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Published: August 8th 2007
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Chicky Pilot
Everyone, this is Helen; Helen this is everyone. I shouldn't be sexist here (insert apology), because Helen is a great pilot and tour guide. The gear changes in the Van need work. Kununurra, this is a great little town, except - like Adelaide - the place becomes a ghost town on Sundays and Public Holidays. Most things are here though, Coles, an IGA, Coffee, Camp Stores, ARB, etc, but because of they are so far away from Perth, they are badly effected by the time zones here. The sun is up by 06:00 and down by 17:00, so the shopping hours are mostly 07:00 to 16:00, although some hold out until 08:00 to open and Government departments are no where to be seen until 09:30. Prices here for foodstuffs, fuel etc aren’t too bad considering the distance from Perth or Darwin, although the continuity of supply seems to be a bit of a problem, because the shelves are often bare. No eggs today at Coles and none are coming until the truck arrives on Friday, 2 days from now. Last week it was bread, with only frozen bread available and stocks there dwindling fast. Most workers here were tourists, working x hours a day or night or whatever as part of their accommodation or paying towards the trips. Most people here are relaxed and we have got on well with everyone we have
met. It is safe to say that the locals we got talking to are fiercely proud of their town, and just a little proudly fierce as well, but it is good to see such a strong community.
Tuesday, we took the opportunity to do a bit of a touristy gig by taking the SlingAir flight over the Bungle Bungle and then the Triple J coach/boat cruise along the Ord River and Lake Kununurra. The first pick up was at 05:30 (turns out there is such a time when you were on holiday - who knew?) and onto the plane by 06:00. Breakfast was recommended after the flight, so we primed ourselves with half a cup of tea each and we were off. The driver was a young lady that we thought was a little ditsy, so imagine our surprise when she jumped into the cockpit of this small plane for the tour. She did a great job, was very professional and a good tour guide as we flew over the Bungle Bungles (No joke, we could see the corrugations in the roads within the park, from the air - they weren’t small) and across the Argyle Diamond mine. While
not the largest mine in the world by size, the story goes that it is by output with up to 30%!o(MISSING)f the world’s supply being cut out of the open cast mine. Apparently the airstrip they built out there (largest private Airstrip in the southern hemisphere) was built on top of a $200 Million vain of diamonds. Oops! Amanda and I discussed the viability of ripping up the airstrip to get the diamonds and whether it would be worth it. We both agree that when the last of the diamonds come out of the current open cast, the airstrips days are seriously numbered!
(as I am writing this, the people in the next camp site have pissed the kids off and with the baby asleep, are taking the opportunity for a quickie. They normally go at it after the baby’s 02:00 feed - twice in the past 4 days - so the regular rhythm of the van is a little distracting while trying to write the Blog. Might go see what sort of water they are drinking after this) Anyhoo - The Bungle Bungle are just as stunning from 3000 feet as they were close up.
We
Stunning Bungle Bungles from Air
had a clear day, but with quite a bit of turbulence so low, Amanda was a little bit green, but she was proud not to have tossed her breakfast, which we hadn’t had yet. The flight took a couple of hours and was great, so we were dropped off back at camp around 08:30.
Breakfast was an omelette for Amanda and an extremely piss weak attempt at Eggs Benedict for me. After having snooze for an hour or so, we were on the bus for the second part of the Tour, off to investigate the Lake Argyle Dam and spillway, where we transferred to the boat. The engineering feat was amazing considering it was conceived of almost 50 years ago and built from 1969 to 1972. Originally built for about $22M, the same thing would be close to a Billion $ today. In a lesson to Governments, when the dam was built, the builders offered to put in a hydro-electric power station for an extra Million, but was considered insanely expensive. When the hydro was installed several years later, it cost $88Million. With the Irrigated area around Kununurra using less than 10% of
the available 21 Sydney harbours (the volumetric measure of choice around here), think pipeline kids! Lake Argyle can hold 38 Sydney harbours if desired, with no impact on existing infrastructure or design. Something to think about.
The cruise from dam was impressive with the owner of Triple J Tours - Jeff - Captaining the boat. His knowledge of the ever changing river and that of the flora and fauna was very impressive and he kept the bird watches in awe with his pickups and call outs. The boat had only a 5 degree V with a very shallow draft and was powered along by 2x300HP Suzuki’s at around 60kph. The boat used to have 3x200HP Honda’s, but the drag decrease from having one less prop in the water saves this guy 20,000 litres of petrol a year. (useless information file). The amount of information provided to us on the trip and the quality of information kept us interested the whole time. Afternoon tea was in a pleasant spot and the oldies fair sprinted off the boat to get their tea. Amanda looked a bit befuddled by the stampede and I commented that if they were driving in their Vans,
Agyle Diamond Mine Site - The Pit
Note the 200 Tonne truck in the bottom left corner for scale. they sure as hell would have stopped for their tea by now (an observation we make regularly on our travels). I guess you had to be there, but Amanda laughed so loud, I had some explaining to do.
Check out the photos, it was an amazing trip and an amazing day, finished off with dinner at one of the local pubs. They served Pale by the pint, so I support their decision to do so with great gusto, which I paid for today. They also offered an unusual menu with my Caesar Salad having the option of Salt and Pepper Squid on top. Both the Salad and the Squid were top notch and the size of Amanda’s Chicken Parmy was impressive as well.
Off tomorrow to the Gibb River Road for a while and will be out of contact for possibly up to 3 weeks, but you never know. We will keep the blog going of the places we are going and will load ‘em up when we get coverage.
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Mike and Steph
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We missed you!
Hi guys, we have arrived Kunnnnannnurra today (8/6) just off the Gibb River Road. You will be sorry you washed that camper! You'll have to do it again at Derby! Have fun on the GRR. See you back in the big smoke :)