Arseoels Family Odyssey: Scenic Helicopter Flight

Since coming away on this grand journey and adventure, Steve has started a tradition of sorts totally unexpectedly. It has been his wish and goal since gaining his helicopter licence to fly our family over the places where we have lived. This is so we can not only get a perspective of our adopted homes from the ground but also from the air. It never really dawned on me until this leg of our adventure just how special and important that idea is. Our first foray into this tradition was the Fraser Island flight soon after Steve graduated from flight school and most of my blog followers would remember that. We wanted to see Fraser Island from the air after spending a week camping on the island itself earlier that year. On our return from that trip we flew over Mapleton and Nambour where we had lived for the last ten months. We were able to do this because the flight school hired a helicopter to Steve which enabled us to do the scenic flight.
While we were in Ingham, Steve gained an endorsement (machine specific licence) in an R44 helicopter through an aviation company in the town. That company then hired the same helicopter to Steve to allow us to see Ingham from the air. Steve's mum was visiting us at the time and it was the wet season in January. The weather on the day we had picked to fly was patchy to say the least with sunny breaks intermingled with scuds. A scud is neither a tennis player or a missile but a nasty storm burst with heavy rain. Steve had gained some experience in the limited flying time he had in Ingham avoiding these nasty little cloud formations when he flew between Ingham and Tully.
On this day, someone had to stay behind with Becca as she had developed a fear of helicopters thanks to an incident back in Mackay after the accident. The pilot whose house we were staying in decided to test the aerodynamics of his newly rebuilt Jetranger helicopter over the house. Tree top fly buys and sharp spray turns mid air over the house freaked Becca out after which she wouldn't go near a helicopter for a while. I opted to stay behind with Becca first while Steve took his mum and Erin up for a half hour flight and then his mum and I would swap so I could do some photography. Unfortunately the weather turned nasty quite quickly towards the end of that half hour so we had to abandon the rest of the flight. Thankfully Steve got the helicopter back just in time for the heavens to open up and a torrential downpour to prevent them from even getting the helicopter undercover. Steve's mum took some great shots for me so I didn't completely miss out on seeing Ingham from the air but it just wasn't such a personal experience.
Here in Kununurra, there is plenty to see from the air and an aviation industry dedicated to showing tourists the great Kimberley region. Despite the struggle for Steve to get an employment start here in the aviation industry, he continued to network with people who might be able to help his mission of getting us all into the air over Kununurra. There were several people around town who owned their own helicopters for private or commercial use but their willingness to allow Steve to fly came down to insurance issues. Being a low hour pilot is like being an under 21 year old car driver. The insurance excess for inexperience is markedly higher than for experienced pilots. In spite of this, one man in town eventually allowed Steve to fly his helicopter after background checks and an agreement to pay the extra 2.5% excess on top of his insurance should an incident occur. That cost would be $2500 to us if the helicopter was damaged. We dry hired the helicopter which means you just hire the machine and not a pilot......well we had our own! The hire cost was literally the fuel which went into the tanks so there was no additional costs associated with hiring it.

Doing checks before take-off

We picked a day in late November when the build up was in full swing and there wasn't any sign of the wet season yet. The day was clear but very hot at 40+ degrees so we organised to take off early morning. Steve had navigated a route for us to take to show us the best of Kununurra within the hour time limit that we could afford. Erin sat up front with Steve and I sat in the back with Becca for two reasons. Firstly the adult weights needed to be distributed in the helicopter which meant one in front and one in the back. Secondly, I didn't feel comfortable with Becca in the back without my supervision just in case she needed help with her headphones or accidentally bumped open the door etc etc. The kids had their doors on and locked while Steve and I had our doors off which is better for photography.

Mirima National Park or mini
Bungle Bungles

Once we took off, I had to acclimatise myself to heights which I hate and motion sickness which I also suffer from in small aircraft. It has been the bane of my life since I went up in a light plane over Ayers Rock when I was 15 and spent the whole flight with my head in a sick bag while the pilot took all my photos.......mega embarrassing! I love flying but it just doesn't love me. I distracted myself with the magnificent scenery unfolding before me and just snapped away at anything and everything. It was truly breathtaking scenery. We flew over our caravan park home and the Mirima National Park then cross country to Lake Argyle where Steve circled around the islands, the dam and the resort. It is only from this height that I could truly get some perspective of how massive Lake Argyle is. It just goes on forever with no end in sight on the horizon. We then followed the Ord River back from Lake Argyle to Kununurra winding along it's meandering channel through Carlton Gorge to Lake Kununurra and the Diversion Dam.

Our home - Hidden Valley
Caravan Park

Fruit lots near the Ord River
north of Kununurra

Unfortunately Erin was just as 'green' as me on this day and Steve had to land at one stage in the middle of a paddock to let her stretch her legs. She was a little trouper though and never threw up. I, on the other hand, found another use for my hat which was the only thing available to me at the time. We had collected makeshift sick bags (plastic bread bags) before leaving home and then promptly left them at home. Thank goodness for the hat. For the record I did take 'Kwells' before taking off and they did nothing to settle my stomach.

The Diversion Dam across the Ord
River

The Diversion Dam creates Lake
Kununurra

Fast forward a month and it is after Christmas, some rain has fallen and the landscape is greener than our previous flight. Steve's mum is visiting and it's her birthday so we've organised another flight to show her the magnificent Kimberley. Steve navigated a slightly different route for us this time so we could see something different. It had been raining intermittently for days and yet on this day the weather was perfect. It was clear and ideal for flying as visibility was great and storm fronts were non-existent. Again we took off early morning and flew across the agricultural areas north of Kununurra then followed the Dunham River down the Saw Ranges towards Halls Creek. Steve wanted to show us a massive dam created to irrigate the expansive Kingston Rest property which was once dominated by cattle but was now lined with sandlewood plantations.

The Ord River with Lily Lagoon
and Kununurra

Elephant Rock - it looks like an
elephant laying down

Kununurra suburb of Lakeside on
Lake Kununurra

Mirima National Park formations

This time I sat in the front with Steve because I had never done so before and his mum and the two girls sat in the back. I was happy with that because at least Becca had nanny and Erin to keep an eye on her and help her. Although it turned out that Steve's mum was the one that needed helping. We had encouraged her to leave her door off for better photography but the wind and vacuum pressure disrupted her headphones and hat which came off mid flight and was floating around in the bubble. Disaster!!! It is essential that anything with the potential to come loose or fly off during flight is to be left behind or tied down. That's because anything sucked out of the helicopter has the real likelihood of hitting the tail rotor and causing a crash. There was Steve and I trying to catch this pink Kununurra hat before it flew out the open door while Steve was trying to fly. After a 'heart in mouth' moment, we managed to grab the hat and I jammed it under my foot to keep it secure.

Sandalwood plantations north
of Kununurra

Ivanhoe Crossing which originally
linked Kununurra and Wyndham

Up until this time, my stomach had played nicely and I was really enjoying the flight and the photography was awesome. Then we turned 90 degrees and headed across the Carr Boyd Ranges to Lake Argyle which became bumpy due to the heat thermals rising off the rocks. There goes my stomach again! Luckily we had sick bags on hand this time because Steve just didn't land in time......not his fault either. We took off again and flew over Lake Argyle from another direction which afforded us some amazing views. We managed to pick out some outstanding dry waterfalls which would have looked spectacular if flowing. After a circle of the resort and top dam, we again followed the Ord River towards Kununurra flying over Elephant Rock and the suburb of Lakeside near Lake Kununurra. Our final few minutes flying was spent overlooking Mirima National Park and the many outcrops dotted around the agricultural areas.

Agricultural areas south of
Kununurra on the Ord River

Our family objective to fly over the Kimberley has been achieved and the tradition carries on. We did not know if we were going to get the chance to do it and we were so glad that we did. There is something altogether magnificent about seeing places from the air and the landscape and colours of the Kimberley didn't disappoint. It is also about Steve being our pilot. We could probably have flown with one of the aviation companies in town but that defeats the purpose of the flight. Not only does Steve gain some flight time but we get our own personal tour which probably isn't on any other aviation itinerary and that makes it special to us because we get to see what we want to see.

The Saw Ranges south of
Kununurra

Heading towards Halls Creek

Flying over ranges towards
Lake Argyle

In all, I took around 400 photos over the two flights that we did and I am disappointed that I won't be able to share the bulk of them with my blog supporters but I will try my best to give you examples of the magnificence that we saw.