A LOUD hum filled the air and ripples of dirt flew across the ground of GoGo Station, as with each steady rotation of the rotor blades, the helicopter began to rise into the air.
The rush of wind caused hair to fly across the face of station manager Chris Towne, as the helicopter continued to reach towards the heavens, and a long rope snaked down to the ground.
Attached to the end of the rope - a lifeline for stranded cattle now living on the archipelago of islands across the Kimberley region - a singular bale of hay.
"I've got a whole herd ahead of me, I don't know how they've all survived," Mr Towne told Farm Weekly during the radio call on Monday this week.
For Frontier Helicopter pilot Dan Grant, the metallic white roof of the GoGo Station homestead grows smaller in size, and instead the enormity of destruction from ex-Tropical Cyclone Ellie comes into view.
It's as if someone had got a large paintbrush and clumsily covered everything with muddy red paint.While most of the water had receded, what had been left behind was piles upon piles of sand and mud over absolutely everything.
Paddocks were unusable and buffel grass was dead.
From the rocking window of the helicopter, large lifeless lumps of black and brown animals could be seen scattered across the pastures.
Mr Towne was just thankful he hadn't found groups of dead cattle, but rather the odd one here and there.
He was maintaining hope that his cattle had been washed away to higher ground, and when mustering came around they would be reunited with their owner.
ALSO IN THE NEWS:
- Subscribers have access to download our free app today from the App Store or Google Play
It's a scene that is repeating itself all across the Kimberley this week, as pastoralists race to find stranded cattle and survey the damage from the wild weather.
The helicopter moved steadily towards its destination, a small pile of sand and debris in the middle of a rushing river, jokingly called "Gilligan's Island" after the 1960's TV show.
Gilligan's Island was home to seven of Mr Towne's cattle, who found their way to the high ground at the beginning of the floods last week.
Static crackled across the radio, as the pilot communicated to the ground what damages he could see.
Most of the fence along the river was gone, but the cows on Gilligan's Island were alive and OK.
Slinging hay takes an incredibly talented pilot, as there often isn't much room for error on an islet like Gilligan's.
With what looks like ease, the hay is dropped onto the small island, and the cows flock to get their feed.
The consensus from the Kimberley is that the helicopter pilots from Frontier Helicopters and Fitzroy Helicopters, along with various other pastoralists with helicopters, are doing a "bloody marvellous" job.
Mr Towne also got Mr Grant to drop a spare bale into Fitzroy Crossing, to a woman who was rescuing stranded wallabies.
"We are slinging another hay bale into town, she is looking after any animals which get sick - wallabies and those sorts of things,'' Mr Towne said.
Bunuba Dawangarri Aboriginal Corporation spokeswoman Andrea Myers said multiple pastoralists had their homesteads inundated, and were using their helicopters to help other pastoralists in need.
"It's pretty remarkable that their own properties' are underwater, yet they are still out there helping others," Ms Myer said.
Mr Towne was hoping they would only have to keep slinging hay for the next couple of days, until the water is low enough for the cows to cross to the mainland.
