Discovery (Post#40) : Ord River (Lake Argyle) Dam Wall
Knowing that Lake Argyle is a man-made reservoir was a disbelief for me at first. I was amazed when I learned it. It was the biggest reservoir that I had seen so far up to date. For me it wasn’t look like a man-made dam, but it is. The thing that made me realized that it was a man-made was the dam wall itself which called Ord River Dam Wall or Lake Argyle Dam Wall. These photos are part of Day 2 (Judbarra/Lake Argyle) of 9 Days Darwin to Broome Overland Adventure Tour October 2016.
Ord River Dam or Lake Argyle is now one of the worlds largest man made water bodies and was formed by an earth and rock filled dam in the Carr Boyd Ranges. Ord River Dam was constructed to provide a major storage reservoir that will maintain a stable level in Lake Kununurra, which enabled the water to be diverted by gravity to the Ivanhoe Plain. The permanent water supply to Lake Kununurra also enabled the development for irrigated land on the adjacent Packsaddle Plain.
Cleveland Reservoir or Cleveland Dam is also known as Capilano Reservoir or Capilano Lake which located in North Vancouver at British Columbia Province in Canada. The name used after late Ernest Cleveland, the first Chief Commissioner of Greater Vancouver Water District. The reservoir used to store drinking water of Lower Mainland as per Wikipedia. Photo captured last June 2008.
One of the place that I loved is Rodriguez Rizal because of the combination of panoramic natures that I was able to witness when I attended Basic Rappelling Course conducted by the mountaineering group where I belong. I was there before it hit Metro Manila by one of the major typhoon named Ondoy (local name) last 2009. After that event I am not sure if the same panorama that I witness are still there, I hope time will come it will return to what it was. Photo above is the Wawa River last September 2009 where the water came from Wawa Dam (previous dam that supply Metro Manila for its water resource until it was replaced by Angat Dam).
When I joined the mountaineering group for basic rapelling course the perfect place near in Metro Manila for such activity is Wawa Gorge where there are high rocks in surrounding area and the beautiful Wawa Dam. The photo was captured last September 2009 few weeks earlier before Typhoon Ondoy hit my country in the same year.
Year 2008 was the year that reminded me or let say reawakened in my self that I love nature. I love greens and forest and that led me to love mountains. When I moved to Singapore for work I knew that I am sacrificing one thing that I love that is climbing a mountain.
Singapore is a city, though it tried to maintain itself as being green city still it does not have mountains to climb. I remembered that there is one mountain that I know and that is Mount Faber where one end of Sentosa cable car is located. Aside from that mountain, I know nothing else.
When I started working in Singapore I thought that things will get excited because living in another country different from what I used to be might be an adventure. I started working in Singapore last December 2009 and to my surprised less than a month or exactly after a month, I felt bored. My colleagues at work started to feel the same way, in another two months all of us felt home sick.
I belong to a batch of IT Filipinos who was hired to work through third-party company for an investment bank in Singapore. It was the first time that I worked abroad and it’s different compared if I was sent or assigned by my company to another country.
One thing that I never thought to experienced in Singapore was trekking. My colleague at work decided to visit MacRitchie Reservoir and I joined them.
Some of us met at MacRitchie, some met at the train station. Since I was coming from Sengkang area, I took purple line from Buangkok to Serangoon station and transferred to yellow line from Serangoon to Marymount (at that time, yellow line was still half-completed). From Marymount, we took bus to MacRitchie.
–Amenities Centre
When we arrived at MacRitchie Reservoir, I already like its nature ambiance. We walked to the park’s lobby where some cafe are located. At the lobby there are shower rooms and wash rooms as well. We also found information of the park such as board map and walking trails.
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–Amenities Centre
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–Amenities Centre
We don’t have walking guide, when we started the walk near from the lobby or park amenities centre but before we begin we decided to follow the Yellow trail as it will return to the amenities center where we started. We just followed the trail as we see it. First, we turned left as we face the centre and then we turned right on our way to the Paddle Lodge, Fishing Ground and Kayak Platform.
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After passing the Dam trail and Kayak Platform, we entered the natures trail. When we were inside the forest I felt that I felt great as I reminisce the experience of climbing mountain. Walking in the trail under tall trees and surrounded by different plants and vines made me fell that I was really close with nature.
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–Inside the Forest
From the start of the trail we saw post telling how far we already walk so far. And in every post that we saw we rest a while and took our chances to take some photos. We had fun during the walk, we talked about a lot of things. Along the way, we saw resting huts and the huts has its name which was nice. There is part of the trail that we walk along the ground and some has wooden path and stairs. It made me felt that I was trekking some hills and the trail was easy to medium level. During our walk we also experienced a bit of rain.
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–HSBC Treetop Walk
We already reached the 3.5 km post. After half an hour we saw the post of HSBC Treetop Walk, and in few minutes we arrived at the front of it. Treetop Walk as per the park information that it is a free-standing suspension bridge that connects two highest point which is Bukit Pierce and Bukit Kalang in MacRitchie. We did enjoy the bridge when we crossed it. The bridge gave us a chance to have a different perspective to appreciate the forest and the park.
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–Inside the Forest
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–Jelutong Tower Top
After the Treetop Walk, we continued our trek in the forest and follow the trail we intended to finish. We climb Jelutong Tower Top as we were curious what to see. We also passed a trail part where the side itself was the reservoir. Then some part of The Singapore Island Country Club which is left side of the reservoir. One of the cool things we saw along the way was the small turtle at the side of the water reservoir.
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–The Singapore Island Country Club
Before we reached the promenade, we saw the Zigzag bridge and the Bandstand beside it.
We finished the trail same where we started which means that we took the trail that go around the MacRitchie Reservoir. Though we were quiet tired in waking and trekking, I really enjoyed what we did because I had been the similar activity back to my country.
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–Little Turtle we saw near the side of the reservoir
During my last tour, the third itinerary I had in North Vancouver was Cleveland Dam. As I walk out the bus and walking approaching the dam, the surrounding areas were really lovely. The natures that encompassing the Capilano Lake or Capilano Reservoir were magnificent that made me really adore it. I felt how natural the place was and felt to believed the water flowing in the dam were indeed fresh.
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Surrounding area of Cleveland Dam
After visiting the place, I learned that the river I saw in Capilano Suspension Bridge and Capilano Fish Hatchery were coming from Capilano Lake which being hold by the dam. The water in the lake was not still or stagnant water, I learned that a lot of rivers and streams are flowing down into the lake coming from surrounding mountains. The lake serves as freshwater to the lower area of Great Vancouver.
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Capilano Lake or Capilano Reservoir and surround mountains
I just realized as well that the Capilano Lake was the lake that I saw while I was in Grouse Mountain Skyrides. The Cleveland Dam serve as to hold the water in the reservoir and used to control the water spill down to the Capilano River.
Home (Post#8) : Waterfalls – Wawa Dam
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