2026 July
Kimberley Part 2
Echidna Chasm, Durack, Lake Kununurra, Lake Argyle, Ord River Scheme, Ivonhoe Crossing, Ord River Diversion Dam, Parry Lagoon Nature Reserve, Wyndham, Zebedee Springs, Durack River, Drysdale Station, Mitchell Falls
Tuesday, 14 July
After check-out from Bungle Bungle Wilderness Lodge, we hiked along the Livistona palm-fringed trail into Echidna Chasm, a spectacular rock cliff that reaches 200 m high but is only 1 m wide at certain points.
Echidna Chasm was formed by a weakness in the sandstone called a fracture or joint. These fractures were caused by the release of pressure once overlay rock was removed due to erosion. Over millions of years, torrential floodwaters followed these lines of weakness, cutting deep incisions into the range.
The walls of Echidna Chasm are over 180 m high and as narrow as 1 m in some sections. Highlighted by the sun passing overhead, the oxidised iron in the standstone walls radiate an electrifying orange colour creating a magnificent glow. The contrast between the green Bungle Bungle Range fan palms and the orange sandstone makes the landscape like few others in the world.
Wow, that is truly awesome ...
Hiking is not without danger - Trail Risk Area
observed on land by 2 kangaroos
Kimberley humour... at Doon Doon Roadhouse
We checked into The Cambridge at Kununurra for 2 nights - including husband.
Wednesday, 15 July
The Ord is a 588 km long river with a catchment area that covers 46,100 sq km. The headwaters of the Ord River are located below the 933 m Mount Wells and initially flow east and around the edge of Purnululu National Park before heading north through Lake Argyle, passing west of Kununurra, and discharging into the Cambridge Gulf at the southern extremity of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in the Timor Sea.
Ord River Diversion Dam
The Ord River Diversion Dam regulates the flow of the mighty Ord River. This incredible structure provides over 758 billion litres of water (the equivalent of over 303,000 Olympic swimming pools) to around 21,000 hectares of primary agricultural land, used for horticulture, cropping, forestry, animal industries and grazing. The dam consists of 21 radial gates mounted within a concrete framework and spillway structure. Hoisting equipment mounted at deck level lifts and lowers each radial gate.
Ord River Scheme
water jutting out on the left ... and on the right
An engineering feat designed to prevent seasonal flooding and to store water for irrigating large areas subject to drought.
We continued for a spectacular wildlife cruise on the mighty Ord River, on a modern shaded vessel traversing a 55 km stretch of river through the East Kimberley. The ecological system developed from the ambitious damming of the Ord River at 2 locations, creating an area rich in wildlife, flora, and undeniable beauty.
The mysteries of Lake Kununurra ...
a white cow? a horse? a ghost?
Argyle Homestead Museum, East Kimberley
Reading a report from explorer Alexander Forrest about the excellent prospects in the Kimberley district of WA, Patsy, his brother Stumpy Michael, and a party of other experienced bushmen set out for Darwin, transshipping for Cambridge Gulf in 1882. After an arduous journey, the brothers were overcome by the landscape's beauty and its pastoral possibilities. At the junction of the Ord and Negri rivers, they named the 4 rivers: Pentecost, Durack, Dunham and Bow. Before returning to Thylungra Station, they pegged a rise near the Behn River as a future homestead site.
Darram Conservation Park and Lake
The creation of the Ord River Scheme necessitated moving the original homestead, built between 1894-95, to its current location, where it became a Museum.
Like most departures from the Old World to the new, the story of the Duracks of Argyle Station began in Ireland with an impoverished and oppressed family seeking a better life far from home. Patrick (Patsy) Durack was born in County Clare in 1834. His family settled in Goulburn, NSW, in 1854. As his assets grew through land and cattle, Patsy married Mary Costello in 1862 and sought a greater outlet for his energy, land hunger, and organising powers.
With his brother-in-law John Costello, Patsy and his family set up a homestead, Thylungra, in Qld, establishing Durack and Costello Holdings. They entered a golden period of ever-growing prosperity with Patsy accumulating properties and cattle in Roma. By 1879 he was a man of substance on his way to his first half-million. In answer to a newspaper correspondent complaining of big landholders as 'Cattle kings', Patsy wrote 'Then we are kings in the grass castles that may be blown away in a puff of the wind'. This statement became a literary sensation in 1959, when his granddaughter, Dame Mary Durack, penned the Australian classic 'Kings in Grass Castles'.
Dame Mary Durack AC DBE (1913-1994)
Reading a report from explorer Alexander Forrest about the excellent prospects in the Kimberley district of WA, Patsy, his brother Stumpy Michael, and a party of other experienced bushmen set out for Darwin, transshipping for Cambridge Gulf in 1882. After an arduous journey, the brothers were overcome by the landscape's beauty and its pastoral possibilities. At the junction of the Ord and Negri rivers, they named the 4 rivers: Pentecost, Durack, Dunham and Bow. Before returning to Thylungra Station, they pegged a rise near the Behn River as a future homestead site.
To resettle in the Kimberley, Patsy, his brothers, and a party of cattlemen set out in 1883 with 7,250 head of cattle and 200 horses for the 3,000-mile drive that would take 2 years and 4 months. Within a few weeks after departure, they lost 200 head at a stampede; by early 1885, half the cattle and many horses had succumbed to drought, disease, crocodiles, or native spears. Many men fell victim to fever-carrying anopheles mosquitoes, which drove some to end their lives with a shotgun. Towards the end of the year, with the nucleus of a herd and enough men, they started a chain of properties covering several million acres.
Generations of the Durack family lived at Argyle Homestead until it was relocated.
Thursday, 16 July
We checked out of The Cambridge and departed from Kununurra
... lone pelican 
Abundance of wildlife and flora
and the odd Boab ...
In 1918-19, an L-shaped timber jetty was built to service the new Wyndham Freezing Works. In 1979, the wharf was concreted, and tractors replaced trains. The Port exports live cattle, minerals, crude oil, and agricultural products.
View from Five Rivers Lookout
Wyndham Community Jetty
Wyndham came to be when Halls Creek struck gold in the 1840s and was officially gazetted in 1846. In the early 1900s, the growing pastoral industry, led by the Durack family, who owned nearby Argyle Downs (now Lake Argyle), successfully lobbied the State to build the Meatworks at the Wyndham port to process and ship Kimberley cattle from the town.
The Big Croc in Wyndham by Andrew Hickson and TAFE and Westrek
(5.5 km steel rod, 50 kg welding rods, 10 rolls bird mesh, 6 sq m of concrete covering 150 sq m - lots of skill & hard work)
We checked into El Questro Emma Gorge Resort for 2 nights in a tented cabin.
El Questro Emma Gorge
Friday, 17 July
Zebedee Springs
Crossing Pentecost River
River Congestion under the bird's watchful eyes
Creek crossing
Oh, no, flat tyre ... no wonder, with so many river crossings
A permanent natural thermal spring tucked away in a secluded pocket of rainforest.
Moon and stars over El Questro
Saturday, 18 July
Drysdale Station
We checked into Mitchell Falls Wilderness Lodge for 2 nights in a Permanent Tent.
Sunday, 19 July
Up, up, and away ...
The white little strip in the distance ?
Mitchell Falls
Leaving us with truly wonderful memories ...
Landing..
... on the rocks
Punamii-Uunpuu Trail
Mitchell Falls
Magnificent four-tiered Mitchell Falls. The Mitchell River flows northwards, carving gorges and waterfalls into the sandstone and along the margins of Mitchell Plateau. The Falls are the most spectacular result of this erosion, with deep gorges downstream.
This friendly Short-eared Rock Wallaby seems tempted to come with us
Alas, he prefers his magnificent home ...
Our ride back awaits...
This concludes Part 2 of our Kimberley trip.