicles and how much money has been spent kitting them out. The internet and phone access died here at midday and has not been restored as at 9pm. Interesting to note they were still using radio towers for comms until the telephone was installed in the mid to late 70s and we whinge when we have no internet now.
Some stats for anyone contemplating this trip.
We are 2/3 complete, covered 10922k, 36 refills, 2107 litres at a cost of $3250. Averaging 19.6 l per 100k or $30.68 per 100kBaca selengkapnya