An explanation of our travel around the Kimberley Region of Western Australia might be useful at this point.
We did the temporary repair to the trailer suspension at point A on the map and then continued to a campsite at B before stopping in Halls Creek C. Then we drove to the 24 hour rest stop at D and visited the Bungle Bungles which are to the east.
Continuing north we reached Kununurra E, the most northern major town in Western Australia.
Kununurra is a relatively new town being established in the 1960's as part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme. This project involved damming the Ord River to create Lake Argyle F. The water would be used to both provide irrigation for agriculture and provide hydro-electric power. The man-made lake covers approximately 1000km2 and has a catchment area of 46,100km2.
This region is semi-tropical with distinctive 'Wet' and 'Dry' seasons. Tropical monsoons provide an average rainfall of 800mm.
Irrigation has enabled a variety of crops to be grown. These include; melons, mango, rice, sugar cane, cotton and safflower. More recently Indian Sandalwood has started to replace sugar cane.
In 1987 the Argyle diamond mine was established south-west of Lake Argyle. It was the world's only known source of pink and red diamonds. Owned by Rio Tinto the mine operated until 2020 producing more than 865 million carats of rough diamonds during it's 37 year life.
On our second day in Kununurra we decided to visit Lake Argyle whilst waiting for our replacement trailer bolts to arrive from Perth.
There were no bolts waiting for us at the post office which meant another day in Kununurra
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