Lake Argyle is a place with some pretty impressive stats, not to mention some impressive scenery. The Lake was formed by damming the Ord River and derives its name from the 1 million acre property it submerged, Argyle Downs.
...A couple of Lake Argyle facts
Construction began in 1969 & was completed in 1971 (but took until 1974 to fill)
Size: 980 square kilometres
Capacity: 10.7 million mega litres of water. (This is about 20 times the volume of water contained in Sydney Harbour!)
Height of dam wall: 335m long & 98m high (the wall was raised 6m in 1996 after increased sediment from upstream caused the engineering boffins to panick a little about potential flooding. The additional height doubled the dam’s capacity and also guaranteed sufficient water flow to enable a reliable hydroelectric power station to operate at the base of the Main Ord Dam, beside the dam wall.)
The area receives nearly 800mm of rain (or 31 inches for you old folk) every year and irrigates 13,000 hectares of farmland. It was originally designed to irrigate up to 45,000 hectares, including extensive rice crops for export to China. Unfortunately the pesky birds kept eating the rice shoots quicker than they could be replanted so that plan was ditched! The main crops to benefit from Lake Argyle now are mangoes, citrus, watermelons, rockmelons, pumpkin, chickpeas, sandalwood and chia, however there is clearly quite a bit of redundancy available in the system should any of you wish to try your luck farming in the East Kimberley!
We stayed at the Lake Argyle Resort, which was mostly a caravan park with a few fancy cabins, located to commandeer the best views across the Lake. We were packed in like sardines but it was a beautiful park and everyone was very friendly and respectful. Our neighbours were keen to get the low-down from us about the Gibb and we were happy to hear their advice about the Savannah Way, which we’re hoping to do from NT to QLD.
We didn’t stay long as it was an expensive park but we did pack in quite a few activities. We walked across the dam wall, hiked ‘Jesse’s trail’ from the park down to the Lake (and back up again…hard work in the heat!) and rock hopped our way up and down a serious 4wd track to watch the sunset over the Lake. To properly appreciate the scale of the Lake and the topography of the massive catchment area, you really need to see it by air or boat. Our budget didn’t extend to either of these options but we were more than happy to admire it from the famous infinity pool at the resort. Although the water in the pool was really cold, it was a spectacular view and beckoned you to stay in longer than was comfortable. We didn't mind...better than shivering through 10 degree days in the Melbourne Winter!
photos from left to right
looking across Lake Argyle from near the dam wall
the dam wall
sitting on the dam wall
the orange cliffs - viewed from ON Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle at sunset
This map is a good way to understand the scale of the Lake. The huge expanse of water you see in the pictures above is but a tiny section at the very northern tip of the Lake!
the dogs waiting for us to catch up along the steep 'Jesse's Trail'
the amazing infinity pool at the Lake Argyle Resort - the views are spectacular (and no, there's no photoshopping of these images!)
Jesse doing his best pose
hanging out in the infinity pool
the girls at sunset
the incredible Kimberley landscape around Lake Argyle