Bungles, and then some – at Kununurra

[JohnM]

Another termite mound over an otherwise occupied PJM’s left shoulder. Why she’d be taking photos of this rubbish is beyond me…



‘Whirlpool’ erosion hollows in waterways.

 

[JohnM]

And lunch time in Cathedral Gorge.

 

[JohnM]

And a couple of vertical panos.




Back on the bus and off to BXF for the next excursion. PJM’s first helo ride – a 30-minute circuit around the Bungle Bungle. But where are the doors on this R44 contraption…?



No worries – a seasoned operator in 1A.

 

[VPS]

What were the temperatures like?

 

[JohnM]

What were the temperatures like?

Very mild. They have had an unusually cool winter. About 26-27 max but dropped quickly in the evening to a min of around 11.

Normally, I would expect low 30s max at this time of the year - and which it is shaping up to be this week.

Anyway, it was very pleasant, sunny and dry. PERfect really...

 

[RooFlyer]

At last, something of interest in this TR.

 

[JohnM]

The microenvironment in some of the deep canyons allows palms to grow.

 

[JohnM]

A bit of jinking.

 

[JohnM]

 

[JohnM]

Well, that was pretty good!

 

[JohnM]

Back onboard the Cessna for the ride back to KNX.



Hauling out of BXF and into the pattern over the Bungle Bungle for a final look as the shadows lengthen. The formation near BXF has the same land area footprint as Uluru/Ayers Rock.

 

[JohnM]

An orbit over the Argyle diamond mine. It closed in late 2020 and is being dismantled and the land restored.



And back on deck at 1700h. Another sensational and chock-a-block day ends.

Now, what special thing will day 3 hold? I know – but PJM doesn’t…

 

[RooFlyer]

An orbit over the Argyle diamond mine. It closed in late 2020 and is being dismantled and the land restored.

Apologies for intruding JohnM, thought you might like to contrast with my visit in 1983 (a DC3 from Darwin) when they were just gearing up:







This is AK1 'diamond pipe' - the greenish tinged rock in the middle, a lamprophyre (not kimberlite!!), softly eroded out from between the hills. All those eroded diamonds down the creek ! Because it was a lamprophyre, not a kimberlite was why the South Africans missed it.



I'll go away now ... yes, you can post pics of the weeds in my next TR.

 

[JohnM]

Apologies for intruding JohnM, thought you might like to contrast with my visit in 1983 (a DC3 from Darwin) when they were just gearing up:

View attachment 285138

View attachment 285139

View attachment 285141

This is AK1 'diamond pipe' - the greenish tinged rock in the middle, a lamprophyre (not kimberlite!!), softly eroded out from between the hills. All those eroded diamonds down the creek ! Because it was a lamprophyre, not a kimberlite was why the South Africans missed it.

View attachment 285140

I'll go away now ... yes, you can post pics of the weeds in my next TR.

I think a little more homework will reveal an alluvial diamond find NE of the main Argyle pipe was the precursor to the whole show. We flew over an old working on the way out to the Bungle Bungle and Shelby was giving us a description but with the engine noise, I couldn't follow it clearly.

I just did an internet rummage: Timeline: the life and times of Australia’s unlikely Argyle diamond mine

A pretty interesting story all round.

 

[RooFlyer]

I just did an internet rummage: Timeline: the life and times of Australia’s unlikely Argyle diamond mine

A pretty interesting story all round.

Good timeline, but lacks the more interesting stories - such as the time one of the earliest little alluvial diamonds found was being shown off in a Perth boardroom and got dropped, and lost, in the shag pile .

Looking for ward to the special day 3.

 

[JohnM]

Good timeline, but lacks the more interesting stories - such as the time one of the earliest little alluvial diamonds found was being shown off in a Perth boardroom and got dropped, and lost, in the shag pile .

Looking for ward to the special day 3.

An even bigger matter was the conspiracy to steal diamonds from the mine by a corrupt security boss and associates, including possibly corrupt WA police. It was a tangled web and I'm not sure that there was ever a clear resolution of the matter.

 

[kookaburra75]

Not to hijack your Trip Report (well just a bit). I too was there in the 80's, on the construction of the mine. The shot below is taken from the main Separation building, back up towards the original mine site on the hill in 1985. Looking at the site today on Google Earth, all of that hill is gone.


The buildings on the mine site were built by different contractors, and the one I was working for looked after three of the buildings, including the final Recovery Building, where the diamonds were extracted and sorted from the gravels. The final step was done by hand, by Sorters who worked with large magnifiers to pick out the individual diamonds. When we built the Recovery Building, the Sorting area had a series of large windows, so visitors could watch the Sorters do their work. The standards defined those windows as heavy duty bullet proof. One of the other parts of the building was the vault. As you can imagine, it was very heavy duty reinforcing and thick walls, using special high strength concrete.

Before any concrete pour, the building inspectors would check that everything was in place before you could close up the form work and start the concrete pour. With the vault, the security people turned up, most of whom were from the diamond industry in South Africa, and without a sense of humour - unlike us Australians. As a bit of a laugh, the guys in the team had put small pieces of polystyrene foam, outlining a door in the side of the vault (which was a common wall with the visitors' toilets), with a few pieces of det wire poking out near the bottom. It didn't go down well.

Ah, fun times. I"m now digging through my old photos and slides to see what else I have of the mine and Kununurra.

 

[JohnM]

OK, day 3 starts with a (non-secret) drive to Wyndham. Google maps has glitch and places Wyndham at a random spot along the road.



The town of Wyndham (Wyndham, Western Australia - Wikipedia, Wyndham | Australia's North West) lies at the base of the Five Rivers Lookout on top of The Bastion.

It has a deep history, including being bombed in WW2 and was once the main town in the NE Kimberley but has faded with the rise of Kununurra. The population of Wyndham is now only about 700, whereas that of Kununurra is about 7000.

Better than a Big Banana or Giant Mango?



From the lookout. The old town centre is tucked onto the promontory to the left. The main residential part of town was/is a few kilometres south. The old seasonal meatworks, for which Wyndham was most famous in the early 20th century occupied a large area to the right.



Looking north up Cambridge Gulf and back up at The Bastion from the old meatworks area.



The Croc Café and Bakery is a gem Croc Cafe Bakery.

We had to keep the visit to Wyndham brief as we needed to back in Kununurra around midday as I wanted to quickly check out the sandalwood harvesting and PJM wanted to scope the zebra rock (Visit Kununurra - Zebra Rock, Zebra rock | Western Australian Museum) before preparing for the next surprise at 1400h.

 

[JohnM]

The final surprise activity of the trip: a sundowner at an island in Lake Argyle, travelling by floatplane from Lake Kununurra. BYO bevvies; snacks provided. Leigh’s our driver.



We’re off…



Mango plantations; darker green sandalwood behind.



Sandalwood plantation – but what you see is the host trees for this parasitic tree. Harvesting of the sandalwood is underway, picking out the rows of sandalwood before levelling the host trees. There’s a massive amount of unwanted biomass to remove. I suspect that the host trees grew much better than anticipated – and I know that the sandalwood grew not nearly as well as the glitzy MIS scheme promoted…



Sandalwood harvesting requires removing the stump and roots as well as the stem, as they are rich in oil. The host trees tower over the sandalwood.

 

[JohnM]

Now-familiar views…



Coming in…



This’ll do… and a G&T coming up for PJM once Leigh sets up the chairs and the snack table on the water’s edge.