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Hi Dennis,
It certainly would be interesting to fly over that area by air.
However, what you might be up against is that it so easily accessible by vehicle.
As you know, nearly all the visitors to the Kimberley are equipped with 4WD's
and though Wolfe Creek is a detour off the popular Broome, Gibb River Road,
Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing loop, it is only a 300km round trip from Halls
Creek so we found it easy to do as a day trip.
What's more, once you are there, the car park comes right up to it and when you
climb up to the rim, it is pretty easy to take the whole thing in from ground level.
By contrast, only the most fit with lots of time on their hands would be able to
completely take in all of the Bungle Bungles by foot, so the helicopter overflights
are compelling there because they provide the opportunity for the average person
to see what they otherwise never would have seen.
You would have a better idea than I as to the number of tour operators that
go into the Bungle Bungles these days but I would guess that this demographic,
without their own personal vehicles, might be a more likely target. One senses
that many of the people who own their own vehicles, such as the ubiquitous
grey nomads, are traveling for longer but are more mindful of their budget and
actually take some pride in the fact that the investment they have made in their
4WD will readily get them to somewhere like Wolfe Creek.
It has been a long time since we visited the crater and when we did we were the
only ones there. We were of course compelled to visit because of the interest
in astronomy. The only other people we encountered that day on the road out
from Halls Creek were a couple of fruit quarantine guys who sat out at the
intersection of that track that heads down to the Gibson desert and some
locals whose vehicle had broken down and who we gave a lift back to Halls Creek.
Since the horror movie, the place undoubtedly attracts more visitors but I certainly
recommend you try and determine how many it is getting per day at the moment.
Good luck with the venture!
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