Our 2017 Trip to the Kimberleys
Welcome to John/Barb's page of the wonderful APT Kimberley
Road/Ship Tour! Here you will find all sorts of resources that I
gathered during our trip. Feel free to use any of them for personal
use. (I'm happy to give permission for commercial use, subject to
me owning the copyright - but please ask first.)
These pages are under active development. If you were a member of
GKW15, you will be interested to know that I am working my way
through both photos and diary to update the recorded information
with place names, distances and the like. Currently I am working
on 17 June. Keep watching!
Navigating these pages: In the following itinerary, there
are various columns of interest, some of which are links.
Clicking on a link entry for each column respectively ...
- Date
-
will take you to the corresponding photo album page for the
day.
Time
- Not a link, but shows the hours of travel for the day.
- Activity
-
will take you to the corresponding diary entry, which is
recorded later on this page.
- Locations
-
will take you to the track for the day. This is a Motion-X
display, and you can easily interact with it.
- Track No.
-
This is the raw GPX file, which needs to be opened with Google
Earth. Browsers such as Chrome and Firefox can do this
automatically for you (email me if you have trouble setting
them up).
Not all days were tracked, and these days will have no link to
open. The first four days of the cruise are a single track, which
was an experiment on my part, and it did not work well. These
days don't include any Xplorer side trips, and I realised that
this was not ideal, and switched back to tracking my personal
journeys. On all the other days I carried the GPS tracker around
with me, so you can amuse yourselves by checking to see if I went
to the loo at any of the toilet stops! 😀
Within the diary entries, the date heading is a link to the photo
page (as for the itinerary). The day of the week/ordinal number
is a link back to the itinerary, and the day's title is a link to
the track (as for the itinerary).
All dates and times are local times. This can give anomalous
timings when travel across time zones is involved.
Note that the pages will change over time as I complete my editing
of the resources. I am currently restructuring the tracks and
blogs, so expect anomalous results for days after the checkpoint
mentioned above. Where an entry in the time column exists, the
day is up-to-date. Note also that when the document refers to
'John', the author is assumed, unless stated otherwise.
Trip Blog
No need for the alarm this morning as we were awake in plenty
of time. We still did not beat Jemima to the punch, but she
woke up fairly quietly, and we did not hear her get up. Beth
and David were soon up, and Tabitha joined us. Time for a
quick cup of tea, then the limo arrived at 06:25, and we were
soon on our way to the airport.
The driver took us a funny way, up Springvale, onto the
Eastern, then via Bulleen and Manningham Roads to the Northern
Ring Road. It became clear why when we saw a sign along the
ring road saying that the City Link was closed, so I presume
the driver had foreknowledge of that closure.
At the airport, time for a quick coffee, then boarding flight
QF1050 to Broome. I write this on board, some two hours into
the flight, and so far very smooth.
Indeed the whole flight was smooth, and the time passed
quickly, as I spent the rest of the journey updating the photo
albums, in preparation for adding lots more photos. On
landing in Broome (not a particularly big airport) at 11am
local time, we collected our bags and found the Cable Bay
Beach Resort Desk, where we were directed to a shuttle bus,
and boarded as the last two passengers. Last on meant first
off, so on arrival at CBBR, we were quickly checked in, even
though our room was not yet available. No matter, it was
elevenses local time, so we found a cafe and had a quiet
coffee, taking in the atmosphere. It was not as oppressive as
I had feared, in fact it was most pleasant. 24 degrees
according to my new Samsung S8 smartphone!
We had not to wait long before Barb's new (ex Beth) Samsung S5
smartphone rang to say that our room was ready, so on
returning to reception, we collected our keys, and found the
room. Very pleasant, with a nice view over an attractive
water feature and garden. The resort is designed around early
pearling settlement styles, with open boardwalks and painted
timber facades.
We had a choice between several options, and decided to have
lunch at the Ocean Pool, and Barb went dressed for the
occasion - that is, in bathers and a throw-over, and she went
for a swim after lunch. John had a lamb wrap (with lots of
chips!) and a Coopers Pale Ale, and Barb had a Nicoise salad
and a local Matso's alcoholic ginger beer (3.5%).
It was so pleasant sitting by the pool that we sat there for
quite a while - time did not seem to matter much! Around 3:30
we went for a stroll down to Cable Beach itself, and we could
immediately see the attraction of the place - it was a
beautiful beach, and there were many bathers both in and out
of the water. Then we strolled back to our room, where our
bags had arrived, and we unpacked and got ourselves organized.
At 5pm, we decided to wander over to the Sunset Bar, since we
had looked up the sunset time for Broome, and it was 5:22pm.
So had thousands of other people! The contrast when we walked
through at 3:30 and then 5 could not have been more stark. At
3:30 the place was deserted (well, the bar did not open until
4), and then at 5 it was packed! We found a table of four
chairs where there was only a couple sitting, and the woman,
whose name was Margie, invited us to join her and her husband
Sam (who was not there at the time, but off ordering drinks).
Sam and Margie, who were from Colac, and caravanning around
Australia, proved to be pleasant company, and together we
watched a glorious sunset that stretched until well after 6.
Then they headed back to their caravan, and we went looking
for dinner.
What we didn't know was that it was a long weekend in WA, and
every restaurant in the resort (there are about 6) was booked
out! Fortunately, the women at reception were very helpful,
and directed us across the road to an independent restaurant
called Zanders, where we dined on barramundi croquettes and
Thai curry chicken. We had one serve of each and shared, and
that was plenty, the chicken was a massive serve.
We bought an ice cream on the way back, and shared that, then
collapsed on the bed, and watched our regular Sunday evening
TV fare (Doctor Who, Grantchester, DCI Banks and Doctor
Blake), variously with two eyes, left eye, right eye, and then
none.
Woke fitfully at 4:30, 5:15, 6:00 and 6:45 (do you see a
pattern?), before prising myself out of bed a bit after 7 to
make a cup of tea. We had ourselves all abluted by 8, and
headed off for breakfast.
The sign at the front of the restaurant did not say the usual
"please wait to be seated", but rather "proceed to your host
to be seated", so we proceeded, straight ahead, since that
seemed the obvious way to go (this is important, as you will
see). No host appeared, but a waiter asked helpfully "do you
need help sir?", to which I replied "do we sit anywhere?", and
he then pointed to a table in the far corner, and led us to
it.
We thought nothing more of this, and enjoyed our breakfast.
But as we were leaving, we noticed another sign, just like the
first "proceed to host" sign, but with an arrow pointing off
to a side passage from which we had just walked out, and which
we had walked past a woman behind a cash register, presumably
being a "host". So we think we got a free breakfast each. Oh
well, if they cannot get their signs consistent, not our
problem!
After breakfast, teeth cleaning and pill taking, we found we
had some time up our sleeve before the bus we had booked the
night before left for the Chinatown section of Broome. So we
had a cup of (espresso) coffee each, and then went to wait for
the bus. When it did not come at 10am, Barb went and asked,
and was told that it was only 10am on weekends, and Mon-Fri it
was 10:30!
Time for a quick walk to the beach and back. But just as John
reached the beach, he discovered that his camera battery was
dead, so a frantic return to our room to fetch another battery
ensued. (This was another story with an unexpected end, but
more of that anon.) We managed all that, and were still 5mins
early for the bus!
The bus dropped us at John Chi Lane, and our first task was to
find an ATM. They were marked on the map, but not which brand.
We found the Westpac, and tried our cards - but neither of us
could remember our passwords! So no money.
No matter. We went to the Pearl Luggers Museum, where they
took plastic, and so we signed up for the 'tour' about the
pearling industry, which was the mainstay of Broome's economy
from 1800 to 1960. I remember reading about it when I was a
boy, so I found it fascinating, and I think everyone else did,
too. It was not so much a tour as a lecture, given by an
entertaining young lass Rachel, who was part Irish, and had
clearly kissed the Blarney Stone. It was well worth the $20
each we paid, and Barb was so taken with Rachel's stories that
she even bought a book on the pearlers.
Then we headed off to Matso's Brewery for lunch. As it was
close to the Commonwealth Bank, John did a quick 10min side
trip to the bank (we can remember our Commonwealth pins!),
while Barb bought some beers, which we drank while waiting for
a table. It was a pleasant enough spot to sit and sup and
enjoy the ocean views while we waiting for the meals to
appear. Barb had grilled barramundi, and John had satay steak
sandwich, mainly because they were the meals that were
'paired' with our beers: John a 'Pearlers Pale', and Barb the
same alcoholic ginger beer that she had yesterday.
We used John's new phone to plan a walk back to Cable Beach.
It said it was 6kms, which did not particularly daunt us, and
1hr 15mins to walk it. I thought that was slightly optimistic
at the time, but I did not realise by how much. It took us
2hrs 15mins! I don't think we were walking particularly
slowly, at least not until the last half an hour, when Barb
struggled a bit with a sore toe, nor did we stop to take that
many photos. But it was tiring. We missed one of the
turnoffs along the track through the coastal area, and ended
up walking the last half along the beach. But while that was
tiring, we still enjoyed the sounds of the surf, and Barb took
her sandals off and splashed along the surf, cooling off her
sore toe.
We headed straight for the ice cream shop and bought two
cones, since we were now flush with cash. Barb has pistachio,
John had strawberry, and I don't think two ice creams cones
were ever so welcome as these! We took our time savouring
them, and when finished, sauntered over to the Sunset Bar
across the road, found a spare table, and ordered a beer and a
mohito. Barb said the mohito was a bit PW, but the beer was
welcome. We watched the sunset - not quite as good as last
night - then back to our room to get ready for the APT welcome
dinner.
The dinner was a little chaotic, as the resort staff did not
seem to get the message that there were three different APT
groups, and people had got sat all over the place. Eventually
our three tables were organized for the 20 people on our bus,
and we met some of our fellow travellers for the first time.
There was John and Jenny from Colac, Bill and Cheryl from
Hunters Hill, and Ron and Gerry from somewhere we did not
catch. All seemed pleasant enough company, and compounded a
little by the fact that Bill reminded us both of Wallis
Gandell, and Ron looked very like Ken Coutts! Our tour guide
introduced herself as Jenny, and explained that she was the
bus driver as well, and horror of horrors, that we would get a
wake up call at 4am tomorrow!! This rather threw a dampener
on proceedings, with the effect that most of the party packed
up by 9pm, bearing in mind that we had to have our bags packed
and out the door by 5am, and that breakfast was at the same
hour, and bus departure was at 6am. So much for a relaxing
holiday! Little did we realize that this was very much the
order of the day for most of the following 23 days.
06 Jun 2017,
Tuesday (Day 2),
Broome to Fitzroy Crossing wading in the tunnel/creek
True to promise, the phone rang at 4am and had us out of bed
earlier than Jemima ever could. We got ourselves organized
and bags were out at 5am, and we headed off to breakfast.
This morning we did diligently 'proceed to host' to have our
names checked off, and joined John and Margaret from
Castlemaine for breakfast. On conclusion of breakfast just
after 5:30, we returned to our room to find the bags still
waiting outside. Oh well. Last minute checks, and we headed
out the front of the resort to wait for the bus. The was a
little confusion, since there were 3 buses loading, and people
were not sure which one to get one. Eventually all was
sorted, and we got away by 6:25, just as the sun was rising.
The sun rising was a bit of a challenge, as we were travelling
almost due east, straight into the sun. The road was long and
boring, with not much to see, and after 2 hours we stopped at
Willare for a rest stop, and a welcome cup of coffee. John
was very taken with the
dunny, and the egregious
SHIELAS sign!
Jenny,our driver, had said on the way that each of us was
welcome to take a turn riding in the cab with her, and John
was the first to put his hand up, so after 20 minutes or so at
the roadhouse, we were back on the bus towards Derby, with
John riding up in the
cab with Jenny. We did not quite get to Derby, as we
turned off onto the famous Gibb River Road, pausing at the
turnoff to check the Prison Boab Tree, a huge boab tree that
was hollow inside (as many old boabs are), and which had been
used to sequester criminals and aborigines, usually for quite
inconsequential and unethical reasons.
Some 120k down the road we turned off onto the
Fairfield-Leopold Downs Rd, and in another 22kms of somewhat
more bumpy road, reached the Windjara Gorge parking lot. It
was a short walk from there to see the gorge (and several
fresh water crocodiles) before having a picnic lunch back in
the parking lot. Then back along the road (now a gravel road)
to Tunnel Creek, where we met our guide, an aboriginal elder
of the Bunuba tribe called Dillon. He was a fascinating
character, and very constructive, and talked about how the
aborigines were looking to put the past behind them, move on,
and create a much more harmonious future.
We had a short 'smoking cermony' to ward off the evil spirits,
and then set off on a short trail into Tunnel Cave. Now I
have been in many caves before, including some tunnel caves,
but this was definitely the longest and the biggest. We had
to wear 'wet shoes', since traversing the cave meant many
water crossings, but I noticed that Dillonn shed his thongs as
soon as he was inside the cave. My wet shoes were just my
sneakers with my socks off, and they worked well (except that
they took days to dry!)
Halfway through the tunnel there was a cave-in (old!), and
daylight shone through the hole. Dillonn stopped us there while
he told us a few stories about the history of the cave and its
significance to aboriginal people. It was in an area
frequented by the Bunuba tribe, and he told us the story of
Jannamirra, an aboriginal tracker who worked for the
Europeans, but slowly realised that they were exploiting the
aborigines, and turned against the police and squatters. He
led the aborigines on various raids and resistance, until a
fellow blacktracker from a different tribe led the police to
his hideout in the Tunnel Cave, where a gunfight ensued and
Jannamirra was killed.
Dillon finished his stories with a couple of aboriginal songs,
which were quite moving, and then we walked on through the
other half of the tunnel to daylight and a very picturesque
scene on the other side. A moment or two to relax, and then
back we went. Returning is often faster than going, and this
was no exception, as we knew where all the tricky rocks were.
We said a heartfelt thank you and goodbye to Dillonn and piled
back on the bus for a bumpy ride to our first overnight
stop at Fitzroy Crossing.
We had a brief half an hour to sort ourselves out and have a
shower before dinner, which was a 3 course buffet of soup
(pumpkin), roast (I had pork) and apple crumble.
Unfortunately the bread rolls ran out just as I got to the end
of the soup queue, so I had to defer that until the main
course. But all good in the end, with a schooner of beer to
wash it all down (it was the local pub, after all). Then to
bed, as we had another early start in the morning.
Woke up at 5am, with the alarm set to go off at 5:30, so a
slightly later start to the day. Bags out and breakfast at
6am, then off at 0649 to slightly backtrack along the Great
Northern Highway to turn off to the Geikie Gorge.
We bumped along a dirt road to a little (in outback terms)
National Park, where another Bunuba elder named Bill gave us a
short talk on aborignal history and customs before we boarded
a small (20 seater) pontoony sort of a boat, to travel up the
Geikie River into the Geikie Gorge. The scenery was
spectacular, and the commentary offered by Bill was most
interesting. I learnt more about aboriginal customs from him
than I have from everyone else put together over my entire
life! (And that is a sad reflection in a way.)
For example, do you know why they always say "Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islanders are advised that this program may
contain images and sounds of deceased people"? It is because
when aboriginal people die, everything associated with that
person is destroyed. Even their names cannot be used, and
others in the tribe with the same name will change their name
out of respect for the deceased person. While this may sound
very odd to Western ears, I find that I have a certain
spiritual sympathy with this custom.
We only have a limited lifespan in our earthly form, and when
we die, our spirit is absorbed back into the Divine
Presence/God/Gaia/Earth Spirits, call it what you will, but we
become part of the universal history of the universe, and just
like ancient plants and animals, our life forms no longer
live. Who cares about a rock face (perhaps beautiful, perhaps
not) that was destroyed in some geological uplifting 2 million
years ago? Who will care about us in 2 million years time?
We are blended with the spirit of that ancient rock face and
become part of the "great dreaming", the great existential
history of the universe.
Back to the present. We saw the beautiful rock colours of the
Kimberley, tetering rock formations, crocodiles basking in the
sun, ospreys, wedge-tail and sea eagles, as well as much other
bird and plant life. All fascinating, particularly as Bill
explained the meaning of each to the aboriginal (Bunuba) way
of life. I rather regret that I was distracted by the
scenery, as what Bill was saying was loaded with information,
and it would have been good to take some notes, or even a
recording.
Back on shore just after 9, we reboarded the bus to head
towards Hall's Gap. We stopped on the way at Ngumban Cliff
Rest Area, an interesting spot where the highway suddenly
climbs from a large flat river valley (Pinnacle Creek) up an
escarpment to give some great views back across the valley,
and some local flora to look at as well. There was a welcome
toilet facility there, which prompted long queues to form.
This was to be the norm for the next 9 days, as we traversed
huge distances, and the travel between toilet stops was at
times lengthy! There was a toilet on the bus, but as Jenny
had pointed out, what you do on the bus stays on the bus until
the end of the trip, and that rather put people off from using
it! I don't think I saw a single person using it, most (all?)
of us preferring to hang on until the next toilet stop. Hence
the queues!!
We continued on from there to Hall's Creek, where we stopped
for a picnic lunch in the park just outside the Visitor's
Centre. This was a great hit, as there was a working cafe in
the VC, and we found out very quickly that they had a coffee
machine and a good barista. So the cafeine addicts were
happy!
Back
on the road again at 1415, and the next stop was a toilet and
rest break at 1550, at the Spring Creek Rest Area, and just
before the Spring Creek Road into the Bungle Bungles. The
Spring Creek Road was dirt, and after 5kms or so, littered
with floodway crossings, all of which had to be taken at low
speed, and with many bumps, so it took over two hours to
travel the 88kms into the APT resort at Bellburn, arriving
well after dark at 1831. This was compounded by seeing the
lights of the Purnululu Visitor Centre at 80kms, whereupon the
bus erupted into a big cheer, only to discover that we had
another 8kms of bumping through the darkness before we were at
our real destination! We were glad to get off onto terra
firma!
The plus side was an open bar and a beer or two (Matso's, of
course), followed at 1900 by a wonderful 3 course dinner: pork
belly; grilled barramundi; and pannacotta. The resort had a
resident astronomer, and by request, took us out a short way
from the lights of the camp, and pointed out (by means of a
laser pointer) several planets (Earth, Jupiter and Saturn),
and a couple of the visible constellations. I learnt
something: how to identify the constellation Scorpio. But we
were all tired, and once he had covered the obvious
constellations, we all drifted off to our tents and beds,
Now I say 'tents', for it was a tent, but it had floorboards,
a bathroom (with plumbed toilet and shower) and comfortable
beds. The only thing lacking was 240vac, so all charging had
to be done in the restaurant area, and not possible
overnight. But hey! We were buggered after a very full day,
and zonked out very quickly.
Slightly later start today, welcomed by everyone, with a get
away a little after 8am. Breakfast at 7 was quite
comprehensive, although poor Luke on the BBQ came in for a bit
of flak being the new boy, and a bit slow. He was the egg
cooker, while Matt did the bacon and sausages. If all you
wanted was bacon and sausages, there was no waiting, but eggs
did caused a bit of a queue, and a talking point at breakfast!
Away just after 8 as I said, and a 30 minute drive (if that)
to a photo stop at Elephant Rock, and then to Piccaninny Car
Park, where we kitted up for a walk into the Bungles. First
stop was at the Domes, with lots of the distinctive
dome-shaped monoliths with stripes of red and black rock.
Then a walk of about 1km to Piccaninny Lookout, with a
spectacular view out to the southern end of the Bungle
Bungles, with lots of photos.
We then walked back into Piccaninny Gorge proper, and the side
track to Cathedral Gorge, a most spectacular narrow canyon
with the same rich red and black rock walls, and a huge
cavernous natural amphitheatre at the end. There were many
other people making the same walk, and Jenny commented that it
has 15,000 visitors a year, not that many compared to some
other tourist attractions, but pretty significant when you
consider the remoteness of the place. Jenny did give us a
choice at the Piccaninny Gorge, whether to walk to the
lookout, or go straight to Cathedral Gorge, and there was only
one taker to skip the lookout - Michael. Now Michael is
unique within the group - he is the only smoker, and here it
is, day 3, and he is already copping a fair deal of flak about
his habit. But to be fair, he is very respectful of others,
and only lights up when it is appropriate to do so. But his
comment was "I have walked 60,000 steps to get here, and all I
want to do is to see Cathedral Gorge." So the rest of us all
respected his wish!
Cathedral Gorge was an excellent place to have lunch, so we
all sat down in the shade of the cavern and enjoyed a salad
bun, a ginger bread slice, some nuts, an apple, and a frozen
orange juice. The fact that the juice was frozen meant that
most of us could not drink it all at the time, so they were
put aside for later. While eating, we were treated to a young
woman with a quite magnificant voice singing a few songs, the
first a pop song I did not recognize, the second Amazing
Grace, and the third Advance Australia Fair.
Quite impressive, especially in such a natural environment!
All too soon we had to pack up and head off, but not before a
couple of group photographs, taken by Liv, our co-guide for
the day (who was from Canada). On the bus, we headed back to
camp so that Jenny could make a quick phone call about
forthcoming adventures, while those not taking helicopter rides
in the afternoon alighted. We were not flying - we felt it was
a bit expensive, Barb was not keen, and John was not feeling
100% anyway. But we tagged along for the ride, and watched as
the various groups took off for a variety of flights over the
Bunge Bungle. All came back raving about the adventure, with
some self-declared white-knuckled brigade members amongst
them! Gave me a little pause for regret.
Then back to camp for a short one hour rest and recuperation,
before setting off at 4pm to have a sunset drink or two out in
the bush. Jenny and Liv looked after us very well, with beer,
wine (red, white and sparkling), and soft drinks in copious
quantities. Barb on her own admission 'fessed up to three
campagne glasses. The sunset on the ranges in the distance
was very spectacular, aided by an almost full-moon rising.
Many photos were taken, and not just by John.
I should digress a little and mention that there are 4 Johns
in our party of 20. This has been a little confusing, and the
convention is settling around John Barb, John Margaret, John
Jenny, and John Sandra, to avoid said confusion. I did
suggest that 'Angas' was an alternative name that I could be
called, but by day 4, most people preferred to stick with the
labels on our name tags.
By 5pm, the sun had set, so we packed up and headed back to
camp. Dinner followed very quickly, altough it was not quite
as good as last night's. We had a rather nice salmon mousse,
a rather dry roast beef (and there was lots of it!) and steamed
veggies, then a chocolate profiterole, which disappeared very
quickly. All retired quite soon after dinner, and Barb and I
were in bed by 8:30pm and asleep very soon after.
John had a bad night, trotting up and down to the loo, and had
a very light breakfast (at 6am) as a consequence. On the bus
at 0648, and headed north to Echidna Chasm. Here we went for
a one hour walk in, along a dry creek bed covered in round
pebbles, which made the going rather slow.
I was glad I decided to wear my new boots, as I think they
saved me from rolling an ankle several times. Fortunately no
one else had such a problem, but a few people did drop out
either because they found the going was a bit tough, or
because they suffered a bit from claustrophobia once we
reached the chasm proper. It was in places a tight squeeze,
and contributing to the claustrophobic sense was the fact that
the walls went straight up, giving a very real sense that the
walls of the chasm were closing in!
How to describe the chasm? Well, the geology is fairly
straightforward, it being due to a natural fault in the
conglomerate rock, that was percolated by rain water, which
then gradually eroded material around the fault. The erosion
went downwards, rather than horizontally, creating a vert deep
and narrow gorge - truly a 'chasm'!
It was very photogenic, but I am not sure I took enough photos
to do it justice, because one had to watch one's footsteps
very carefully, and even a casual glance upwards would cause
one to lose balance or footing. But we made it to the end,
and gave ourselves a mutual pat on the back. John climbed up
the sheer face of the wall to take a photo of the group.
(Well, about a metre actually, so stop big-noting youself
John, it was not that impressive a climb!)
Then to returning. Partly due to the photo, John ended up at
the back of the single file going out, and consequently
travelled at the pace of the slowest member of the party,
Anne, who was having trouble negotiating the river pebbles.
Towards the end, Anne very kindly freed me from my duty, and
told me to catch up to the others, so that I could do the side
track to the Osmond Lookout. Barb stayed with Anne to
accompany her out, while I rushed ahead (boots, do your
stuff!) Cheryl has kindly supplied a photo that aptly
demonstrates Jenny's concerns over her party (see also my
comments about her leadership at the farewell
dinner). The right hand photo shows her looking back to
see what has happened to the slowest members of the party.
The Osmond Lookout was quite impressive (I was the last to get
there) so I took a panorama of shots to show the full 360
degree view to Barb later. I got back to the main track just
as Anne and Barb were arriving, and Jenny was coming back
along the track to see what had happened to us. We were only
5 minutes late (0935 for 0930).
Back in the bus, we returned not quite to the campsite, but to
the Visitor Centre for a quick 15m toilet stop and leg
stretch. I bought a Bungle Bungle stubbie holder, Barb a
postcard of the Echida Chasm. Then off along the Spring Creek
Track, the very bumpy road that we had endured 2 nights ago.
This time, we were seated in the very back row, so we felt
every bump and lurch of the truck (APT call it a truck, not a
bus, which is fair enough as it is custom built on a Mercedes
truck chassis.) We had some quick bump relief stops at the
park entrance, and at the Spring Creek crossing itself.
We
stopped at 1216 for lunch at the junction of Spring Creek
Track and the Great Northern Highway, and had a sit down meal
with salad and pie, plates, knives and forks, all prepared and
set up by Jenny! We were all mightily impressed. A couple of
churlish people complained about the lack of beer, but they
were in a minority. It was a welcome pause of over an hour at
this site, and Ken excelled by making a pot of coffee or two.
Then back on the bus (1323) for another coupla hours to Doon
Doon Roadhouse for a toilet stop and a cup of coffee, before
'rebarking' (as the Yanks would say) for the last leg to
Kunnunurra.
A very nice room at the Kununurra Country Club, marred only by
the outdoor theatre behind the rooms, which had a loud
externally audible sound system. Even inside the room the
noise was quite audible. But a beer or two fixed that, and
that was closely followed by some dinner. John was rather
quiet on the dinner, as his gut was not feeling that stable,
but he managed to keep body and soul together. More good
cameradie amongst all those present, even so we were in bed by
2030!
A very lazy start to the day, since we were not required to
muster until 1100! We got to sleep in until 0730, had a
leisurely cup of tea, and then sauntered over to the
restaurant for breakfast around 0830. Others were similarly
enjoying the relaxed schedule.
After breakfast, we went for a walk around town. First to the
post office, where Barb posted a postcard to Jemima, then to
the Pharmacy to buy John some anti-trots medicine. Unusually,
we walked past several cafes, as we were still full of
breakfast. There was a market on today, and we wandered
through it, but did not see anything we wanted to buy. Back
in time for a briefing from Jenny, about various options
coming up later in the tour, and then we boarded a bus (from a
separate tour company, Triple J Tours) to travel out to the
Ord River Dam.
We had a short stop at Spilway Creek, so named because the
creek had been taken over as the outlet from the dam spillway,
and it was running quite briskly, as a consequence of the
heavy wet season just passed. At the dam site, we stopped
first at the Argyle Homestead, an old settlers cottage which
had been moved from its original site when the dam was built,
as it would have disappeared under 20m of water. It is now a
museum, and quite interesting. Then to the Argyle Village, to
check out the resort and its famous Infinity Pool, and finally
to the dam itself, where we had a photo stop, then down to the
base of the dam where a boat was waiting to collect us all.
It was just unloading its previous passengers, who had just
come upstream from Kununurra, doing our trip in reverse. On
board we met Capt. Jeff Harvey (not sure about his surname?),
who turned out to be a very knowledgeable and entertaining
guide. When he said "Ask me any question, I won't be phased",
John interjected "What's your take on the Theory of
Relativity?" which elicted quite a few guffaws. Jeff was
clearly phased by this, and admitted that he had never been
asked that question before!
We took off, and all admired the zoominess of the boat. Jeff
said that its top speed was around 90kph, but today we would be
sticking to now more than about 60. My GPS clocked it once or
twice doing 62, so clearly the boat was no slouch. 3 x 350HP
V8 outboards provided the power, and at 40kph the boat would
start hydroplaning, which reduced the drag and fuel
consumption significantly. Jeff had figures to back all of
this up, but I think it fair to say we were all impressed with
the boat regardless of figures.
Down the first 20kms or so of the river, it runs quite
rapidly, since they were letting about 30 cubic metres of
water out of the dam per second (as part of the hydro
generation for Kununurra and surrounding districts), and that
meant the river was flowing at an average speed of 12knots,
faster in the narrower sections. Many times Jeff would stop
the boat while we drifted downstream and talk to us without
the sound of the motors. Or alternatively, he would nose into
the bank and wedge the boat so that he could talk about a
particulas feature of the river. Many slight pauses were made
so that we could photograph freshwater crocodiles sunning
themselves on the river bank.
A bit after halfway, and well into Lake Kununurra itself (so
the current had largely disappeared) we stopped for afternoon
tea at a small landing (with toilets!) It was an impressive
tea, with pumpkin scones, cupcakes, local pawpaw (very fresh and
very ripe!), butter, jam, etc., and tea or coffee. All very
welcome.
It was a great trip, and we all raved about it afterwards.
Just before we reached Kununurra, we stopped in middle of the
river/lake to enjoy a spectacular sunset. Again, all agreed
it was pretty special. All too soon we were landing
at the Kununurra Dam (upstream), and the bus was waiting to
take us back to the Kununurra Country Club.
Dinner was a more upmarket affair ('fine dining') where we all
got vouchers to buy 2 courses of a 3 course menu in the
restaurant. We booked a table for 6 with 3 of the Johns
(John/Barb, John/Margaret, John/Sandra) and had another great
conversation. Boy, we are getting on well with this crowd!
Then bed, again, not too late because of an early start in the
morning.
Bags out and breakfast at 0630, then we headed north to
Wyndham. Along the way we stopped at Paddy's Lagoon Park, and
visited the site of the old telegraph station, used in the
First World War to relay information about the sinking of the
German ship Emdem. Then to Murglu Lagoon to take a look at
the copious amount of birdlife. Someone said that it was not
the largest population she had seen at the site, but Jenny
pointed out that it was early in the dry season after a very
wet wet season, so the birds still had lots of water in the
seasonal waterholes, and would not need to migrate to
permanent water until much later this season. Took lots of
photos.
Then on to Wyndham itself. It is basically three small
villages, one at "six mile area", one at "three mile area",
and one at "Wyndham Port". The latter is the oldest, and very
run down, almost to a ghost town. The port is the only thing
going, shipping out ore of some description. But we did find
a very good cafe that did brilliant coffee, so all the addicts
congregated there for 40 minutes, before setting off to see
first of all the "big crocodile", then the "Five Rivers
Lookout", a very impressive headland that overlooks Wyndham
and the Cambridge Gulf. Its name derives from the fact that
you could see five rivers flowing into the Gulf, viz, the
Forrest, Durack, Pentecost, King, and Ord. The Ord was a
little obscured by trees that had grown up, but the view was
such a sweeping one that it did not matter.
We had lunch at this spot, and left a bit after 1, for the
approximately one hour drive to Emma Gorge Resort, which we
reached just after 2. The hardy souls (which were most of us,
except for 3 or 4) went for a walk up Emma Gorge. Barb was
one of the hardy souls, John was not. From the descriptions
that Barb offered on return, John made the right choice, as
Barb said that it was 'difficult'. John meanwhile did some
diary work and relaxed in the sun.
We met up in the bar afterwards for a beer. Barb downed a
whole bottle of Fat Yak Pale Ale without comment (she does not
normally drink pale ale!), she was so parched. Then we
gathered for dinner, which was another buffet, and well put
together with a wide range of choice. Both quality and
quantity! Then to bed, as usual, early.
It was a funny start to the day, because we were not due to
leave until 0930, but we were scheduled for breakfast at 0600!
This made some people quite grumpy, and Sandra later said that
she rebelled and deliberately did not turn up for breakfast!
But the early breakky did mean that after breakfast, we had time
to pack up and write diaries, do washing and the such-like.
The first stop of the day was at Chamberlain Gorge, another
picturesque spot. How many different adjectives are there to
describe the Kimberleys? Probably not enough in my
vocabulary. The blue ("azure") sky, the red cliffs, the green
trees, the brown grasses, and in this spot, the clear blue
waters of the river all blended in 'witching harmony. It was
clearly a popular spot, since there was a tinny excursion boat
moored alongside a makeshift pier. But it was too early for
the tourists (!), and we had the spot to ourselves.
Then on to the El Questro village for a most welcome cup of
proper coffee and then lunch (most of us had barramundi).
Then we drove a short distance to Zebedee Springs, where an
even shorter walk led to some warm thermal springs, in which
most of us (all?) went for a bit of a dip. It was a beautiful
spot, with lots of tall Livistona nasmopholia palms all
around. We had to crowd in a bit,
especially as the other APT 9-day tour was at the other
swimming spot, but I think most of us were happy with the
experience. I went in for a 15 minute relax in the warm
water, then got out to get my camera and take some photos.
While negotiating the base of one palm tree, I slipped and
fell, but managed to keep my camera clear of the water! But I
did get a very sore bruise on my left glute (bum), which
unfortunately (?) never surfaced as a haematoma, so I was not
able to get full sympathy mileage from my slip. But others
were impressed with my camera saving skills, so I did gain
some further notoriety.
Back to the bus, whence we drove on to Home Valley Station,
pausing only to take some photographs as we crossed the
Pentecost River (and take a toilet break :-) At the Station,
we heard from Alfie (what's it all about?) how it is now being
run as an aboriginal cooperative and training site for
indigenous peoples, and then we bussed to Telstra Hill (so
named because it was possible to receive a Telstra 3G signal
there) to watch the sunset and
have some drinks and nibbles before returning to HVS for
dinner. Dinner was a buffet, and quite well done. We also
had some live music in the form of a country and western
singer. They had to draw lots for our rooms - only four of
the ten had double beds, and those who missed out had to live
with twins (that's us!) At least it was warmer than the
Bungle Wilderness Lodge! John still struggled with his
gastro problems ...
Today was one of the longest on the road, so we had an early
breakfast at 0615, and Jenny was urging us to get ready for a
0715 departure - which we did make, being such disciplined
travellers. We crossed the Pentecost River again, and our
first stop was at the junction of the Gibb River and Kulumbura
Roads for a toilet stop and leg stretch.
The Kulumbura Rd was much bumpier than the GRR, and the
corrugations soon became a topic of some conversation. So
much so, that at one stage I announced that I would give a
public lecture on why corrugations develop, and what we can do
to stop them. It went down like a lead balloon!
Lunch was at Drysdale River Station, and had been preordered.
John had a Kimberley burger (which was huge, and with the
lot!), Barb had a BLT. All washed down with Bundaberg ginger
beer (which was included in the lunch), then a Matso's GB
(wwhich wasn't). It was an interesting comparison, and the
consensus was that the Bundaberg was much sweeter than the
Matso's.
On with the bumpiness after lunch, broken only by two short
side trips. The first was to Munurru on the King Edward
River. There were some interesting wild flowers around, and
it was a chance to stretch our legs and visit the loo. The
ranger was cleaning the toilet, and apropos of the sign inside
the toilet (see side photo right at the bottom 😀), I
did take the chance to tell him that we were extremely
grateful too, for the existence of these loo stops! The
second was to a lookout, but there was not much to see, as the
trees had all grown up in front of it. Several of us instead
chatted to a group of 3 young men who were camping there.
It was getting a little late when we did finally arrive at the
Mitchell Falls Wilderness Lodge. Amazingly, the 15 dozen eggs
we brought in with us (to restock the lodge) all survived!
These were to replace the ones brought in on the supply truck
and which did not survive the trip! Welcome beers all
round, including more Matso's GB, which the women had begun to
appreciate, based on Barb's (and others) recommendations.
Dinner was brilliant (a duck confit) and very impressive,
certainly given the remoteness of the location, and the
difficulty of getting eggs in. There was a small contingent
that enjoyed the campfire after dinner, but I think most of us
headed to bed after a very long and bumpy day. We collapsed
into our tent called "Quoll" .
A cold morning, but all agreed that it was not as cold as the
second day at Bungle Bungles. A few ponchos in evidence at
breakfast, which was at 0630, in time for a bus departure at
0715. A short ride to the campsite at the start of the
Mitchell Falls trail, where we all got weighed for the
helicopter flight out.
Then off on the walk to the Falls, which took us over fairly
broken ground, with a few sections of smooth track. We had 3
significant water crossings, the first which was easily
negotiated with the aid of walking poles, the second which
required taking shoes off and walking across in socks (because
of slippery rocks), but only ankle deep, while the third (the
Mitchell River itself) was socks again, and knee deep.
After the first water crossing, we made a detour to visit the
Little Merton Falls, under which we could actually walk
without getting wet. It was quite impressive seeing the wide
strip of water going over our heads, and not getting wet.
Lots of photos! Under the falls themselves, there was quite a
bit of rock art, with hands, animals and people all
represented on the walls behind the falls. Clearly the
aborigines saw this as an excellent refuge!
The second water crossing was the Big Merton Falls, which as
the name suggests, was bigger than the Little Merton Falls.
Apart from requiring a socks-off approach to crossing it,
there was a lookout on the far side to view the entire height
of the falls. The crossing itself was just above the edge of
the falls, hence the injunction to approach in a non-slip
fashion. I managed to cross without getting my socks wet, and
others succeeded in crossing in their boots. No problems!
While there, Jenny pointed out the crab's eye plant, whose
seeds are very poisonous (although pretty). and are two
orders of magnitude more toxic than ricin!
The third water crossing was my undoing. All the way in, I
had a most uncomfortable feeling, which I had managed to
suppress. But as we reached the Mitchell River crossing, and
were contemplating how to proceed, things reached a head (is
that the right word?), and I just had to dive for the nearest
squatting place. As Barb said later, fortunately eveyone
else's attention was focussed on crossing the river, so
relatively few noticed my plight. But Barb's ministrations in
attending to my distress, and then later Geraldine and Jenny's
attention in helping me across the river in a state less than
100%, meant that I survived without too much
embarassment! A kind lady behind me helped tie my boots onto
my backpack so that I had my hands free was also an additional
welcome compassion.
The river crossing itself as I mentioned before was knee deep
with socks on, and involved very careful stepping from one
underwater stone to the next, across a significant current.
Some of the rocks were a little slippery, and Geraldine's
helping hands were a steadying and comforting assistance. I
really was not coping well at this point.
Once across the other side, I quickly changed (courtesy of a
little rock alcove), into my bathers, which was the only
other clean garment that I could wear, and then joined the
others rather silently for lunch - which I did not eat.
Barb went off with the others after lunch to see the Mitchell
Falls proper, while I quickly recovered. After an hour or so,
I felt OK enough to go for a swim, which did rather refresh my
spirits. Barb and I sat on a rock and dangled our feet in the
water for a while until we felt the heat of the sun, then Barb
lead me on the path to the falls to see them for myself. Very
spectacular, although I could have been in a much more
receptive frame of mind. Glad I made the effort, though.
We were the last scheduled flight out on the helicopter at
1430, and did a slightly extended tour of the various falls
from the air, seeing not only the Mitchell Falls, but also the
Big and Little Merton, the Lower Mitchell Falls, and the JCR
Falls as well. Back to the campsite at 1550, where the bus
was waiting, and we lost no time (after a quick toilet stop
for me!) in getting going again for the 45min trip back to the
Punammi Unpuu APT campsite, for a cup of tea in our tent, and
then a beer or two around the campfire, before dinner at 1830.
Three courses: roasted tomato soup, roast lamb on polenta, and
then a frozen chocolate mousse. We washed that down with a
bottle of rose, quite pleasant, although nothing special.
After dinner I was pressed to follow up on my offer of an
explanation of why roads get corrugations, so with the aid of
a few props (USB power supplies suspended by rubber bands) and
a few bad jokes, I explained all about spring coupled masses
as energy transfer systems. They seemed to take in in good
grace, and several people afterwards even commented that they
understood it!
Then a bit more of a sit around the campfire before retiring
at about 2100. Zonk.
A more relaxed timetable on the return journey meant a more
leisurely start to the day, with 0700 breakfast and 0800
start. Fortunately, John's troubles seemed to be over, and he
started to relax a bit more. Our first stop was at a couple
of Aboriginal art sites, where we went for a short side walk
across fields of magnificent wildflowers - blue, white, and
John's favourite, little cerise flowers. The site was called
Bradshaw's, but nothing to do with Michael Portillo's early
20th century railway guide!
It is more correctly called Gwion Gwion, but all I can tell
about that is that it means 'more than' or 'bigger than' just
one Gwion, whatever that is. It is characterised by the
appearance of "Wandjina" faces, which are distinctive white
round faces with big round eyes, a line for a nose, and no
mouth at all. Many times the head is surrounded by elaborate
decorative lining, which usually signifies the importance of
the person represented. As we found out later, wandjina are
akin to gods, and have various additional powers over those of
mere mortals, and took on roles as gods of rain, of harvest,
of fertility, and the like. Anyway, we took a swagful of
photos of it all.
Then the next stop was at King Edward River, where Jenny
invited us to go for a swim. The place was quite deserted
save for us, so we more or less had the place to ourselves. A
very inviting swim, although some complained (like yesterday)
that the water was a little cold. Cold to get in, certainly,
but once you swam around a bit it was very pleasant. While
swimming around, someone spotted a Merton's monitor sunning
itself on a rock. It was not that fussed by our presence, and
sat there posing for quite a while. Unfortunately, as we were
all swimming, no one had a camera, so there are no photos of
it.
Lunch followed, all set up by Jenny, with a beetroot, chickpea
and fig salad, and more chicken drumsticks than you could poke
a stick at. A butcher bird took an active interest in our
picnic, and got thrown a few scraps as a consequence. I
snapped a few photos of him posing. Then back on the bus for
a half-hour or so, when we stopped at another "Bradshaws" rock
art site, with a few wandjinas thrown in. Lots of "hand"
paintings too, including one in a very low overhanging rock
shelf that required people to lie flat on their backs to take
a photo of them.
From there, it was another two hours down the road to Drysdale
River Station, where we were to stay for the night, and we got
there about 1630. Barb had a shower, John charged his various
devices, and then to the bar for a drink - by ourselves for
quite a while, until John (Margaret) joined us. While sitting
there drinking, we heard a blue-winged kookaburra - quite a
different call from the usual kookaburra laugh. Dinner was a
buffet, and quite nice, with mains of roast lamb and/or
apricot chicken, followed by apple crumble (Barb) and berry
cheesecake (John). John/Barb and John/Margaret kicked on to
finish off our second bottle of red (Fifth Leg Shiraz), and
then to bed.
Up at 0530 for 0700 breakfast, but were still late getting
there. John ate a hearty breakfast for a change, and then we
said farewell to Drysdale River Station and hit the Kalumburu
Road. First stop was to inspect some rosella plants, and
Jenny invited us to try eating the flowers. They were a bit
crunchy and moist, with a slighly peppery/celery taste. Nice
red colour. Then another stop at the Gibb River crossing,
where we got out for a leg stretch and several photos. 90
minutes down the Kalumburu Road we reached the junction with
the Gibb River Road itself, where we had a toilet stop (there
were facilities!)
Next stop was not far away, at the Gibb River again for a few
photos, then on to Mt Barnett roadhouse for a cup of
much-needed coffee, then a short side track to Manning Gorge,
where we went for a swim in the Barnett River. At the
swimming spot there was a self propelled punt, in the form of
a tinny, with ropes going each way, so by hauling on the
appropriate rope, you could pull yourself from one side of the
river to the other. John and Hilary had a go, and it was
great fun. My only regret was that I did not have my camera
with me to record the event.
Then lunch in the shade of a big boab tree. It took 10 of us
to form a human chain around the base of the tree! Lunch was
a salad, with a piece of fruit cake and a cup of two-fruits to
follow. All good! Changed back to civvies to reboard the
bus, and head on to Galvins Gorge, where we walked in to a
delightful (and popular!) little water hole at the base of
some falls, with some Aboriginal art on the rocks on the side,
and water lilies in the creek downstream. All very gorgeous!
From there, and hour or so's drive to our campsite at Bell
Gorge, where we arrived at 1635, a quick spruce up, and then
repaired to the bar, and dinner at 1830. Peter Pasfield gave
an excellent rendition of the old joke about Quasimodo and the
"face that rang a bell", to the delight of all the assembled
company. But I didn't quite understand his rejoinder to me
afterwards about "cop that, you academic boing-boing"!! Was
he being funny? I hope so, but it didn't feel like at the
time. (And indeed, I had originally left it out of this blog,
it was so disconcerting.) After dinner, a few bods stayed by
the campfire after dinner (courtesy of Mike and his wood
stoking skills), but Barb and I repaired to bed.
Leisurely start day, 0700 for a 0800 departure, amd a one hour
plus drive to Bell Gorge proper. Jenny and Lara, one of the
Lodge staff, guided us in, and helped us cross a few water
courses. We had a 1km walk in from the parking lot, to find a
delightful swimming spot just above the falls ("don't go too
near the edge", warned Jenny). Barb was not feeling well, and
decided not to go swimming, so we wandered around first,
taking a few photos, especially of the falls themselves, and
watching the various people coming and going, as it did seem
to be a popular destination. Some people went for the
extension walk, but as it was classed as difficulty level 5
(the highest), most of us elected just to relax.
John (and a dozen others) went in for a swim. John's
observation was that it was just like getting up in the
morning, cold at first, but OK once you got moving. 15
minutes was enough to fully appreciate the invigorating
effects of the cooling streams.
It was very pleasant lying on the large flat rocks surrounding
the waterhole, and slowly drying off in the sun (remember the
sunscreen!) But the sun had other effects on Barb, who
suddenly said she was going to faint, so we got her head down,
and a couple of wet towels to cool her down, and after a few
heaves, she was able to move to a cooler spot in the shade and
slowly recover. A passerby with some medical knowlege
suggested she was dehydrated, so we (Lara, Veronica and
Hilary) pressed her to drink as much water as
possible. Fortunately she recovered well, but still did not
feel like eating her lunch.
It was a very early lunch, and most of us had finished by
1130. In the meantime, Jenny had had to return to the truck,
as we later discovered that she had detected a flat tyre on
the inner left rear axle. and was keen to get it changed.
Lara led us out of the swimming hole soon after we had
finished lunch, and we returned to the parking lot to find
Jenny and a passing tourist, Terry, wrestling to get the new
spare wheel on. With some more grunt from various men, that
was achieved, but we then discovered that getting the flat
tyre back into the stowage position was not trivial. It was
accomplished, sort of, and we all boarded the bus for the trip
back to the Wilderness Lodge.
But it was not long before John Pizzey, sitting in the back
row with us, swore that he could hear something metallic
clonking underneath the bus. Ken Vaughn and John Clarke (who
has had heavy truck maintenance experience) had a look, and
agree that something was not right. So at the next suitable
stopping place, a campsite just 10km down the track from Bell
Gorge, we pulled over at the to have a more detailed look.
To cut a long story short: The spare tyre is stowed on the
end of a chain with a spring-loaded crossbar that pulls the
tyre (weighing 120 kilograms!) up into its stowage spot, where
a couple of studs allow it to be bolted to the sub-chassis.
This crossbar had been bent at some stage of its life, with
the consequence that the pins that held the tyre were out of
alignment, and the tyre could not be winched into its correct
position on the studs. Hence the clonking. The only way we
could solve the problem was by aligning one stud up, getting a
nut on with a couple of turns only, then very gingerly
unwinding the chain to free the crossbar, leaving the tyre
being held by one mechanical nut, and four human nuts
spreadeagled underneath the 120kg tyre holding it in place!
With the crossbar out of the way, we were able to juggle the
tyre to line up the remaining stud, and get a nut onto it so
that we could all breathe a little more easily. Then a
wheelbrace to tighten the nuts and hold the tyre for the
journey back to Broome. Phew!
I should mention the names of the four nuts: Ken Vaughn, John
Clarke, John Hurst and Lara our co-guide, with assistance on
the crank handle by John Pizzey ("notice that this winch is
operated by a crank"!). We emerged from under the truck,
largely unscathed (JohnC had a slight graze on his knuckles)
and very dusty to cheers all round.
From there it was fairly uneventful trip back down Silent
Grove Road and onto the Gibb River Road, where we stopped at
the Imintji Aboriginal Cultural Centre roadhouse. There were
aboriginal paintings on sale, but I think most of us headed
for the adjacent ice cream shop, and spent our money there.
It was definitely beer o'clock on return, and several of us
lost no time in getting stuck in. A few stories later, and a
shower as necessary saw dinner time arrive and we had another
great meal: Thai fish cakes; roast duck; and coconut
passionfruit tart with quongdong cream. YUMMY!
Most people were very tired after all that excitement, and
drifted off to bed quite early. We were no exception, and
were asleep by 2100 hours.
There was a little flurry of excitement at breakfast this
morning, as it was Jenny's birthday, and Anne and Mike in
particular were keen not to let the occasion pass without
notice. We had pancakes by request, and a large muffin with a
few candles on it, which were lit and ceremoniously blown out
by Jenny, before we all sang "Happy Birthday".
Jenny was concerned about the flat, and it turned out that the
lodge had a spare somewhere around the place. That was duly
hunted down, and wheeled out to the bus. But in the process
of trying to lower the flat tyre, the aforementioned chain
gidgemegoo broke a link, which meant there was no way of
safely lowering the flat. Remember, it weighed 120kgs! On
John Clarke's advice, we decided to head to Broome without the
spare, and just keep our fingers crossed. For as Ken Vaughn
said, the chance of getting a second flat was just like the
chance of getting two flats, a thought which reassured most of
those who were concerned about the issue. I did not have the
heart to tell them that that is a mathematical myth, since the
first flat was now a given, and the second flat had just as
much chance of happening as the first. Ah well, ignorance is
bliss!
So at about 0715, we boarded the bus and kept our fingers
crossed. I think Jenny was a little distracted by the
circumstances, as she was distinctly quieter than she had been
on previous days, and as Barb pointed out, she missed several
botanical points of interest along the way.
Just before reaching the Derby Highway (and the end of the
Gibb River Road!), we called in at the Mowanjum Cultural
Centre, which has been laid out in the form of a giant
wandjina (but really only visible from the air, see the
aerial view). The women got all excited because the
toilet was infested with green tree frogs, and some even found
that it inhibited their purpose in going there. Barb and I
just said, "Ho Hum, done that"!
We stopped for lunch in Derby just by the old pier, and had
time for a cup of coffee from the local shop, which did a
roaring trade in coffees and ice creams. Over lunch we
revisted the occadsion of Jenny's birthday with another cake
or two, besides the excellent repast she and Robyn (from the
other tour bus) had put together for us. We also paid a visit
to the local Woolies, as several of us were down to our last
few notes and urgently needed more cash. I bought a 32GB USB
stick just so that I could get a few hundred dollars in cash
out.
Back on the road, we stopped next at Willare where we had
stopped on the way in. John bought a micro USB cable to
replace the several that he mistakenly did not bring on the
trip, and was most surprised that this isolated roadhouse even
stocked such animals! He also collected a stubby holder
emblazoned with "Willare Bridge Roundhouse", since it seemed
such an out-of-the way place and unlikely to be revisited.
Then into Broome and the Cable Beach Resort. There was a
frantic scramble for the laundry, as the word had got around
that there was no laundry on the ship. (Slightly incorrect,
but that did not ameliorate the scramble.) John repaired to
the bar, and had a beer as he watched the sunset, joined just
in time by Barb as the last orange glow faded away. Mobile
coverage also meant catching up on some emails, and John had a
brief chat with son David in Hobart before he was called away
by a 2.5 year old daughter needing attention.
Then time to clean up and dress for dinner, again a special
sit down APT "Farewell Dinner". The only person we were
farewelling however, was Jenny, and that occasion also was not
to go unnoticed.
Barb had grilled barramundi for dinner, and was a little
disappointed. John ordered a 'blue' filet steak, which came
out rare, but he was not so disappointed. Dessert were
various chocolate "plus fours".
Mike had asked John to say a few words of appreciation for
Jenny, and introduced him after a presentation to Jenny of our
specially constructed birthday card, as it was her birthday
today. Then John gave his little speech, commenting
particularly on Jenny's memorable leadership, and her skills
in diligence, enthusiasm and companionship. He finished it
off with two limericks, composed especially for the occasion:
Jenny, a tour guide from AyPeeTee
took passengers twenty to Kimberley,
She drove with due care,
Her passengers fair,
Boing Bumpity Bumpity Bumpity
and
While driving to take in the view,
Our Jen had a flat tyre, 'tis true,
A tyre so wide
She took in her stride
There's nothing this sheila can't do!
This was followed by a toast to Jenny and her memorable
leadership skills, which all drank to with great gusto!
Nice to sleep in a proper double bed for a change! We woke to
the sun lighting up the tops of the palm trees outside, making
for a picturesque reflection in the lake beneath. With the
luxury of tea mak. fac., we had a cup of tea not quite in bed,
but certainly with the slovenliness of wandering round in
pyjamas, something which would have been too freezing, even if
possible, on the last week's mornings.
While the breakfasts on the road have been comprehensive,
there was even more choice this morning, as we dined with John
and Jenny. Then some coffee al fresco while we waited for the
bus, paid the bar bill, and then boarded the bus amid some
confusion over the luggage which we had been told to leave out
at 0930, but clearly was only collected just before the bus
left at 1045.
The bus took us on a tour of Broome, seeing a few things that
we had not seen before. We stopped at the Japanese Cemetry,
for example, which we walked past on 5
Jun 2017. Then a circuit of the town, dropping most
people off at the Paspaley Mall, then (by special request) the
two of us back at Matso's for lunch. They were a little
disorganized as before, but it was worth the wait. John had a
Copperhead IPA beer, while Barb had the Mango beer, and then
lunch: John, BBQ spare pork ribs, which he declared the best
ever!; and Barb, grilled barramundi which she said was much
better than the night before.
The bus collected us on the dot of 1400, and back to Chinatown
to hear a presentation by one of the owners of Cygnet Pearls
on the growing of cultured pearls. It was quite fascinating,
and although Barb was worried that it might be a bit of a
sales pitch to buy their pearls, it was not that at all, and
we learnt quite a bit about the culture of pearls and how the
Australian methods differ from the Japanese ones. Did you
know, for example, that it is not a grain of sand that starts
a natural oyster, but rather a parasite that gets into the
oyster and then dies, and the 'nacre' that builds up around it
(which is the same stuff as 'mother of pearl') creates the
natural pearl? Cultured pearls are much the same process,
except that a 'seed' of artificial stuff (cannot remember the
name) is used instead, and it takes 2 years before it can be
harvested. Sometimes the oyster is used for a second or even
a third culture, but these are realtively rare in Australian
circumstances, and almost never in Japanese cultures (which
use a different oyster anyway).
Then we drove out to Guitheaume Point to see the lighthouse
(with osprey nest and chicks on it), and admire the erosion on
the rocks around it. Finally back to Broome Port to board the
Coral Discoverer at 1615, where we had a short exploration of
the ship before departure at 1700. Before the mandatory
emergency drill at 1730, we were able to catch the sunset over
the Indian Ocean, with almost all the ship's passengers on
deck to take photos.
We shared a pre-dinner drink with John and Sandra before
dinner (well, you cannot have a pre-dinner drink after dinner,
can you?) and then to an excellent repast of a seafood buffet,
with seafood laksa, natural and Kilpatrick oysters, prawns,
Moreton Bay bugs, a whole barramundi, and a great collection
of salads. All agreed it was pretty special! Dessert was a
chocolate pannacotta, also well up to expectations.
We had to set our clocks forward to Darwin time overnight,
even though we were still in WA waters, as they explained, it
was much easier to see sunrises and sunsets and make best use
of daylight hours with a bit of artificial 'daylight saving'.
So because we did enjoy dinner at some greater length than
usual, and the clock shifting, it was not until after 2300
that we got to bed.
Although we seemed to have a leisurely start to the day with
breakfast at 0745, remember that we had put our clocks forward
an hour and a half, so it was really only 0615 by body-clock
time! Almost as bad as on the bus! But we survived, and had
a yummy breakfast of cereal (including porridge), yogurt,
fruits, and hot stuff: scrambled eggs, sausages, mushrooms,
tomatos, hash browns and bacon. Not that we ate all of those,
mind: I just mention them to give you, dear reader, a taste
(sorry!) of what was on offer. Proper coffee and a wide range
of fruit juices (including tomato, so both Mike and John were
happy) rounded things off.
At 0850 we joined Sandy Scott, our on-board guest lecturer, in
the Bridge Deck Lounge to hear a little about the geology of
the Kimberleys, and a general introduction to the flora and
fauna of same.
That was then put into practice with a cruise on the neat
little boat attached to the back of the ship, called the
Xplorer. This we boarded at deck level, and it was then
lowered into the water. Off we sped across Strickland Bay to
Edeline Island (named after Lady Edeline Strickland,
1870-1918), whose husband was governor of WA at the time.
There were many impressive rock formations, and we saw
evidence of what we thought were turtle tracks, but Steve, our
expedition leader, was not so sure, saying that turtles would
not come to this spot as it was too shelley. He agreed that
they might be turtle tracks, but that the turtles would have
been 'confused'!
Back to the ship, where the launching process of the Xplorer
was reversed - very neat - and then lunch, which included a
very nice mushroom soup. One woman asked me what sort of soup
it was, to which, on looking at the soup, I replied "engine
oil sludge soup"! I don't think she partook of the soup after
that! Naughty John.
In the afternoon we had another cruise on the Xplorer, this
time around Nares Point, and along the side of Koolan Island.
This island has been the site of an iron ore mine, and indeed,
a message relayed through the ship from the mine operators
told us that we were 'too close' to the mine, and would we
mind ever so much maintaining a little more clearance.
Translation: "tell those bloody tourists to piss off!"
Suitably reprimanded, we continued alongside Koolan Island to
one of the so-called 'iron islands', where we made a 'wet
landing' (translation: your shoes may get wet) to examine the
lumps of haematite, which were about 5 times as dense as
water, and very heavy to pick up. Then back on Xplorer, past
the 'iron arch', a natural arch of haematite, and many other
fascinating rock formations.
Rejoined the Coral Discoverer ('CD'), we had a Captain's
Welcome Drinks' on the Bridge Deck (A Deck), and then dinner
in the dining room, again an excellent fare. After dinner we
watched a documentary film on 'Kimberley Land of the
Wandjina', then to bed.
21 Jun 2017,
Wednesday (Day 17),
Talbot Bay, Cyclone Creek, Horizontal Falls:
More bumpity bumps!
Breakfast at 0730, followed by an Xplorer cruise up Cyclone
Creek. This was a waterway with some interesting currents as
the tide was coming in, and even more interesting geological
formations in the cliffs surrounding us as we motored up the
creek. Sandy was quite quite excited about these formations,
as some of them exhibit
very dramatic folds
and show evidence of much geological activity in the past.
We were all offered rides in the zodiacs which accompanied us
along the creek, which allowed us to get up close and personal
to the wildlife.
Back to the ship for lunch, and then in the afternoon we again
took turns in trips in the zodiacs, this time to visit the
Horizontal Falls. Our trip was scheduled late in the piece,
and while these trips were running there were various engine
room tours. We asked how long these would take, and were
assured that it would finish before our turn in the zodiac.
John went on the first one (fascinating!), and just as it was
finishing, was called by the purser Udo to join the zodiac!
So much for the timing!
What can one say about the trip through the Horizontal Falls?
Only that you have to experience it to fully appreciate it!
It was so bumpy that they ask you not to try and take photos
as you go through the gap, but rather to hang on to the
provided 'shit straps' with both hands. Large cameras were
not allowed, because of the danger of these flying around and
clouting someone. Not that holding a small camera was that
easy - the ride was so bumpy that several of the photos I took
were of other things than that at which I was aiming (see
for example)!
This was all so exciting that on return we immediately booked
ourselves up for a second ride - which was even more exciting
than the first, and with the added bonus of going through the
first gap twice. They did not attempt going through the
second 'narrow' gap, as it had quite a hydralic jump in it of
about a metre, and they said that the zodiacs did not have
enough horsepower or stability to manage it. I was quite
prepared to believe that, as we watched a rival operator,
using a much larger boat with 3 outboards (ours only had 1)
and over 1000HP crunch through the 'narrow' gap, and we could
easily hear the screams of those on board above the noise of
the 'waterfall'!
Afternoon tea awaited us on return, and everyone had something
to talk about. John went to the briefing for the helicopter
flights to Mitchell Falls next Monday, but decided a) we had
already done what was planned, and b) it was $545, about twice
the price of what we had paid for our trip (admittedly
shorter, but still seeing the same things).
Pre-dinner drinks on the Sun Deck, then dinner. I don't
remember what we had, or with whom we sat, but it (the dinner)
and they (the company) were all excellent! Wow! What a day!
Breakfasted with Ron and Gerry, Anne and Mike, with the usual
inelegant sufficiency (I speak for myself, not others). The
first activity was away at 0830, with two options, a walk/hike
to the top of the saddle at Raft Point, and the second, a
cruise around the nearby islands, including bird island. We
elected to do the former.
We travelled to Raft Point on the Xplorer, and as we were
landing (in our wet shoes), Dave enjoined us not to
step on the black rocks. What did Barb do? She stepped on a
black rock, and went A/T! I didn't see her tumble, as I was
half way up the beach, but I heard the commotion. She felt a
little sore, but was still determined to do the walk. She
developed a few beautiful bruises later on, which became the
subject of some bantr about whether John had stopped beating
his wife.
The walk itself was moderately hard, up a 35-40 degree slope,
along a broken watercourse with boulders and stones and
irregular footings. It was not too hot, and there was plenty
of shape, and Sandy, our leader, made a point of stopping
several times a) to catch our breath, b to let stragglers
catch up, and c) to point out some feature. So it was an
interesting walk. And the scenery was quite good, too!
We took some 30 minutes or so to reach the top of the ridge,
where there was some Wandjina rock art. Sandy explained the
significance of each section of the painting, and we all took
photographs. I'm not sure what the reasons are, but sometimes
we are requested not to photgraph the paintings, and
sometimes it is OK. This one was
OK.
Going down was much faster than going up! We met the Xplorer
just returning, and changed our hiking shoes for wet landing
shoes again, and reboarded the Xplorer, taking great care not
to step on any black rocks.
After lunch we reboarded the Xplorer to depart for Montgomery
Reef. Now I had never heard of Montgomery Reef, in spite of
the fact that it is the largest inshore reef, if not in the
world, then certainly in the southern hemisphere. It is 400
square kilometres (compared to the Great Barrier Reef, which
is the world's largest barrier reef, at 290000 (check) square
kilometres). How can it be so significant, and we had never
heard of it? I blame our primary schooling, which was so
culturally cringeworthy driven that we never did much in terms
of Australian history or geography, but rather focussed in
Great Britain and her 'other' colonies.
We motored out into a channel that was an ancient river valley
before the sea levels rose, ans as we entered the channel, we
could start to see the reef emerging as the tide fell away.
It was fascinating, as the lip of the reef was so tailored by
the coral development on the top of it that it was all at a
consistent height, and so the water from the reef pool inside
(80 km2, don't forget!) splashed over in gentle at first, then
increasingly vigourous cascades all along the reef. Truly a
wondrous sight!
I had intended not to take one of the zodiac tours on offer,
since I thought that one could see almost as much of the
spectacle from the relative comfort of the Xplorer. Besides
which, Barb had returned from one of the early zodiac trips,
and said that there was no much more to see, only closer. But as
the last trip was being wrapped up, Steve declared that there
were two spare seats, and did anyone want them? So on the
spur of the moment, I put my hand up. Barely 20 seconds after
we were away from the Xplorer, a turtle came swimming by,
close to the zodiac, and staying close to the surface, unlike
the other turtles we had seen. I put the camera on motor
drive, and before long had over 20 images of this turtle
swimming close to the surface! Fantastic!
We went all the way in the zodiac to the end of the channel,
which the Xplorer could not do, because of a sandbar. LOts of
birds closer up, and we saw a batfish being rescued by Steve
in the zodiac in front of us from two very interested sand
curlews.
Then, as we were the last zodiac tour, we were asked by Dave,
our zodiac pilot, whether we were happy to return to the ship
in the zodiac, rather than return to the Xplorer. We all said
yes, so we were soon zooming across the waters back to the
ship. We even saw an 'eagle ray' jump out of the water in
front of us along the way.
Dinner (a roast buffet of pork, lamb and beef) was by
invitation with the ship's Chief Engineer, Jonathan, so you
can guess what the conversation was about! It turned out that
we were both avid viewers of 'Air Crash Investigators', and
had a great discussion about air, railway and ship safety.
Not sure that the other guests at out table (Phillip and Judy)
were quite as enthusiastic!
Dinner finished rather abruptly, as there was a crocodile
spotting expedition in the Xplorer at 2100. It was a bit of a
fizzer, as only a few small crocs were spotted, and we always
seemed to be on the wrong side of the boat. Barb did get one
reasonable shot, though. The stars were impressive, though,
once we got away from the ship, and the Xplorer switched off
all its lights.
On return to the ship around tennish, most of us wandered off
to bed. But we were promised a late start to the day
tomorrow!
A later breakfast at 0815 this morning, which was somewhat
welcome after the many early starts. Some passengers even
took the opportunity to skip breakky and extend their
sleep-in! Then the Xplorer ran two trips to Freshwater Cove
beach, the first for walkers, and the second for the
less-energetically inclined.
The walkers (us) took a less steep track than yesterday up and
over a ridge to see Cyclone Cave and and some Wandjina
Aboriginal art. Then back to the beach, where we visited a
local aboriginal community who were selling art. These
paintings we thought were somewhat more original than those we
saw at Mowanjin, and we were sufficiently taken with them that
we bought a painting of Jarlarloyni, the Wandjina named
Namarali's wife, for $350, from the artist herself, Robyn
Mungulu.
Then back to the ship for lunch. The afternoon was spent
sailing up the coast to Careening Cove in Port Nelson. We had
a talk from Sandy on the origins of the Australian Aborigines,
and that then led almost immediately into pre-dinner drinks on
the sun deck with the Pizzeys and the Ballantynes, followed by
a short picture show from Dave in the lecture theatre on the
day's activities.
Dinner with Ian and Alison, Mike and Anne, which consisted of
pumpkin soup and duck confit (John), salmon and duck (Barb).
Then John went to the games evening organized by Mahia and
Kimberley, where we played Guess my Name, Charades and Pass
the Orange. Ken Vaughn was first to get the Guess My Name
game, in spite of the fact that even though he knew who it
was, he could not remember her name - Kylie Minogue! I had a
charade action of "Gettied Married", which was not hard, but I
did play entirely within the rules, unlike some others who
could not stop themselves from blurting out significant clues,
if not the actual answer itself! All good fun! Then bed.
24 Jun 2017,
Saturday (Day 20),
Careening Cove; Prince Regent River: mermaids on land and river
0730 breakfast this morning, before readying ourselves for the
short trip across the bay to Careening Cove, where Philip
Parker King had to beach his vessel HMC Mermaid in 1820 to
effect some repairs to the ship. He spent nearly 2 weeks here
in what is still a pretty remote and pristine spot. His
carpenters must have had some time out from doing repairs,
since they chiselled out (in fairly large letters) "HMC
MERMAID 1820" on a large (now even larger) boab tree. Indeed,
the tree has continued to grow, and has since split down the
middle, between MER and MAID. Steve told us a few stories
about life for the 21 souls on board the Mermaid, and how they
were under a (perceived) threat from the local aborigines,
whom they never saw, but knew were around from the cooking
fires they could see in the surrounding scrub.
There was time for a little explore on the beach, and along a
little sandy creek, looking at dingo tracks, and the myriad
hermit crabs scurring around on the rocks and sand. Then back
on Xplorer to the ship, in time for morning tea, followed by a
talk from Steve on Philip Parker King, his life and career.
Then lunch with John and Sandra, Toni and Nancy (?) before a
mammoth afternoon tour to King Cascade on the Prince Regent
River.
We left the Coral Discoverer at 1330, and followed the PRR for
some 25kms upstream. The water course is basically straight,
and follows a hugh rift in the underlying geology, with
intermittent cliffs, spinifex, wattle and eucalypts along the
side, starting out fairly wide (1km or so) at the mouth, and
narrowing down to only 100m as we approached the cascade. You
come upon the cascade rather suddenly, as it is set back from
the river on a small spring-fed tributary, inside a
mangrove-lined cove, so you really only see the falls when you
are right alonside it in the main river channel.
The falls themselves are quite spectacular, and we had much
happy camera clicking inside the cove, as Alex manouevered the
Xplorer back and forth so that all on each side got a good
view of the falls. The falls were the scene of a tragic
incident in 1987 when a US model went swimming in the cove in
the presence of a salt-water crocodile. The crocodile won.
You can read all about it in this
Chicago Tribune article.
We had some refreshments in the form of cheese and biccies,
pretzels, juice box and fruit cake while admiring the falls,
then back to the CD with the hour and a half return trip.
John skipped the pre-dinner drinks today so as to have an AFD,
and caught up on some diary work, while Barb went to the
drinks but only drank water, so she too had an AFD. We
watched Dave's pictures of the last few days' adventures, then
heard from Steve about tomorrow's adventures.
Dinner was just the two of us with Kat, the (young) APT tour
guide on the cruise, and we had a delightful chat with her
about her career, her approach to life, and her generally
infectious attitude to the Kimberleys. She was great fun!
We skipped the documentary tonight, which was on the cane
toads, as I had read the book on the bus coming back into
Broome, and felt that I had learnt all I wanted to know about
cane toads. So to bed.
Breakfast at 0715 this morning, and there were plenty of
people lined up at the starting gate when the whistle went.
After breakfast, we piled into the Xplorer again, and cruised
over to Bigge Island. Steve said "Bigge Island is the third
largest island in WA. What are the other two?", to which some
wag replied "Bigger, and Biggest"! It is actually named after
some accountant sent out from England to check on Governor
Macquarie's spending, and he apparently was a bit of a Bigger,
but spelt with a 'u'.
Anyway, whatever his personal traits, the island is quite
large, and we landed on the northern tip of it, and set about
examining the various animal tracks on the beach. We saw
monjons, turtles (going up and down the beach), a crocodile,
quolls, and even a dingo. (I stress that these were all
tracks, not the actual animals!) Then a short rock scramble
led us to an aboriginal burial preparation site. If you were
important enough, like an elder or leader, you were not
immediately buried, but rather your remains were placed under
a pile of rocks until they were bones (about 2 years), then
the bones were gathered up and placed in a cave. (We saw some
skulls and bones in a cave later on the walk.)
Then along the edge of a mangrove swamp to various caves (and
aforementioned bones), mainly to check out the various
paintings, including one that is regarded as being of William
Dampier and his crew landing on the island. They all had what
appeared to be (smoking) pipes in their mouths, and as the
aborigines did not practice smoking as we know it, It seemed
to Barb and me (and others) that this was compelling evidence
of the foreign nature of those depicted. Unfortunately all
the aboriginal inhabitants of the island were displaced during
WWII and into the 50s, so there is no one left who can explain
the original intent of the paintings.
Back to the ship for lunch (vegetable soup and BBQ pork ribs,
yum), and then another excursion (! will they ever stop?) in
the Xplorer, this time to Hathway's Hideaway, so named because
of all the caves nearby. We split into groups, and our group
stayed on Xplorer to go and visit first of all a sea-eagle's
nest, and then an osprey's nest. There was nothing we could
see in the eagle's nest, but we did spot the eagle him/herself
nearby, sitting on the branch of a eucalypt. The osprey's
nest had a chick and a mother in it, but the mother flew off
as we approached. While we were stooging around taking
photos, the mother returned, so lots more photos.
Then back across the bay to take our turn at visiting the
caves. Barb saw a gecko, but both of us saw a fishing bat, a
tiny little thing about the size of a child's fist. Had to
take photos of it in the dark, but John did manage a slightly
blurry one. The rock formations themselves were quite
impressive. There were many aboriginal middens around the
place, but these were not that old, being less than 2000
years, and probably much less, being used right up until the
50s when the last of the aborigines were removed.
We returned to the CD via a small shelley beach in Mudge Bay,
where there had been a pearl culturing operation until the GFC
(check?). Again, some impressive rock formations provided a
dramatic backdrop. Some of these even had ripple marks on
them, tilted high in the air.
Afternoon tea, then a bit of spare time until pre-dinner
drinks, which were up on the Sun Deck. We shared a table with
John and Margaret, and had a delightful time over drinks
swapping stories and watching the sunset. Then we had a BBQ
at 1800, with BBQ'd fish (spanish mackarel), kangaroo, beef,
chicken, and lamb. We all agreed that the fish was best,
closely followed by the lamb. But by far the biggest winner
was the sheer ambience of the place, the occasion, and just
the plain delight of it all!
Then down to the dining room for coffee and dessert, and there
was a rich selection to choose from. I was happy with just
the rhubarb crumble with an excellent coconut topping, but
Barb tried a few more things, such as the coffee cheesecake.
John and I finished off the second bottle of Petaluma 2013
Cabernet Sauvignon, and then we went to watch a film on
Jandamarra, about whom we had heard at Tunnel Creek. Indeed,
Dillon, or guide on that occasion, appeared in the film as one
of the aboriginal story tellers!
Although the film finished at only 2130, we all zonked off to
bed straight away after a very full and thoroughly enjoyable
day.
There were four excursions arranged for the day, two shorter
ones in the morning, a longer one in the afternoon, and an
overlapped sequence of helicopter flights for those who had
pre-booked to go and see the Mitchell Falls. As one of those
who had done the road trip into Mitchell Falls (see 14 Jun),
we elected not to repeat the experience (it was $550 each!),
but rather to do the local excursions.
Well, at least Barb did. John elected to skip the first one,
and spend the time catching up on this diary. Barb said that
they went somewhere that even Steve had not been to before, so
it was a bit of an adventure. At the first stop there plenty
of hermit crabs and a couple of cowrie shells, otherwise she
said they just 'pottered arounf'. Their second stop was a bit
more exciting as they had to negotiate a sandbar, and the tide
was so low that Brian stopped driving, got out, and pushed the
Xplorer over the bar (with the assistance of the tide)!
After morning tea, we both went on the second trip of the
morning, to an art site above a long gully that now had the
tide in so far that we could step out directly onto the rocks,
and follow a short path up to a long gallery of art work,
where there was quite an array of painted objects: wandjinas,
turtles, fish, ducks, a crocodile and a wallaby. Several
other things as well, but the interpretation of these was a
bit lost, as they had weathered a bit.
Back to the ship for lunch, which was Mexican, and then a lazy
afternoon as we both skipped the afternoon excursion. Barb
read her book, John programmed his computer. Very relaxing.
A long afternoon tea turned into pre-dinner drinks, then
dinner with Hilary, Errol, Marilyn and John. The entree was a
very nice prawn curry, and IIRC, John had a steak and Barb had
fish.
A sleep-in this morning, as breakfast was not until 0800, a
timing appreciated by many! Then off on the Xplorer,
eponymously exploring Vansittart Bay and the small islands
within it. the first stop was at one of these islands, where
Barb landed and joined the shore party to go and look at some
more art works - this time in the Gwion Gwion style - while
John stayed on the Xplorer to see some of the pearl culturing
sites still operational. We managed to get right up close to
the oyster nets, and one could see them hanging in the water
quite clearly. Then we motored on to land on a small sandy
beach on the opposite side of the island from Barb's group,
where we saw another osprey nest and many interesting rock
formations.
Back to the CD for morning tea, and closely followed by lunch,
while the CD manouevered closer to Anjo Peninsula.
In the afternoon we Xplored off to said Anjo Peninsula for a
hike over the sandhills and around a high-tide filled bay to
the wreck of a C-53 troop carrier that ran out of fuel and
crash landed here during WWII. All survived, but it must have
been a white-knuckle landing!! The vegetation has well and
truly grown up since the wreck, and the salvage hunters had
stripped the wreck of anything valuable, but it was still
pretty fascinating, and I was not the only one taking lots of
photos. Plenty of wildflowers around the wreck site.
Afternoon tea was lamingtons, which disappeared quickly! Then
a talk by Sandy on the various explorations and charting of
North Western Australia, before pre-dinner drinks on the
Bridge Deck and a slide show of photos taken by Dave on the
cruise. These photos (together with the ones taken tomorrow)
were later given on a USB stick to all passengers who wanted a
copy, and you can see these photos at Dave's Photos.
Dinner was shared with John and Margaret, Mike and Anne, and
Barb and I did a share of both the entrees (parsnip soup and
beef carpaccio) and mains (salmon and pork), followed by a
cheese board (but again, no blue!) After dinner we watched a
documentary on the Koolama 'incident', which was quite
fascinating, and which largely boiled down to a clash of
personalities between the captain and first officer of the
ship. You can read about it in the Koolama
Incident story on Wikipedia.
Up very bright and early (well, early, at least) so that we
could get going on the Xplorer by 0730, in order to get to the
King George River and Falls. We saw the beach where the
Koolama was beached in WWII, and then around the
sandbar and up the river. About 20 mins into the river, we
paused while the first contingent of zodiac passengers were
transferred. Barb was on the first zodiac away, while John
stayed on board the Xplorer.
The Xplorer then continued up the river, while the zodiacs
went in close and personal to the river banks. Barb said she
saw a brush-tailed rock wallably, while John took pictures of
the towering cliffs (60-80m high) around us. Halfway between the
zodiac loading point and the falls themselves, we had a zodiac
swap, Barb came off, John went on. John's zodiac explored the
cliff bases, where water erosion had created lots of
interesting honeycomb patterns.
Then to a little side bay, where Brian explained that
they had occasionally seen dugongs in there, but not today.
Then on to the falls themselves. There was water flowing over
them - Brian said that at this time last year, they were dry,
but because of the big wet this year, there was enough water
at this time of year. There were two separate falls,
separated by a big cliff peninsula between them, which
required crusing up and around it to see the other falls. The
main one had a single drop of about 80m, and was hitting the
rocks at the bottom with some force. The other falls were the
ones that people were invited to visit up close and personal,
i.e., go right into the falls in a zodiac. Barb did it, and
got absolutely drenched! John was a bit of a wussXXXXXXXX
smarter, and didn't do the drenching. The saving grace was
that these falls fell in several stages, of which the last one
was only 20m, but people who went through still complained
about how 'hard' the water was. The cold was not the issue,
but rather how painful the drops on the top of the head were!
Once all the brave souls had had their drenching, it was back
into the Xplorer for our final run back to the Coral
Discoverer, in time for morning tea at 1100 and an 1130
departure for Darwin. Morning tea quickly morphed into lunch
(chicken schnitzel), and then an afternoon of variously
relaxing, packing, computing, another presentation from Sandy,
and afternoon tea itself. Then back to the lounge to watch a
slide show of Dave's photos of the whole trip.
All went to plan this morning, except for my mobile phone
waking us up as it burst into life upon receiving a signal
from Darwin at 0500! Breakfast at 0700, with lots of
goodbyes, and then we all started waiting, firstly to get off
the ship, then for the bus to start. A short trip to the
airport and we were there around 0830, in time to see
absolutely no activity. We waited for the coffee shop to
open, then we waited for the checkin counters and bag drops to
open, then we waited to board the plane, and then we waited on
the plane.
Some of the waiting time was taken up watching one
RAAF fighter take off after another. I think the whole RAAF
fighter force took part in this exercise.
So much waiting got us to 1230 when the plane took off.
Then we waited for the plane to do its stuff over the next 4
hours. Upon landing, we had to wait for the airbridge to
connect. Something was wrong with it, I know not what. Once
in the terminal, we then waited for the luggage to appear.
There had been an almighty pile up of bags, jamming the
conveyer belt. It took the staff some 30mins to restart that
before our bags (and a lot of others) appeared.
Hey, even in the taxi we had to do a bit of waiting, with all
the roadworks on the Tulla 'free'way, and the peak hour
traffic. We got home around 1845, tired and buggered, in time
for a quick dinner that dear DIL Beth had prepared, and then
off to choir practice! I'm not sure that travelling to choir
practice has ever taken 12 hours before.
