After relaxing at Lake Argyle and seeing the incredible spectacle it was recommended to us to see the wider impact of the irrigation plans in the area. “What a good idea!" we thought, with Amber’s first request being the rum factory, simply called the Ord River Rum Factory or the “Hoochery”. A sandalwood factory tour was in the area too so off we set to combine the two and create a cheap afternoon.
With the cost of living pretty high in Australia these days (the Aussie dollar is almost the same value as the US dollar!), cheap or free days out is the name of the game. Fortunately there’s an abundance of factory tours and tasting areas that the wisely tourists would be best to get into. Coupled with hill walks and the National Parks it is possible to be entertained with little expenditure.
The Mt Romance Sandalwood factory was something out of nothing but strangely satisfying. Neither of us had much knowledge understandably of the sandalwood timber industry but after 30mins inside, it was increased by 100%. Who knew that this location is the world’s largest natural sandalwood plantation outside of Asia, and growing significantly faster. Sandalwood is a lovely fragrant wood that is the main ingredient to most perfumes on the high street. All manner of products were on sale but equal numbers could be sampled!
The main attraction was the “Hoochery”, a boutique rum factory that although had similar parallels with the Bundy factory was completely different in terms of scale, personal touch and attitude. The entrance hall was all recycled from various bits and pieces that the owner had acquired over 20years farming in the area including wooden panels from the packing cases for turbines of the Lake Argyle Dam.
His background was growing seeds in the US but moved to WA due to political pressures. Nowadays he produces 30,000bottles of rum annually but also the sugar cane needed to create the molasses (the raw ingredient!) and seed growing under contract. It demonstrated the success of the irrigation of the area to permit the cultivation of all manner of crops.
Different tastings were possible here, (excellent!!) of both the alcoholic beverages and the famous cakes that included the alcoholic beverages.
The tour was very informal too, that suited the laid back boutique feel of the place. Access to various parts of the distilling process was just opening a door. The distilling machine (ummm I wasn;t really paying much attentions!) was just behind a chain link fence secured with a small padlock. The unbonded liquor that hadn’t yet had tax paid was in another shed door with a padlock compared with Bundy that had security as tight as Fort Knox, great big signs warning you guard dogs patrolled, electric fences etc. Lets not mention the tastings!!! The bottling plant was a kitchen that had one lady filling the bottles and another sticking the labels on. Small scale or what!
As we left, one of the employees mentioned about the imminent government changes that might affect the sale of alcohol through mail-order – the primary seller for the company. It was tempting to purchase a few bottles but the cost conscious part of us kicked in and settled for a postcard.
It was a lovely place to spend an afternoon, tasting local spirits and cake and soaking up the atmosphere of local tourism. There’s been a lot of up and coming places during the last few years primarily food/drink related that has come as a result of the irrigation. It seems as though the aims and objectives of the 1960s have come to fruition.
To round off the cheap day, a quick visit to the Kununurra lookout at Kelly’s Knob. It’s a great place to watch the sunset apparently but we were a little early for that, but it afforded us views over the town and surrounding areas including more fields benefitting from the vast irrigation investment. Palm trees and other greenery lined the roads around the town which otherwise would have been in the middle of the desert.
The Celebrity Tree Park, a typical English-style park, was on the way home and was something interesting to see. Famous international celebrities were very limited other than Baz Luhrman, director of the film Australia, who had each planted a tree in the park Some stretched back to the 80s whilst others including Baz’s were as recent as 2009. Various Aussie sportsmen and dignitaries made up the rest but it was a good way to end the day.
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