Purnululu

'From an aircraft, the Bungle Bungle Range is an imposing sight. The orange and black stripes across the beehive-like mounds, encased in a skin of silica and algae, are clearly visible'
Hard to believe that when I worked in Halls Creek , that we (the general public and locals) had never heard of the Bungle Bungles. Although the Bungle Bungle Range was extensively used by Aboriginal people during the wet season, when plant and animal life was abundant, few Europeans knew of its existence until the mid-1980s.
Certainly the owners and stockmen on Mable Downs knew about the area but it was only after a documentary on WA from the air that the public started clamouring for access.

Approaching the Mounds

Aerial View of the river bend

The access road from the Northern Highway, (a sealed road now) is 52 Km to the Purnululu Visitors' Centre, all unsealed creek crossings, rough road and rugged creek embankments, takes 2.5 hrs Av speed 23km / hour!!

Celia and I had great debate about whether one gets airsick in helicopters. No one we asked, met both criteria, had been in a copter and suffers airsickness.

Well we can report that one may get alarmed as it moves in the air gusts but does not trigger nausea!

The views were worth it!

Our chopper

The gorge that is a 5 day walk in

Great views

Lake Argyle

When I was working in Halls Creek in the 70's I knew the Dam was being built and then opened but it did not have any impact on my work, (except fishermen who came down would bring us fresh barramundi!) and being young I took little notice of it. 

However it was  a HUGE project and the scale of it is immense. So much water, and as mentioned a lot going into the sea but it was an idea of one of the Duracks to harness the Ord for irrigation in the Kimberley are esp Kununurra. 

Lake Argyle is a man made waterway, several times larger than Sydney Harbour. It is Australia's second largest (Lake Gordon/Lake Pedder, Tasmania is the largest) artificial lake by area.

Spillway Creek in full flow!

One of the unusual features of this dam is the fact that its overflow, called Spillway, is not situated at the dam itself, but at the northern end of Pannikin Bay. From there the water makes its way along Spillway Creek back into the Ord River.

With the lake at 170% capacity, there are more "islands", as the water cut off lower ground

The tips of the mountains of the surrounding Carr Boyd Ranges tumble into the lake making it look like some kind of strange desert fjord. 
We went on a cruise of the lake and it seemed immense, but when we looked at a map we had covered only a tiny corner. Those of us from Victoria were especially awed and frustrated that so much water went to waste, and the lack of ability to channel it to areas in need.I gather the costs and maintenance of pumping stations in such isolated country makes it economically nonviable.

Beautiful colours in the light of sun set

The water level mark. There are still hills not visible yet from the flooding.

The clay core wall. A small wall holding  huge volume for its size. The outer wall looks bigger!!

Celia & Tammy enjoying the camera opportunities!

Argyle Downs Homestead

The homestead was originally built in 1895 by the Durack family on Argyle Downs Station (now   submerged by Lake Argyle)  

In the late 1880s, at the beginning of the great Kimberley beef industry, Patsy Durack and his two brothers built the Argyle Downs Homestead after a two year trek from Queensland bringing with them wagons, carts and 2000 head of cattle. The famous pioneering Durack family home became known far and wide as one of the social gathering places of the East Kimberley.

The Duracks experience is described in the book Kings in Grass Castles about their pioneering opening of the Kimberley area to cattle raising.

During the early 1970’s a decision was made to remove the homestead before Lake Argyle, a man made lake damming the Ord River, began to fill in order to preserve the building. The homestead was dismantled stone by stone with every stone coded in such a way so as to be able to be rebuilt with every stone back in its original position.

The lovely shaded veranda

Warm colour stone, and old camp beds on the veranda

The house is lovely with cool stone, wide verandas and doors on opposite side so cool breezes can blow through from any direction.

Photos in the Museum show many buildings and equipment submerging. It seems the Lake, enclosing the Ord River,  began filling faster than expected after some heavy rain, and they got caught out before they would get all the equipment out.

There were a series of graves of some of the family as well as memorial stones.

In the garden we also had the thrill of seeing a flock of Double Barred finches at a feeder, and over in the hedge a nest and a Bower Bird ! 

In that area the Great Bower birds collect silver and white, not blue as they do here. (Satin Bowerbird)  In the nest were lots of tea light candles .

The staff at the building said that they had a function with the tea lights set outside, and in the morning half the lights were in the nest!

Flowers

Silky Leaf Grevillea

Calotropis; Kings Crown

Calytrix extsipulata; Turkey Bush

Solanum Cunninghamii

Starflower Shrub

White grevillea

Hibiscus Leptocladus

A few more of the endless range of flowers

THE WET

Evidenced in all our travels in the Kimberley was the effect of the Wet of 2010 / 2011. This had been one of the biggest in years,

The recent Wet season in the Kimberley region of Western Australia has caused Australia's largest (in area) freshwater lake, Lake Argyle, to overflow. 

The dam has reached more than its capacity of 10,763 gigalitres (it was 170% capacity at its peak ) and water was flowing 37cm over the spillway and at a rate of 58 cubic metres per second.

That's enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool every 43 seconds, or Sydney Harbour every 12 hours  And it hasn't stopped! Unfortunately the water runs into the sea and there is no plan to send it anywhere else, due to costs.

We stopped to look at the Ord River flowing over the Ivanhoe Crossing. 

The road is the Old Wyndham road and now not a main highway, but a route to popular fishing. Well not this Year! This flow has continued all year since the rain stopped and it will not be opened this year!

Stating the obvious for the not too bright!

The river in full force, been running since February!

 Ivanhoe Crossing, built in 1954 on a rocky outcrop to cross the Ord river, was featured in the film Australia when Lady  Sarah Ashley is brought to Faraway Downs station. 

The crossing is close to where the Duracks constructed the Ivanhoe Station homestead.

The Ord river is enclosed by the Argyle Dam and so it is the outlet from the dam.

As a result there are flowers in abundance everywhere!

Mulla Mulla

Kimberley Heath

The Kimberley

Cockburn Range Near El Questro

I have always planned to return to Halls Creek in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, where I worked for two years 1970-1972. And this year it happened.
Celia and I went on a trip to the Kimberley from Broome. We flew directly to Broome from Melbourne (only two direct flights a week) on 6th July and stayed there 2 days before joining a tour with Kimberley Wild. http://www.kimberleywild.com.au/kimberley_explorer.htm

Celia on the East Beach at Cape Leveque

Manning Falls

We planned a 3 day trip North West from Broome to Cape Leveque, and then a 9 days loop up the Gibb River Road to Kununurra, then down to Purnululu (the Bungle Bungles) and on to Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing and back to Broome.

The legendary Gibb River Road, a 660 km dirt track right through the wild heart of the Kimberley, that leaves the main Northern Highway past the turnoff to Derby was created for cattle stations to transport their cattle and was never intended as a tourist road. It's reputation as a tough route has attraction for the adventurer today. The trip is still touted as one of the last serious adventures in Australia, a drive through a very remote area where all sorts of dangers loom, an undertaking that requires guts and four wheel driving experience... well maybe not really, but lots of 4 WD take up the challenge.

Conditions depend on the time for year, and the completion of maintenance grading work. Travel is only recommended once the roads has been graded after the wet season (around May) until end of October. Most of the winding sections of road passing over the ranges are bitumenised, and nearly all the creek and river crossings have concrete bottoms, but it is  a rough road of corrugations.

Ivanhoe Crossing,Unlikely to be opened at all this year!

This year the Wet season was one of the heaviest and the longest with water still pouring down the creeks and crossings. All along the road are side trips to waterfalls and gorges. To which we made several side trips

Jazz in Melbourne

The Melbourne Jazz Festival Program was in a coffee shop a few weeks ago so I decided to check out a few performances.
One I chose was with Yvette Johanson as the support act at the Recital Centre so went with that.
The main act was Chris Botti who outside jazz circles, was largely unknown when he played St Kilda's National Theatre last winter, but after that gig, word spread like wildfire and the word was you have to hear him play the trumpet. I admit I was not expecting anything too exciting, I mean how varied can a trumpet be but WOW!! He is great to look at as well.

Chris Botti

The whole concert was fantastic. He is America's biggest-selling jazz instrumentalist, and has worked with the best Sting, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell. In 1991, he performed with Paul Simon in New York’s Central Park as part of the The Rhythm of the Saints tour. The performance was commercially released as the Concert in the Park CD. While on tour with Simon, he met saxophonist Michael Brecker, which led to Botti producing the Brecker Brothers’ Out of the Loop. The album won a 1995 Grammy for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance. His own touring band is awesome and on the road for almost 300 days a year. Don't know how they do that!   http://www.chrisbotti.com/home.html

Another event was at the Forum Theatre still a great looking place but the sky and stars have gone!

3 Cohens

The second act was the 3 Cohens (siblings), tenor saxophonist and clarinetist Anat Cohen, trumpeter Avishai Cohen and the soprano saxophonist Yuval Cohen — originally from Israel and now all part of  the the New York jazz world. 

They were appearing with the Aaron Goldberg Trio "Boundless imagination, burning intensity, exquisite sensitivity and abundant soul -- Aaron Goldberg truly has it all. One of the most exciting, inventive, and lyrical pianists you will ever hear." Couldn't have put it better myself. The Cohens were amazing, especially Anet on the Saxaphone. All performers commented on how cold the venue was Aaron said it was hard to lay fast with cold fingers! Old venues have their drawbacks all the audience was rugged up gloves and scarves.

The other events I was interested in are on this long weekend and I am away so will miss them.

However there is a Winter Song Festival on at Aireys that I am going to with Nick & Kate; maybe they will see inspiration for their Sax playing.