Some things you will Witness on Bungle Bungle Tours

The flights over the Bungle Bunlges see more than just the Purnululu National Park. During your flight, down to the Bungles you will pass over amazing scenery with a deep history.

Ord Riveris the 3rd largest river in WA at 650km. Starting inland West of the Bungle Bungles flows down to Lake Argyle past Kununurra and then meets the Cambridge Golf out near Wyndham. Lake Kununurra follows the same original path of the Ord River however is deemed a Lake due to its constant water level.

Lake Argyle tourist village built in 1968, formally the dam construction workers base camp, now provides camping ground, a pub and a base for various tour operators. The tourist village is known for its infinity pool that looks over Lake Argyle.

Ord Top Dam was constructed over 3 dry seasons, completed in 1972 costing $22 million. It stands 100m tall and 330m from wide. Top dam is considered one of the world’s most efficient dams because of its small size, compared to the large body of water it holds. Water release tower sits just inside the lake and is 19 storeys high.

Clay and stone was sourced from V shaped cut outs beside the dam. 100 tonne blast of ammonium Nitrate used to separate the clay and stone, lead to it being known as Australia’s largest non-nuclear explosion (registering on the Brisbane Richter scale). There is a story of one of the workers in his stubbies and singlet walking over to the fuse and lighting it with his cigarette before casually walking back to watch the fireworks.

Your Bungle Bungles flight will take you over Lake Argyle which flooded in just 2 wet seasons. This made it the largest freshwater reservoir, during flood season, in Australia, and 8th largest lake in the world.

Sitting at 65km North/South and 45km East/West the lake is considered an inland sea, consequently open sea regulations apply on the lake. During the 2011 wet season the lake rose 5m and in a 24hr period the level increased 1.5 meters

Generally, there are about 70 islands, depending on the water level of course, these were actually the tips of the Carr Boyd Ranges. The Lake largest island being Hagan Island or Crocodile Island as it resembles a freshwater crocodile swimming south. Crocodile Island is also friendly reminder of what lurks below the surface with 35,000 fresh water crocodiles estimated in the Lake.

In the Lake 80% of the crocodiles are female due to fluctuating temperatures. Male crocodiles require a constant 32degrees Celsius in order to reproduce. As temperatures rarely, reach a stable 32 degrees it is very difficult to reproduce a male. The males are often referred to as lucky… Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it…

Just 4km south of Crocodile Island, at the bottom of the lake lays the remains of the Durack Village. Durack family being one of the families that arrived here in the late 1800’s. The homestead itself, dismantled block by block, numbered and put into drums, then 3 years later, reassembled almost perfectly up the top near the tourist village and turned into a museum. Each block was numbered but some of the numbers had faded. Being a symmetrical house, it was easy to get close to how it used to look. Some windows however are in the wrong place.

Lake argyle can hold up to 11,000 gigalitres of water which equates to around 21 Sydney Harbours. At maximum capacity, the Lake can flood to 70 times the Sydney Harbour. The deepest part of the Lake is 40m in depth and averaging 12m on average sits around 1000km2 surface area.

For more information call 1800 095 500 or visit www.aviair.com.au

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