Vikings in Australia - Víkingar í Ástralíu

11^th of September

We were picked up on time by the bus that took us to the airport here at Kununarra for the 2 hour flight across Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungle. We boarded the plane along with four other tourists, so it’s a small single engine airplane. I was given the back seat, so I could stretch my legs and take photos from both sides of the airplane. Thus around 9am we were airborne. The plane is quite noisy so we all had to wear headsets so the pilot could do his commentary along the way.

We flew from Kununarra southwards across Lake Argyle until we came down to the Bungle Bungle range. There the pilot circled around the major attractions for about 20 minutes until we headed north again. This time we flew a bit more easterly so we could cross the Argyle diamond mine. The Bungle Bungle are just amazing to see from the air. It's one of these places that just continue to amaze. It's just wonderful how nature can be so diverse!!

So, what is so special about Lake Argyle and the Argyle diamond mine? I’m sure you already know about the Bungle Bungle, so let me start with Lake Argyle.

Lake Argyle is a man made fresh water lake that was created back in 1969. It’s an earth wall dam that blocked the flow of the Ord river. It is 1,000 square kilometres in surface area, so it is pretty big. The dam wall is 338 meters long and towers 98 meters high. When flooded to the max, the water can double its size to over 2,000 square kilometres if required. In 1996 they build a hydro electricity generator to generate around 30 megawatts of electricity from the water flowing from the lake. Thus the electricity here in Kununarra and surrounding areas is all generated via hydro power. Apart from that, it has become a sanctuary for numerous birds and other wildlife, so it’s a pretty amazing place. Especially here in the northern part of Australia, which is pretty dry most of the time.

The Argyle diamond mine is one of the largest diamond mines in the world. They produce almost quarter of all diamonds in the world annually. One of their specialities is the pink diamond. Only found here, thus it’s a pretty big business. This is an open cut mine, whereby they are slowly ripping into an old volcano, which caused the diamonds to be formed in the first place.

During the flight, we could also see some of the bush fires that are still raging in this area. At present they are not a threat to people or property, although the occasional road has been closed at times.

After coming back and having our lunch, we took the car to be serviced at the Toyota facility here in Kununarra. Once we handed over the car, we went for a walk around the place. Stopped at an art gallery and bought couple of pieces of aboriginal art works and got them to post it back to Sydney. Mind you, nothing too expensive, but interesting all the same.

We then picked the car up and went back to camp.