Seeing Red and Blue in Broome

This morning after getting our washing done and trying to get some help from Vodafone Data support we took a drive around town then down to Town Beach where we saw lots of people leaving from last night. We took a walk around and saw the mangroves out beyond the red cliffs and the blue, blue sea. It is an amazing contrast to see and add a few whiter than white seagulls into the picture and the scene is pretty spectacular. Further along there is a beach part where the sand is not quite so red but it is still not white or yellow sand that we are used to. Looking out at the calm sea there were about half dozen white boats bobbing around. Up on the grassed area unfenced and barely labelled is the Pioneer Cemetery. Unfortunately it has been vandalized a bit and also the whole area had a lot of rubbish due to the huge number of people there last night watching the stairway to the moon phenomenon.
After we had decided what we would do tonight in order to get a good possie we headed off to Gantheaume Point which was a bit tricky since they seem to be doing road works and so the road that should have led to the point was closed where we tried to enter it but we found another way around and, after going down the last little bit of road which is labelled as gravel but is actually red sand, we got there. As soon as you turn the corner on the path down to the cliffs you see the glorious red sandstone in the distance with the blue sea behind it. The rocks that make up the cliffs or platforms edging the ocean are so vibrant and varied in colour, texture, shape and size. It is one of those photographer’s delights with a photo opportunity every time you turn around, walk a little further or climb up onto a rock. I could have spent longer than we did but Fin was anxious to get going since we still had the Vodafone problem to sort out and some shopping to do. Sounds kind of mundane but we have to get this internet connection working for the rest of our trip after all we are paying a lot for it so it should work! I am not sure if the Vodafone signal is just too flaky in this area and may have been in Kununurra also and they do seem to have some problems because I have been waiting for them to call back for much of the afternoon. Anyway, I tried to put up a few of my favourite photos for you to see just how stunning the coastline is here. The mangroves ones are near the town beach and the rocky ones are at Gantheaume Point. We went to the Black Pearl for dinner tonight which is down by the bay and had a lovely meal then walked back to our car which we had parked at the car park near Town Beach where we had deided would be the place to try to get photos of the stairway to the moon. It was scheduled for an hour later at 8:36pm tonight so it worked in well with dinner. When we got back to our car we were surprised how many vehicles were in the car park since we left it earlier. There were campervans, 4WDs and various other vehicles, even a couple of busloads of tourists. When we got down to the breakwater we couldn’t believe that it was full of people all waiting to see the phenomenon that is the Stairway to the moon. We had to wait about 20 minutes or so and everyone was uncertain as to where the moon would appear but we hoped we were in the right place. On schedule the big red ball came up over the horizon, even redder than last night’s I think, but the air was very smoky from burn-offs again and it was quite dark with not much reflection on the water at all. Everyone started making comments about it being a fizzer, all the time taking photos just in case. After a very short time the moon was fairly high up and people started leaving but we hung on because we remembered it got brighter last night and that it might be worth waiting a bit longer. We weren’t totally disappointed since we did get a few photos that were better than earlier ones but we still didn’t see a stairway. Here is a photo that I took but had to use long shutter speeds and high ISO setting so it isn’t really fantastic, more interesting than anything. The next stairway is due at the end of September but we will be almost home by then.

Prison Boab Tree and the moon in Broome

Today we left Fitzroy Crossing and headed for Broome via Derby in order to see the famous Prison Boab Tree. The story goes that before Derby was established in 1883, Aboriginal people were kidnapped from the West Kimberley and taken to be used as divers and workers in the pearling boats. The kidnappers, known as Blackbirders marched their prisoners in chains to the coast and it is believed some may have been kept in the Prison Boab Tree whilst they waited for a boat. By 1887, the government had built a prison in Derby about 5 km from the prison tree and hundreds of Aboriginal people were held in gaol over a period of time for crimes such as killing and eating livestock. The prisoners that came to the gaol via the Prison Tree came from as far away as Fitzroy Crossing and had to walk 24 – 48 km a day in chains camping overnight at stations, waterholes and wells. Some would have rested at the Boab Tree on the last day according to the information available. I find the Boab trees fascinating because of their amazing bottle-like shape but this story adds another interesting thing about them. They are hollow in the middle and it is very hard to tell how old they are the way it is done with other trees by counting the growth rings. I decided to put the photo of the information about them up rather than retyping it all. It is very interesting reading.
After we saw the Prison Tree we went into Derby Township and had some lunch at what we could see as the only decent cafe in town, Diamonds and Pearls. We had a very nice sandwich and coffee there although there were many yummy things on the menu which was good to see. (Getting closer to civilization all the time!) We filled up with petrol and headed off to Broome which was an amazing drive because so much controlled burning had been going on and as we got closer to Broome we actually drove through a section that was still smouldering. Interestingly, not far away where it must have been still burning there were lots of prey birds circling above waiting to swoop down on any small animal scared out of the undergrowth by the encroaching fire. It made the scenery ugly as you can imagine but it is a necessary means of controlling the outbreak of bushfires when the season is really upon us.
We got to Broome by about 3.30pm and found that it was a cool 28 degrees but seems very humid. We settled in to our unit and after discovering that although we have Vodafone it still won’t connect, bought some time on the wireless internet provided here to upload the last couple of days posts and email Vodafone with our problem. Ho hum! Déjà vu. How annoying!!
We went to a restaurant called Matsos Broome Brewery and had a very nice meal and Fin had one of their fancy beers and we were told that it is the middle night of the three nights of the stairway to the moon occurrence that happens only rarely due to the tides etc. We got the camera from the car and tried to get photos from across the road which seems to be mangroves etc but think we were in the wrong place so tomorrow night we aim to be in the right place. What apparently happens is that the tide being out and the moon being full and very orange in colour appears about 7.30pm and reflects on the mudflats which makes it look like a stairway to the moon. I hope we can see it tomorrow and get some photos to share with you and keep as a fantastic memory of our time in Broome, WA. Stay tuned...

Geikie Gorge - 29th August

After getting our washing done, we went to the Information centre in Fitzroy Crossing and found out what times the Geikie Gorge cruises were on today and found there were only three; 9.30, 10.30 and 3.00 which gave us the option of three o’clock or three o’clock since you have to be there half an hour before and it is 18 km from town. We decided to go out to where they go from to take a look and perhaps do one of the three suggested walks but when we got there it was so hot that we opted for a short one; twenty minutes instead of the 90 – 120 minute one we were thinking of even after all our good training at the Bungle Bungles. We did the River Walk which goes down to the river bank near a sandbar area of the Fitzroy River. It was nice and shady down there with some big trees and quite peaceful. There were two women swimming there who said the water was lovely; I felt the water and it was quite warmish, certainly not cold. There are warnings about crocodiles around the park because there are fresh water crocs in the river but they usually don’t cause any problems for people but go for smaller prey. We spent some time just wandering around looking at the flora and fauna which included some black cockatoos in a gum tree, other small birds, and some wallabies that allowed us to get close enough to see them well and get some photos. After we had made sure we had our information correct for the cruise later we went back to our unit and had lunch.
Just after two we headed back to Geikie Gorge Park for the cruise armed with sunscreen, bug spray, hats and water since the boat has no roof and the hot sun even for the hour would be unrelenting.*We heard on the news that the highest in the state was 38 degrees in Fitzroy Crossing! We were surprised how many people were at the gazebo for the cruise and how they didn’t issue tickets but just said they would recognize us as we boarded! Anyway, they had two barges joined together with a captain driving from the back and off we went down Geikie Gorge. It is very pretty with some very white rocks and some lovely red or orange rocks also. We saw many freshwater crocodiles along the away either on the bank sunning themselves or floating in the water. We were surprised how many there were actually. It was delightful when we were on the left side of the gorge with the cliffs shading us but once we had to turn around, it was very, very hot and we were glad we lathered on the sunscreen. We saw a few water birds but only a few compared to what we have seen at other places; maybe it was a bit too hot at that time of day. The captain had a microphone and speakers and gave a commentary along the way, pointing out any wildlife he saw as well as explaining a bit about the gorge and Fitzroy River telling us that the 2002 flood was the worst when the water was 2 metres above the roof of the gazebo! Every season they have to pack everything up and when they come back after the wet season, they have to clean up the mud in the gazebo from the flooding. As we came back down the gorge there were some pretty reflections of the gorge walls on the river so it was probably a good time day for the cruise despite the heat.
We went back to Fitzroy River Lodge for dinner tonight, since there didn’t appear to be much better around here, and instead of the rather average buffet of the previous evening it was a very respectable a la carte menu. I had a vegetable wrapped in filo thing and Fin had a steak with vegies both of which were very nice; unfortunately we both had a very filling soup with bread and I couldn’t finish it all which I was sorry about but also knew I would regret it more if I tried. So, at least we got a good meal on our last night in Fitzroy Crossing. Off to Broome tomorrow via Derby to see the Prison Boab tree.

Wall of China & Palm Springs - 28th August

We headed down towards old Halls Creek township which barely exists any more bar a few pieces of mud brick wall of the old post office and some monuments with plaques but along the same un-made road are some interesting places to visit including Caroline Pool which has very little water in it at this time of year but is still a pretty spot to go with red rocks, grey-green grasses, water and a bluer than blue sky that we keep seeing up here. When we got there, a fellow came up to us to have a chat about it and told us that he was there with some school students to do a bush tucker lesson. When we went down onto the creek bed, there were several aboriginal kids and some adults also; it seems that the aboriginal children are losing their culture and need to actually have lessons to stay in touch with it. The teacher we spoke to suggested we go to Palm Springs as it always has water, is even nicer, a good place for to have lunch and is another 20km down the dirt road. We decided to have a look since we didn’t have a very long drive to Fitzroy Crossing today. We found it no problems since the countryside along the way is fairly sparsely covered with trees and bushes but Palm Springs is like an oasis in the desert. We took a walk down the path worn between the grasses surrounding the water hole and looked in and along it. There were little fish in the water and dragonflies hovering over it and lots of trees and palms along either side. We went back to the car and then had a wander up further but couldn’t see a place near the water to sit and have morning tea so we just sat on a log near the car in the shade. However, a call of nature meant I wandered into the bush further down away from the road. Before I had got very far, I put my hand on a tree trunk to steady myself and felt a sharp, sudden pain under my arm. I pulled my hand away and then felt the pain on my stomach as well. I high-tailed out of the area in pain with two bites on my stomach and one under my arm, worried about what had bit me and what other reactions I might have. I sprayed the bites with Stingose and took an antihistamine straight away then sat quietly and had morning tea and fortunately there was no reaction and the swelling went down. I still don’t know what bit me but wasn’t going back to find out! BTW, anyone who is laughing now is no longer my friend!! (Actually I can see how it might sound funny but it was very nasty, scary and unpleasant at the time as you can well imagine)
While we were there the ranger came to empty the rubbish bins and we asked him about the springs which he told us the water came from the other side of the road which we thought was private property since it had buildings there but he said that we could go over there. We walked up and into the property which had an old rusted out truck in the bushes and sheds with bits and pieces in them including an exercise bike! There was no way to get down closer to the actual spring despite trying a few vague paths. There were two windmills there, one up near the sheds and one down near the water but as I said it was all overgrown so we couldn’t’ see it properly but there were banana palms there so I guess it might have been a kind of farm at one stage, though not sure exactly what they were really farming unless they had cattle which seem to be the most common types of farm up here.
Actually, speaking of farms we saw a big semi-trailer cattle truck tipped on its side along the road to Palm Springs. It seemed to have lost control on the curve and slid down off the road down the embankment. When we stopped to take some photos there was a rather foul smell of death in the air so I guess they buried the carcasses nearby recently. Someone would have been pretty annoyed about losing their stock like that I am sure!
After this we went back along the road to the other attraction that we had missed on the way; the Wall of China. Yes, we saw the wall of China though it wasn’t the Great Wall of China of course but a natural phenomenon that has created a rock wall, actually more than one really, which you would swear is the remains of a manmade wall. Following this we grabbed something to eat in town then headed off along highway number 1 to Fitzroy Crossing. We got there by 4.45pm and were interested to pass Fitzroy River Lodge accommodation which looked rather swank and then arrive at the caravan park/motel we had booked which was much smaller and has a rather unusual motel section made up of units built on top of carports basically. The unit itself is fine but there is no phone line so we have had no internet as you have probably worked out by the lack of new posts for the last couple of days. We booked the restaurant at the other accommodation for dinner since this one doesn’t have a restaurant and said that the meal would probably be better there than the pub. Before we left, we realized the total eclipse of the moon was taking place so stopped to take some photos. We took more when we got back from having dinner but they’re not very good. Well, at least we got to see it anyway.

Zebra Rocks and not much else

Sunday was a day of rest really. I think we needed it after our busy two days at the Bungle Bungles. We did a few housekeeping tasks like shopping, washing etc but didn’t really do much touristy stuff except go up to the Lookout in Kununurra and take a look around. Today we went to Top Rockz and looked at the lovely things they make from Zebra stone and other beautiful rocks. (this is the only link I could find to show you what zebra stonelooks like: http://www.physics.utoronto.ca/~smorris/edl/zebra_rock/zebra_rock.html )We bought a couple of things and then headed back to town and had morning coffee before hitting the highway to Halls Creek. One thing we did discover is that the name of the main street in Kununurra which I thought was funny is the name of a tree; a Konkerberry. The reason we found it out was that they had a lovely bookmark made of the timber. The vegetation along the road to Halls Creek changed as we got closer, there are some big cattle stations along there judging by the signs up such as, “Alice Downs” and there were lots of fairly big red kangaroos dead along the side of the road too. We saw some Red-tailed black cockatoos in trees along the way also.
Apart from what I have described above, there isn’t much to say about today except we couldn’t’ find the Hotel-Motel we are staying in. It was meant to be a Country Comfort and surprisingly was in the Tom Tom but we couldn’t find it even when it said, “You have reached your destination”. Eventually, after looking up the address again we decided to try the Kimberly Hotel that was definitely not a Country Comfort and found that it was the one we are booked into. It must have changed since being listed in the latest accommodation guide!
Tomorrow we will check out a few places of interest on our way to Fitzroy Crossing.

Bungle Bungles - WOW!

After a disturbed night where neither of us could sleep very well, we got up at 5am to be ready and waiting outside our Caravan Park for the bus from East Kimberley Tours to pick us up for our overnight tour to the Bungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park. We were picked up along with other people from ours and other accommodation in Kununurra and taken to the airport which is not far away. The plane we flew in was a small one with only five of us on board filling not only all the passenger seats but I was in the co-pilot’s seat. We saw amazing views of Kununurra, the inland coast and Ord River irrigation area and the Bungle Bungle range massif itself. We were met at the airport by Lisa, our tour guide in an air-conditioned 4WD bus and taken to the Bellburn Camp to have a yummy cooked breakfast. After we’d eaten we went out straight away in the big bus again to do our first walk for the day into Mini Palms Gorge where the dwarfed Livistonia Palms can be viewed from a platform. It was quite a difficult 5km walk with much of it being on dry creek bed with rocks and pebbles of various sizes to make walking very difficult because your feet keep rolling over on the rocks. It was hot weather and a lot of the time we were without any shade but the tour operators provided water for us to take and also morning tea of a juice and an orange which we stopped and enjoyed in the cool of Mini Palms Gorge. Once we had walked back out we went to a spot where there are sheltered picnic tables and Lisa gave us our lunch packs. We had a lunch box with separate compartments with cold meat, salad, cheese, hardboiled egg etc & there was bread & butter if you wanted it as well as another juice drink, water and an orange. We all felt refreshed after eating such a decent lunch and having a rest then Lisa took us on our next walk into Echidna Chasm. This was a shorter walk; only 2 km and was not as difficult as the first but still very tiring in the heat. The chasm was spectacular and went for quite a long way. It was also very cool since the rock faces are very tall and not much light filters in the top. Both walks involved some climbing over conglomerate boulders and sliding through narrow gaps between rocks. You can see in one of these photos that there is a big boulder of conglomerate stuck between the walls of the chasm. NB. For those who don't know; conglomerate looks like concrete with rocks in it and it is basically a mixture of sandstone and rocks. Sandstone is what the Bungle Bungles is composed of and once the protective outer layer is broken away, it has very easily damaged sandstone that can be rubbed to create fine powdery sand. We didn't do that but the Tour guide showed us; obviously they don't want tourists all rubbing the sides of the rocks to wear it down doubly quick!

After this we went to a couple of lookouts on our way back to the camp where we arrived at about 4 pm. At 4:30 pm we had to meet at the dining tent to go out to watch the sunset but could buy drinks to take with us first; that is beer, wine, soft drink. Lisa took nibblies to eat such as chips, cheese, dips, crackers etc. and had folding chairs for all of us to sit on also. It was really very civilized and we enjoyed sitting chatting and having our pre-dinner drinks but the sunset was pretty un-spectacular mainly due to all the smoke in the air from controlled burns in the park. When we got back to camp we had time to have a shower and wash off the sweat and dust of the day before dinner which was really a great feeling. Dinner was very nice and there was plenty to help yourself from and there was fire going in a pit outside if you wanted to sit out around it afterwards. I think most of us went to bed by about 8:30o pm after our early start and very physical day and surprisingly fell asleep very quickly in our little tent huts with the single beds.
The next morning we had to be ready to leave for our days activities by about 8 – 8:30 am which was also very civilized. We went to breakfast at about 7:30 and it was the same as the previous day with a choice of cooked, cereals, toast and so forth. We were joined by some day trippers so that our bus was full today instead of the original five of us that flew in the day before. We apparently had about the same amount of walking as the previous day but not as much on creek bed at the Northern End of the massif. Lisa encouraged those who felt they may not be able to do all the walking to skip the first long walk into Piccaninny Gorge so that they could do the Cathedral Gorge walk later on because it was the more spectacular and where we would sit and have our lunch. (It was lovely in there with a big pool of water within a rocky amphitheatre type of rock formation. Just beautiful!) We decided to do all the walks because we didn’t want to miss any of it. Although it was meant to be about the same distance as the previous day; about 9 km it didn’t seem as difficult probably because much less of it was on more stable ground. Again, every step was worth it because the views just have to be experienced to be truly appreciated. The final walk was called the Dome Walk and at the end of it was a pool of water that had heaps of tiny frogs in it. They were so small and would jump in and swim away to another rock if you got too close. Our day ended with this walk and then we went to the airport to get on a plane back to Kununurra. The craft this time was a bigger one which seated about twice as many passengers and had a co-pilot in the seat next to the pilot this time. We did a flight over the Bungles again as well as the Ragged Ranges and Argyle Diamond Mine. Also a very interesting flight and we were all happy to say goodbye to our tour-friends and be driven back to our various accommodations for a refreshing shower.
Overall, it was a great tour and definitely worth doing if you get a chance. No photo or even documentary movie would give the same sense of size, texture and colour that is the Bungle Bungles. We think the one day tour would be rushed, you only see a small amount and it is a long day since you start at the same time but don’t get back until about 7:30pm which is about two and a half to three hours later than we did. My only problem with the tour was that we couldn’t take the laptop and I had to be careful with how many photos I took because I couldn’t’ upload them to the disk on it. I was extra careful today and the message Memory Card Full came up on the plane on the way back but I felt frustrated a few times that I couldn’t take shots that I wanted to. So, another trip like that would need another memory card!

Timber Creek

As you probably guessed, the Internet connection we thought we had ended up not working after an initial success. The whole town had phone connection problems which meant we couldn't even use the paid connection at our accommodation hence no BLOG till now!

We left Katherine and headed west to Kununurra this morning via Victoria River and Timber Creek. We had read about some spectacular scenery and interesting geological features in Gregory National Park so wanted to check them out along the way. We stopped at Victoria River Roadhouse for morning coffee and the views of the red rock face from there were pretty spectacular. We continued on to see what we could see once we got further on and tried to find a place to enter the park that might provide some interesting views since it is 13,000 km square it was hard to know where would give us the best chance of seeing some lovely parts of the gorge or aboriginal culture which is also present in various places. We didn’t want to spend a long time hiking in to wherever the particular feature is due to being in transit to Kununnura as well. The park is divided into two sectors – the Victoria River sector in the east and the Gregory sector in the west.
At the Timber Creek Roadhouse we found one of those Information boards with a map on it which showed us that we had come too far for one of the places we wanted to try to see but the signage wasn’t that good and the book we were taking the ideas from was a bit vague as well. The Visitors Guide for the Katherine Region was fairly scant on details as well so we were up against it really. However, we found there was an access road we had seen not far back and wouldn’t take long to get to especially when you can travel at high speed as you can Territory. We went back to it and headed down there but it was an unmade road and took about an hour each way. Fin had to really concentrate on some bits because there were quite a lot of dips, some of which were not sign posted and they come up rather suddenly so if you are going too fast you could find yourself in trouble. The final bit has a kind of concrete slab/bridge bit that we had to take quite slowly but it was probably easier in a 4WD with more clearance. It was not listed as a 4WD track and led to Limestone Gorge camping ground but it said no caravans down that track and we could see why! The car was covered in red dust by the time we got into the place we were heading to and there was a sign early on the first road saying that the camping ground was closed at the moment due to flood damage but when we got there it said you could walk in if you wanted. We didn’t. What we did do was the Calcite Flow Walk which went up a hill with information boards on the way describing and explaining what we were seeing. The sharp grey rock was the same as at Chillagoe which we found out is called Rillenkarren which is rock that’s softer parts have been worn away by a kind of acid rain. It is very striking in appearance and it was good to read a proper explanation for the way it looks. As we went up higher we could see across the gorge, the calcite flow which looks a bit like white water running down the hill but is actually caused when calcium carbonate rich water flows rapidly down the hill and the rapid flow forces carbon dioxide out of the water which causes a chemical reaction which releases a solid calcium carbonate from the water. This calcium carbonate builds up on anything solid that if flows over. Over time it builds up creating the calcite flow that we saw. How’s that for a chemistry lesson?
So, after we had a look at the gorge and calcite flow and took photos etc we drove our dirty little car back down the track to the access road and then the actual highway and headed on our way to Western Australia. We had some dried fruit that we were given by Fin’s cousin Chris and she said she thought we might be allowed to take them into WA but unfortunately they say no fruit that has not been commercially dried so we had to give it up. We had tried to eat a lot of it along the way but couldn’t manage to finish it. How sad.
So, we are in Kununurra and tomorrow we go on a flight over the Bungle Bungles and stay overnight at a bush camp. We are lucky that we just arrived here and our internal clocks are still an hour and a half behind the time here because we are being picked up at 5.30 am in the morning! (WA is 1 ½ hours behind NT so now we are 2 hrs behind Melbourne time)