9 April 2013 - Bungle Bungle Caravan Park, Great Northern Highway, Western Australia

I am not sure exactly why they gathered last night in our caravan but congregate in great hosts they did; insects, great and small, stinging, biting or just plain irritating, all reminiscent of nights passed on the Barkley Tablelands. Outside an owl hooted, or perhaps it was the tawny frogmouths. Do they hoot? This was the first and only night we had been troubled by insects in our little home for some time, the small ants now almost under control.

Despite the restless evening, our night passed peacefully enough and we were up fresh and ready to move on once again. It was quite sad to leave the lovely park at Kununurra this morning; a pity we had not spent the entire six days of our stay there. Let the reader heed my warning and not blindly follow in our footsteps.

Out over the Ord Diversion Dam and across the wonderful landscape on the road toward Wyndham, that travelled just a few days ago but better appreciated today with the clearer skies. We turned south at the crossroads and continued on through the valleys, some wide and some less so, bounded by red, purple and aubergine rocky ranges and hills.

We were surprised to see yet more sandalwood plantations near Doon Doon perhaps irrigated by the Dunham River which converges with the Ord River below the diversion dam. We saw several parties clad in sunhats and gloves working out on the edge of the rows but were none the wiser as to what exactly they were up to. Again I was baffled about the economics of the operation. And then to think that much it may go up in funeral pyres or be burned in shrines with hopeless prayers for hopeful outcomes.

We met several long road trains heading north, most likely to the Wyndham Port, laden with bulk materials of some kind and were curious as to the content. Several kilometres north of the turnoff to the Argyll Diamond Mine, we passed the entrance to the Ridges Mine and were able to subsequently discover the content of those long road trains: iron ore.

The Rio Tinto Argyll Diamond mine lies to the south of Lake Argyll and is often incorporated into an air tour of the lake and the Bungle Bungles, being the only access the public might otherwise have. It is one of the world’s largest suppliers of jewellery quality diamonds. Production commenced in 1985 and since then, it has produced more than 800 million carats; that is a whole lot of engagement rings.

The open pit operation of the mine was to close in 2012 and be followed by underground mining which would extend the life of the mine out to 2019. Not having taken a tour, I am not sure whether the mine is on track with that.

Argyll employs approximately five hundred employees with the majority working on the mine site. 70% live locally and many of those actually live in the caravan parks we stayed at in Kununurra and commute week or whatever about.

What we had seen were a couple of outlet shops in Kununurra where one could spend unimaginable sums of money on bling originating from this mine. I reminded my husband that he was lucky I was not a bling kind of girl, but then if I were, he reminded me, we probably would not be together and certainly we would not be enjoying our gypsy lifestyle.

Had we not been cognoscente of the mine and following the maps, we would not have even noticed the road entrance to the mine. It is simply marked Lissadell Road which is the name of the station the mine would seem to sit in the middle of.

Warmun, previously known as Turkey Creek, sits 196 kilometres south of Kununurra and is a restricted aboriginal settlement, meaning than you and I cannot just wander in. This in itself is problematic because the world renowned Warmun Art Centre is inside the demarcation line, so how can we be expected to call, view and perhaps buy this wonderful art which is then supposed to help these communities gain financial independence? I guess that if we had stopped completely and bothered to read the small print, we might have found how one can work around the prohibition signs. We did not and it was probably more our loss rather than the Warman aborigines. So be it.

The road had continued through the spectacular landscape all the way through to Warmun, but then changed and climbed gently up a level and through Mabel Downs where we did at last see herds of Brahman cattle grazing. 

We passed the entrance to the Savannah Nickel Mine and remarked how many mines there were all over this huge continent. But then none of that should be a surprise to any of us. It, along with surf beaches, boomerangs, kangaroos and deserts, is what Australia is best known for.

Fifty kilometres we arrived at the turnoff to the Purnulula National Park. We continued on for a kilometres to a rest area we considered overnighting at. After lunch we wandered down to the lower level where we found several travellers having broken their trip and gypsy family, like us in their pursuit, but laden down by two toddlers, two 4WDs, a caravan and a boat. I did wonder at the pleasure of travelling in separate vehicles. Perhaps they communicate their delight at the scenery they pass through by CB radio between vehicles?  At least they could separate the children so there would be no sibling squabbles. (I remember those.)

Hearing the obnoxious hum of a generator, we decided that we would instead pay for the privilege of power at this caravan park, or at least Chris decided and I happily went along with his decision. And so here we are on the Mabel Downs Station where diversification is the name of the game. $45 a night for a site, take out your own rubbish and they will store your caravan for the nights you are in the national park for a further $20 a day. Helicopter rides are on offer too for those with even deeper pockets. A good little business, I would say.

A caravan park under development

We are now almost packed up and honestly, you would think we were heading into the Amazon Jungle for a couple for weeks with what we are taking. I told my husband that if I were travelling with just another like me, I would not bother with the pots, pans and pots, cookers and all the other paraphernalia. A can opener, the cans and crackers would do me. He responded by telling me that did not surprise him after all; that I obviously did not like food, or at least, not enough to be bothered with lengthy and inconvenient preparation. That is probably true.

We are still about sixty kilometres to the park headquarters where we will learn what areas of the park are open for business. There are up to forty three fords to be crossed, the first rather nasty for a novice. Should be fun!

I should mention here for posterity that we learned late last night that Maggie Thatcher has finally run her mortal coil; a great gutsy lady whom one could only love or hate, although I really did neither. She was an inspiration to women who wanted to break out from behind the kitchen sink. May she be put to rest without too much vilification!