ORD RIVER CRUISE

Best Tour Experience in Kununurra – Kununurra is a great base, where you can self-drive to numerous places. However, joining some tours such as boat cruises or scenic flights will definitely make your stay in Kununurra more memorable.

The tour I highly recommend is the “Ord River Discoverer with Sunset” by Triple J Tours.

They pick you up at your accommodation in Kununurra at 11:30am, then travel 70km to Lake Argyle by coach, passing through beautiful outback scenery along the way.

After a brief stop at the Durack Homestead Museum, a museum dedicated to the historic family that pioneered the area, you will arrive at Lake Argyle.

Lake Argyle is a man-made reservoir created in 1971 by damming the Ord River as part of the Ord River Irrigation Project.

It is a huge reservoir that can store about nine times the amount of water as Sydney Harbour, but the dam wall which created this gigantic reservoir is only 335 metres long and 98 metres high, making it an astonishingly efficient dam.

After arriving at Lake Argyle, we board a boat below the dam and start cruising down the Ord River.

Shortly after we set off, we encountered a crocodile!

This tour cruises the Ord River between Lake Argyle and Kununurra, and crocodiles that inhabit this part of the Ord River are called “Freshwater Crocodiles.” Freshwater Crocodiles have very narrow mouth and they cannot chew anything too big. Therefore, they are not as aggressive as saltwater crocodiles.

We continued to encounter countless freshwater crocodiles during the cruise.

Along the way, the boat stops in various places, sometimes cruising very slowly to enjoy the serenity of the river, and sometimes cruising at high speed through the vast landscape, which is very thrilling and fun!

The scenery was beautiful when the sun was shining brightly in early afternoon, but after we had afternoon tea on the riverbank, it started to become magical.

Lower the sun becomes, the rock surface glows more orange.

As we approached closer to Kununurra, the landscape became more flat, and the boat entered the lagoon-like water…

The serene water reflects the trees along the riverbank. It’s so beautiful!

When we finally approach the town of Kununurra, the sun begins to set across the river.

We stopped the boat in the middle of the river and watched the sun go down.

The tour concludes around 6pm, and they provide the transfer back the accommodation.

Triple J Tours is a multi-award winning company and their tours have been voted as top attractions in Kununurra on Tripadvisors for many many years. They also provide morning cruise with lunch, but I highly recommend the ones with sunset.

Please note that this tour spends only little time at Lake Argyle. If you want to spend more time at the lake, consider to take another tour to cruise on the Lake Argyle.

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