The Kimberley From Above, WA

Saturday the 17th of November. It was an early start to a big day ahead! The alarm went off at 5 and as we ventured outside the van, the first sight we saw was a flat tyre on the big red rig. The aftermath of the previous day's bush bashing adventure.
But we had to put that aside... we had another adventure ahead. By 5:30 we were in a shuttle car on our way to the Kununurra airport to take a Two-hour scenic flight over some of WA's most iconic tourism destinations.
I hadn't slept all night thinking about going in a small fixed wing aircraft and to make matters worse our pilot, Simon, who had come to pick us up, looked about 18 years old. "Hello!!! What would he know about flying?" is what was going on in my head as we drove to the airport.
When I saw the plane I really started to panic. It was a 6 seater and looked like a matchbox. The plane had been roped down to the runway so it couldn't blow away in the wind. No way, really????

Simon (the child pilot) Jack, Richard, Harry and Nina get ready to get aboard the matchbox plane

Against my better judgement, and concealing my panic to the best of my ability (despite the hot sweats and the blood draining from my face), we all got aboard.
Once we were in flight I relaxed a little, taking photos.

Harry and Nina

Richard takes the co-pilot's seat

The kids and I

Jack and I

The views were breathtaking....
Simon, although a child, was a wealth of knowledge about the region. He told us about the Ord River and how every year it flushes Perth's entire year's water consumption into the ocean... such a waste.
It was amazing to see all of the orchards surrounding both sides of the river, the Ord River expansion and the diversion dams.

The Ord River

A mango orchard with The Ord behind it 

Before long we were over Lake Argyle.... I would never have believed it was so big if I hadn't seen it for myself. It is literally an inland sea. It's the largest man made lake in the southern hemisphere and was created by damming the Ord River  in the early 1970s.

Lake Argyle

We continued on into rugged station country, flying over Two Stations before reaching a series of ranges which looked like giant waves... the ranges are inaccessible by car, so the only way to see them is from above.

Wave Ranges

Soon we were hovering over the famous Bungle Bungles or Purnululu National Park and there was no mistaking the striking sandstone domes, striped with orange and grey bands.
Covering almost 240 000 hectares and more than 360 million year old they were nothing short of spectacular.

The Bungle Bungles

Purnululu National 

Simon, the child pilot, also circled around some huge gorges within the rock formations....

Cathedral Gorge, Bungle Bungles

One the way back we passed over some more rugged country which had spectacular waterfalls and waterholes, again inaccessible by road.
Moments later we were flying over the largest operating diamond mine in the world -  Argyle.
From our birds eye view the dump trucks looked like ants but the mine itself was massive....

The Argyle Mine settlement

The Argyle Diamond Mine

Simon told us how the Argyle Airstrip is the biggest private airstrip in the  southern hemisphere and since building it they've discovered a 20 million dollar diamond deposit underneath it. The problem being, the airstrip cost 20 million to build. What a dilemma to weigh up... airstrip or diamonds.... good business sense or the rare and precious. I see their pain!
We continued on as the clouds slowly started to gather around us, causing a few white knuckle moments. It was in those moments I left claw marks on Jack's leg, he had the misfortune of sitting next to me.
Nina on the other hand had her own way of dealing with things...

Nina, money well spent :-)

I relaxed when I saw Kununurra in my scopes and as we circled the town we spotted our car and caravan from the air....

Almost time to land = almost time to breathe again

Hello car and caravan

Runway in sight, we came in for a landing as smooth as silk... not bad for a kid!

Coming in for landing with the runway up ahead

Our matchbox plane

We all clapped as the wheels hit the runway and within minutes we were out of the plane watching Simon re-rope his matchbox toy back to the runway. I can't believe I went through with that, but I am glad I did. We all saw the region from a completely different perspective.
Mother Nature has weaved her magic beautifully in the Kimberley.

When we got back to the van Richard set to work weaving his magic on the flat tyre. Pumping it up enough to get it to Tyrepower.

Richard woking on the tyre

He arrived back a couple of hours later with a fixed tyre. It was only our second flat tyre for the year - not bad going considering we've done almost 35 000 kilometres.
We spent the morning chilling, exhausted by such an early rise and such a white knuckle adventure.

By afternoon we decided to head towards Lake Argyle to look at it from a completely different angle.
The views along the way were stunning, with gorges and cliff faces in all directions and then suddenly - there it was.

Lake Argyle

The Lake Argyle dam wall and pumping station

After taking in the sights we continued on to the caravan park/resort, for a swim in their infinity pool. The views, once again, were spectacular....

The kids in an infinity pool overlooking Lake Argyle

Awesome views 

Richard and I  enjoy a cool down

We drove back to Kununurra, in awe at the sheer beauty of region.