kathndes: Bungle Bungles

OUR TRIP TO THE BUNGLE BUNGLES

There was one thing we promised ourselves before we left Brisbane in August 2010, and that was to do a flight over the Bungle Bungle ranges. We decided to go all out and our tour consisted of a flight down the western side of Lake Argyle, over a couple of cattle properties, across the top end of the Bungles and landing in the thick of it- then transported by 4WD to the carpark at the walk to Cathedral Gorge and Piccaninny Creek(we were having lunch at Cathedral Gorge), then the return walk and drive back to the airport where we were doing a 30min helicopter flight, then the light plane flight back over the Argyle diamond mine to Kununurra. What an unbelievable day!! The first sight of the Bungles was breathtaking. The dark grey and orange stripes are really evident from the air. The beehive structures are much more extensive than we imagined. But the greatest thrill was being at ground level and looking up at the size of some of the rock face. The walk up Piccaninny Creek was like being on the moon surface. Very old and eerie. We branched off to go to the lookout. A wonderful view, and then continued on to Cathedral Gorge. It was such a relief when we reached the shaded gorge as it was in the middle of the day, and quite hot. Well worth the walk however. Cathedral Gorge has the acoustic quality of the Sydney Opera House and our tour guided tested that for us. Our lunch was absolutely delicious and we felt like ants ourselves - dwarfed by the size of the gorge walls. The photos do not do it justice. Our walk back was quite quick as 4 of us were doing the helicopter thing. Now! You have to understand that I should have been nervous, but I surprised myself and Des, and I even sat in the front seat (and the thing didn’t have any doors either). This flight was awesome. We saw some incredible parts of the Bungles, and being so low gave us the appreciation of the splendour of the place. Back on terra firma and into the light plane for home. The Argyle diamond mine is the second largest diamond mine in the world. The pink diamonds found there are the most expensive in the world. I looked at some in the local jeweller and was blown away by the value of them. They also mine yellow, champagne, and white diamonds also. But the pinks are the rarest and most expensive. A very small pin head size (about the size of 4 grains of sand) would set you back about $800, that’s not in a setting. All in all, a quite long but fabulous day. Next day, we decided to venture into the Northern Territory to walk a small National Park 7klm inside the border. It was really nice too, but not a patch on the Bungles. That just about did us for Kununurra so we decided to head off toward Katherine. Hope you enjoy our Bungles experience.

Lake Kununurra from the air. Our van park is the sandy U shapped bay half way up the left hand side of the photo. It was very smoky the day of our flight.

Some islands in Lake Argyle. Crockodile Island at the rear of this group. What a shame you can't see the real size of the lake.

Our first view of the Bungle Bungle beehive formations.

The vastness of the formations is overwhelming.

The southern edge of the Bungles, with the Tanami Desert in the distance.

Des at the entrance to Cathedral Gorge.

Our group having lunch in the cool of Cathedral Gorge.

"The Window" along the walk to Piccaniny Creek

This is Mitch, our chopper pilot. Note the NO DOORS.

One of the large gorges from our chopper flight

This shows the layers and colour striping in the rock formations.

The Gibb face of the Bungle Bungle ranges

More of the beehive formations

This round clearing is where the drovers once mustered cattle for overnight stops. There was no way for the cattle to escape once the opening was guarded.