Kim set her sights on a pink diamond. Now with a few exceptions, pink diamonds come only from the Argyle Mine which is a couple of hundred kilometres south of Kununurra reached by a rough dirt track. Not that there’s a lot of point in driving it, the mine is securely locked against visitors.
However. There is a way. An air tour is permitted that also takes in Lake Argyle and the Bungle Bungles. Our thinking was that we could combine these adventures into the one trip. And so it turned out. Views of Lake Argyle from the air were impressive. The sheer scale of the man-made reservoir is staggering. From the ground the lake is so large it disappears into the distance. From the air it does exactly the same thing. It’s enormous.
The next wonder is known as the Bungle Bungles, another extraordinary natural rock formation that looks as though it was dreamed up by a deranged geologist. These beehive shaped mounds stretch over a large area and look quite out of place with the surrounding terrain. Each beehive appears to be striped, formed by layer upon layer of compressed sediment from ancient seas and shaped by wind and rain over millions of years. The effect from the air was bizarre and quite different from the limited view possible on the ground.
We’d been in the air for about 90 minutes when the pilot announced that landing was imminent at the Argyle Mine airport. Mike particularly enjoyed the landing as he was sitting in the co-pilot’s seat. Here he is pretending that he’s really been flying it!!
Lunch at the mine was followed by a tour around the old open cast mine which has been worked out. Mining now takes place about a kilometre underground, well beneath the open cast. We were told that the largest diamond found at the mine was caught in the tread of a tyre of one of the giant trucks used to move the rock. We found it in the display area but as it is of industrial quality, it’s worth only a few hundred dollars. Pink diamonds are very rare. In a year only enough gem quality stones to three-quarters fill a champagne glass are found. Hence their astronomical price.
We learned how tons of massive rock pieces were gradually ground down to a coarse powder to find the tiny quantities of stones, how these were graded and marketed. The we visited what must be a unique shop. It did sell diamonds but also sold sweets, nuts and other ‘corner shop’ products which we found amusing.
The return flight was enhanced by the presentation to every passenger (seven of us actually) of a diamond and piece of lamponite. We weren’t too excited as we’d seen these for sale at $25 a set. Still, it remains a memento of a very memorable day.
Did Kim get her pink diamond? You’ll have to ask her!!! She’s smiling here, but is it because of the waterfall?
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