Kununurra

A hive of activity, this very popular destination sits on the Ord river catchment area right next to Lake Argyle, a man made lake with the capacity in the wet season of 54 times Sydney Harbour. This massive dam supplies irrigation water to the growing Kununurra irrigation district. As we came away from Kununurra we heard on the radio that it won the tourism award for WA this year, well done! The new Australia film has used this area to film extensive footage, including the El Questro homestead. The tourism group in the area has just moved the homestead used for the movie to Kununurra to further enhance the tourism when the film comes out in November. Whilst we were there we could have done heaps of touristy things at quite a cost but opted to do a flight out to the Bungle Bungles over them all due to the work we both have on and the cost. As a place to visit, you can not beat the Bungle Bungles, this area discovered as a tourist attraction in 1987 is by far the most impressive mountainous structure in Australia. It beats Ulluru and the Snowy Mountains in way of expanse and beauty. We flew out at 6:00am and picked up some nice light from the morning sun and flew over the irrigation area, the Ord river and dam, over Lake Argyle's huge expanse, two cattle stations and arrived over the Bungle Bungles which is just on the edge of the Tanami Desert. As we banked unfortunately Rachel's stomach could not take it anymore but still we videoed and took still images of this spectacular place. The commentary was very good and we spent around 15 mins circling the Bungle Bungles before heading back towards Kununurra. Before getting there we passed over the Argyle diamond mind and skirted Lake Argyle back to the safety of the ground again. For me it was great to fly again, only wish we could have taken off the door of the 8 seater Cessna to get better photos. Rachel has decided to hang up here small aircraft flying boots for now though as she was quite ill for the rest of the day after the flight. We stayed an extra day for Rachel to recover and moved on to Broome. You must visit this area though, it is spectacular and one day we will spend more than 3 days there to really enjoy it.