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| OUR BIG TRIP MARY & OLI GOING AROUND AUSTRALIA |
KIMBERLEY - Page 4
18 August 2007, Saturday
Continuation of the Wyndham journey...
19 August 2007, Sunday
Today was the big day with the flight towards the Bungle Bungle and Argyle Diamond Mine including the Heli flight at the
Bungles. Early morning and pick-up from the caravan park. Paul (our pilot) picked us up and we were joined by another
couple to head out to the Bungles first. That means a small - very small - plane, hmmmm. A Cessna 207 Skywagon - 6 seater -
was the plane of choice. The wind today picked up quite significantly and that meant a quite shaken plane during the hour
flight to the Bungles - which was a little too much for Mary. Becoming sea-sick on a boat shaken by waves was a known
factor but we both did not expect that the little plane would basically be the same. Besides that, the flight and scenery was
fantastic, a little hazy on the pictures, but in reality it was just great. Arriving at the Bungles was also our first landing on a dirt
airstrip. Unfortunately we only had a bout a 10 min. break before going into the Heli for a 30 min. flight over the Bungles.
Again that was not enough for Mary to recover and she would not enjoy the flight as I did. The doors are off the Heli and the
wind just goes through your hair and the pictures are much better than with the doors on. This was the one thing we were
looking forward too for the entire trip - to fly over the Bungle Bungle or Purnululu NP. However, the wind the only short break
and the wind which made the Heli shake from side to side was not very good for Mary, so that she did not enjoy it at all. I was
amazed by the flight - a fantastic beauty - awesome - or whatever else you want to say when you are happy afterwards. This
should be one thing to do before you die - should be part of that TV show. After the Heli flight we went back towards
Kununurra to stop at the Argyle Diamond Mine. The only way to see the Mine is this tour or a large tour across the Kimberley
including the visit. You can not just drive up and go in. The lunch was quite good and they do look after their workers quite
well. At the moment, most of them are fly-in workers from Perth. They come for two weeks and work 12 hour shifts and have
two weeks off before coming back. They are converting the mine to an underground only mine which also means they want
to change the fly-in to local people and have to lay off quite a lot of people in the next year or so. The open pit is 2 km by 1 km
wide and 900 m deep from the top of the mountain down to the base of the pit. The trucks are either 180 or 240 t and need
about 30 min. from the bottom to the drop off. They only get about 1-2 carat of diamond out of 1 tonne of Lamproite which
also needs about 10 tonne of other rock to be removed. That means 0.2 - 0.4 grams of diamond for 11 tonnes of rock - does
not sound very economical, but if you take out 180-240 tonnes per truck maybe it is. The tour also included a visit to the OCC
room which controls the entire facility, not many people work across the plants, except today when they had some
maintenance done. By the way, the Argyle mine produces 25% of the worldwide diamonds by volume - mainly industrial
grade of diamond, however they are also the only reliable source of the so called pink diamonds which are much more
expensive than the usual white diamonds. Fantastic stones which we could see in their gallery. The biggest stone ever found
was just over 42 carat and is shown their too. Because it is only industrial grade quality it would only be about $5000 if cut,
but un-cut it is priceless for the mine owners. The tour itself was much better than the one we did in Jabiru at the Uranium
mine and again it was worthwhile doing it. The flight back was over Lake Argyle which is easier on Mary due to less
turbulence. She did much better this time. At the end I took about 500 photos in one day and about 20% are shown below -
so I reduced the size a little. It was the day I was looking for, but unfortunately Mary got sick and could not enjoy the day as
much as I did. I am sure she would have enjoyed it as much if the weather would have been better - we did Heli and small
plane flights before and it was not that bad. Again if you have the chance - spend the money and do it - at least the Heli flight
or the whole thing. Lots of pictures on the next few pages.
Summary =>
18 August 2007, Saturday
Continuation of the Wyndham journey...
19 August 2007, Sunday
Today was the big day with the flight towards the Bungle Bungle and Argyle Diamond Mine including the Heli flight at the
Bungles. Early morning and pick-up from the caravan park. Paul (our pilot) picked us up and we were joined by another
couple to head out to the Bungles first. That means a small - very small - plane, hmmmm. A Cessna 207 Skywagon - 6 seater -
was the plane of choice. The wind today picked up quite significantly and that meant a quite shaken plane during the hour
flight to the Bungles - which was a little too much for Mary. Becoming sea-sick on a boat shaken by waves was a known
factor but we both did not expect that the little plane would basically be the same. Besides that, the flight and scenery was
fantastic, a little hazy on the pictures, but in reality it was just great. Arriving at the Bungles was also our first landing on a dirt
airstrip. Unfortunately we only had a bout a 10 min. break before going into the Heli for a 30 min. flight over the Bungles.
Again that was not enough for Mary to recover and she would not enjoy the flight as I did. The doors are off the Heli and the
wind just goes through your hair and the pictures are much better than with the doors on. This was the one thing we were
looking forward too for the entire trip - to fly over the Bungle Bungle or Purnululu NP. However, the wind the only short break
and the wind which made the Heli shake from side to side was not very good for Mary, so that she did not enjoy it at all. I was
amazed by the flight - a fantastic beauty - awesome - or whatever else you want to say when you are happy afterwards. This
should be one thing to do before you die - should be part of that TV show. After the Heli flight we went back towards
Kununurra to stop at the Argyle Diamond Mine. The only way to see the Mine is this tour or a large tour across the Kimberley
including the visit. You can not just drive up and go in. The lunch was quite good and they do look after their workers quite
well. At the moment, most of them are fly-in workers from Perth. They come for two weeks and work 12 hour shifts and have
two weeks off before coming back. They are converting the mine to an underground only mine which also means they want
to change the fly-in to local people and have to lay off quite a lot of people in the next year or so. The open pit is 2 km by 1 km
wide and 900 m deep from the top of the mountain down to the base of the pit. The trucks are either 180 or 240 t and need
about 30 min. from the bottom to the drop off. They only get about 1-2 carat of diamond out of 1 tonne of Lamproite which
also needs about 10 tonne of other rock to be removed. That means 0.2 - 0.4 grams of diamond for 11 tonnes of rock - does
not sound very economical, but if you take out 180-240 tonnes per truck maybe it is. The tour also included a visit to the OCC
room which controls the entire facility, not many people work across the plants, except today when they had some
maintenance done. By the way, the Argyle mine produces 25% of the worldwide diamonds by volume - mainly industrial
grade of diamond, however they are also the only reliable source of the so called pink diamonds which are much more
expensive than the usual white diamonds. Fantastic stones which we could see in their gallery. The biggest stone ever found
was just over 42 carat and is shown their too. Because it is only industrial grade quality it would only be about $5000 if cut,
but un-cut it is priceless for the mine owners. The tour itself was much better than the one we did in Jabiru at the Uranium
mine and again it was worthwhile doing it. The flight back was over Lake Argyle which is easier on Mary due to less
turbulence. She did much better this time. At the end I took about 500 photos in one day and about 20% are shown below -
so I reduced the size a little. It was the day I was looking for, but unfortunately Mary got sick and could not enjoy the day as
much as I did. I am sure she would have enjoyed it as much if the weather would have been better - we did Heli and small
plane flights before and it was not that bad. Again if you have the chance - spend the money and do it - at least the Heli flight
or the whole thing. Lots of pictures on the next few pages.
Summary =>
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 |
 |
 |
| View from Telegraph Hill onto the Billabong and wetlands including Boab Trees. |
| Plains of the King River Road at Sunset. Almost 360 deg view. |
| The plane - 6 seater Cessna 207. |
| The Ivanhoe irrigation plains - gravity feed by irrigation channels - they have more water here than they can handle - give some to us in Victoria... |
| Kununurra including Lake Kununurra at the start. |
| The mountain ranges are just amazing - you only get the feeling of them when you fly over them and see the real form of them. |
| The ranges were filled and only the top of the mountains can be seen. More than 90 islands. |
| Lake Argyle - huge !!! Water is only used for the irrigation plains - green algae makes it not so good drinking water - also has 30,000 freshwater crocs - 80% female - hmmm |
| Bow River Diamond Mine - they are all alluvial diamond mines - which means just start digging in the top soil and off you go... closed in 1995. |
| Fantastic formations - also below - just enjoy. |
| Hard to see here, but you see the cattle tracks everywhere on the mountain - this station has 20,000 cattle and has to use Heli's to Muster them due to the mountain ranges. |