Round Australia Road Trip #6
One of the iconic tourist adventures of the Kimberleys is a scenic flight over the area’s best known attractions, both natural and man-made. There are flights by helicopter, light plane and float plane and many itineraries from which to choose.
We’ll follow the red route, spending two and a half hours enjoying a bird’s eye view of the East Kimberleys in a Cessna 210 with just enough room for the pilot and four passengers.
Buckle your seat belts and come with me on a joyride with a difference!
Our flight takes us up over the tiny town of Kununurra, built in 1960 to house the workers who constructed the Ord River dam wall,
along the full length of Lake Argyle – nearly 80 km,
south to the Bungle Bungles, striped sandstone domes more than 350 million years old,
along Cathedral Gorge, its sheer sandstone cliffs towering more than 200 metres,
over the Argyle Diamond Mine, where the famed pink Argyle diamonds are found,
past the red sandstone cliffs of the Cockburn Ranges
and on to the vast coastal plains where five rivers, the King, Forrest, Durack, Pentecost and Ord, all flow into Cambridge Gulf,
over the tiny port town of Wyndham, the most northerly town in Western Australia
before returning to Kununurra over the fertile fields of the Ord irrigation area where sandalwood and chia crops are grown.
Thank you for flying with me today. I hope you enjoyed your flight!
Oh, yes, I did enjoy that flight!
350 million years old!!!
It’s mind boggling isn’t it.
I do love to see a place from the air!
It certainly gives a new perspective on a place.
Thank you for taking us along with you lovely! 😀
Glad you came!
Squeeze up and make room for a little un’ – I will try not to get sick 😉
The Bungle Bungles are one place in Oz that I’d really like to visit – the name, the age, the shape of those mounds – but having looked up the tours into the region they are not cheap.
The distance makes the cost rise and even doing it ourselves isn’t cheap. The cost of petrol and caravan parks rises the further west we go. It was well worth the effort though and my next post will be all about our visit to the Bungle Bungles so you can come visiting with me!
As for getting sick, the lady who was sitting next to me wasn’t feeling too well and I felt a little queer by the end too. I was glad to be on the ground again.
Mmm… I have only ever flown once in a 6 seater Cessna, over the Okavango Delta in Botswana. I was worried I’d be ill as I suffer from motion sickness, but I was fine and it was a wonderful experience.
I will be very happy to visit with you. Not that I’m a cheapskate of course. 😀
It was a very interesting flight. Love the name ‘Bungle Bungles’. 🙂
More on that in the next post!
I’ve been up in a small plane once, and it was frightening and exhilarating at the same time. 🙂 But, you sure do get a view.
The view was incredible and I do know what you mean. I felt a little queer by the end though and was glad to be on firm ground again. Mr ET loved it all.
I buckled up and enjoyed every second. What awesome views! 😀
It was quite spectacular.
I put that area as my top favourite (and there are plenty of others to choose from) I’m looking forward to walking in the Bungles with you. I have been twice, once on a 4WD trip and second time flew in. This was my experience https://pommepal.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/travel-themes-parks/
It really is fantastic to visit. Thanks for sharing your post too.
I enjoyed that flight very much – thank you for taking us along! The scenery is breathtaking – how amazing to see so much in 2 and a half hours. It is nice to see the Bungle Bungles which I first heard of when watching Neighbours many, many years ago and one of the characters (Helen?) often seemed to be off to the Bungle Bungles on painting expeditions.
I’ve never watched Neighbours! It’s a long way from Melbourne to the Kimberleys but the Bungle Bungles would be very inspirational for an artist.
I watched it in its early days, but not for a very long time now. She was always popping off to the Bungle Bungles, and now I can see why.
Wonderful to see it from this perspective! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it.
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Thank you ET and Justin for taking me on another Aussie Adventure! Looking forward to your Bungle Bungles trip report next!
We’re glad you’re coming along with us. Enjoy the Bungle Bungles. They are spectacular.