25th September

It has been an eventful few weeks since I put my last post up.

We has another week at Broome and in that week we seen the phenomenon called staircase to the moon, this only occurs 2 or three times in the month, when the tide is very low and the moon is full. The moons reflection onto the sand bars from the beach look like stairs that you can climb to the moon, quite a pretty and unusual sight.

The last thing we did in Broome was to take a camel ride along Cable Beach at sunset, this was fantastic, these gentle giants were calm and very easy to ride once they were up on their feet. The camel we rode on was called Harley, very fitting we thought. Ambling along the beach at sunset was a great way to end our stay in Broome.

Our next stop was Eighty Mile Beach; we only stayed a night here but could have stayed 2. When we set up camp we went for a walk to the beach which was only 100mtrs away, over a sand dune when we went over the sand dune the sight that we seen we had not ever seen before, there were fishermen and women from one end of the beach to the other, all within arm’s reach of each other. Some were catching some were not, Ian said he would come over later to have a go and we went back to the van to have lunch and a rest, when we went back everyone had gone and the tide had gone out. Ian still tried his luck with the rod but after seeing some sea snakes in the water he soon gave up. I had a nice walk along the beach and collected some shells.

After this we made a quick call into Port Headland for a look. This was mainly a mining town and did not seem to have a lot to see except the long wharfs and large ships loading and unloading. There were some long trains making their way along the tracks with their loads as well.

We stopped at Karratha for 2 nights and had a look around this area for the day. This is also mainly a mining town with some good fishing. There were other things to see and do in Karratha, but as my shoulder was still sore we took a drive into Dampier to look at the long jetty, the salt mines and the beaches that were there, we also went to a small market held at the local school.

We left early the next morning to head south to Exmouth. We were going to stay 3 nights here as I was going to get a haircut and we wanted to try our hand at snorkelling at the local beaches, where there were coral reefs within 100mts of the shore. On the first day on arrival we did some grocery shopping made an appointment with the hairdresser for the last day we were going to be there and went for a walk along the town beach, we hoped the snorkelling beaches were going to be better than this beach.

Next morning we set of with our lunch and gear set up for the day. On our first stop at a turtle information centre we went down to the beach for a look. We started walking along the rocks that were in the area and while I was looking for some more shells to ad to my collection I slipped over on the rocks and cut my head, which meant going back to town to the emergency center for the doctor to have a look. Three stitches later and a little shaken we decided to continue with day just having a look around the beaches where we were going to have a swim, this is where I discovered that I had also broken my other camera, so we only had the small waterproof camera that we use to take photos in and around the water, although this camera takes good photos it is hard to see what we are aiming at so for the next few days it will be point and hope for the best. 

The beaches on this side of the peninsular were beautiful and very clear. You could see the coral reef out in the sea. We decided to see how I felt the next day and come back again for a swim. The next day I felt ok so we headed off again to one of the beaches called Turquoise Bay for the day, here we swam and had a go at snorkelling. Ian was better than me; he was swimming around like a fish for a few hours getting a good look at the sea life that was in abundance in the area. We spotted a turtle and lots of different fish and coral. After awhile I got out but Ian continued for a while longer. He had a great day.

We headed of the next morning for Carnarvon with another detour along the way. This time it was into Coral Bay, people had told us this was a great swimming area and when we got there we could see why, this was a lovely little seaside town and if we had more time we would have stopped and had a swim and another go at snorkelling, this town is on our to come back to list.

 Coming into Carnarvon where we were booked in for 2 nights, as will most of our stops down the coast will be. We also managed to get another camera to replace one of the cameras that I had broken so we can take some more great photos on our trip.

 Carnarvon is a town that relies on its agricultural and tourism for its survival. We took a drive out to the blowholes, which were amongst the best that we have seen, well worth the drive out there. On the way back we stopped at Bumbucks Plantation to taste the jams and pickles that are handmade on the property, we had heard that the banana jam was worth a taste, even though we were not fans of this we did enjoy the beetroot chutney and caramelized onion and zucchini dip so there went into our shopping basket along with a real banana and pineapple ice-cream. There we also had a close look at the banana trees and how the bananas grew on them. We then took a little train out onto the one mile jetty in town a nice way to spent a few hours looking around the wharf area and the small sheep shearing museum attached. There are great plans for this part of town and we look forward to coming back when they have been completed.

9th September 

We moved on from Fitzroy Crossing and made our way to Broome, before getting there we went into Derby to look at the famous boab prison tree that is said to have held prisoners on the way from Fitzroy Crossing to Broome, it is not known if this is true but what is known to be true was that this was a stopover for the prisoners, usually indigenous people that were held in chains and made to walk the distance from each place.  

  We have been in Broome just over a week but have been keeping it fairly easy as I have had an injury to my shoulder, let’s just say you don’t want to get an injury in Broome.

From the doctor to a chiropractor to the hospital and back to the chiropractor a few days later is not my idea of a holiday.

Anyway we have done a few things while we are here and expect to be here for another week.

Before my injury, we went on a double decker bus tour of the town and some of the places we might have a closer look at during the time we are going to be here. One of the more interesting places we saw and stopped at was the Japanese Cemetery, which holds many of the Japanese pearl divers that had died whilst collecting pearl shell in the early years of pearl farming for which Broome is famous for.

There were other points of interest along the way such as the churches of the area of which we visited the Catholic church later in the week, and the local prison which is right in the middle of town, it appears that the prison was built first and was out of town first and the town has been built around it.

On the 5^th September we went on a fishing charter. We were picked up at 7.30am and taken to the beach area where we were ferried out to the boat that would take us out to where we were to catch our fish for the day, this was a mixed success day as for the first hour I was not very well but after this the fish started coming, as soon as we put our lines in the water we were pulling them in again. We were able to bring home five good size fish but we put back at least 50. We also seen a pod of whales and dolphins in the distance, all in all it was a good day.

We had a day rest on this day we went to Ganthium Point to try to find the dinosaur foot prints that were in the area and could only be viewed when the tide was really low, we could not find them and after reading the some info on them we found out they were not easy to find but we still found the area very pretty and even had a walk along this part of the beach. 

Then we went on another 4WD tour, this one was to Cape Levique, a very beautiful part of this area.  Our first stop was to Beagle Bay, where we were able to take a look at a church that was built by some catholic monks with the help from the indigenous people in the area using materials from the area. The alter inside the church was made from mother of pearl and the history surrounding the church was very interesting.

 We stopped off at Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm. Here we had a guided tour of how  pearl farming has evolved through the years, from collecting the shells mainly for the mother of pearl and then how pearls were made by inserting a small piece of another shell was placed inside a live shell then placed back into the sea for 2 years so as a pearl could grow. As they also raise the shells to harvest the pearls the period of time between growing the shell large enough to take the implant and harvesting the pearl is 7 years. This farm has been in the same family since its start for three generations. After a lovely lunch it was onto the next destination an aboriginal community that had become fairly self sufficient in that they had set up a few business ventures off their own one being a shell farming operation where they are farming these shells that they can use in many different ways.  One of the ways is to collect the meat inside and sell it off and then polish the shells themselves and sell these as well. The other is a camping venture, they have set up deluxe tents throughout the area to take advantage of the views over the ocean and rent these out to tourists who want to get away for a few days. This is a very popular spot and booking way ahead is essential.

Our day ended with a swim in a quiet bay close by followed by afternoon tea and the sun setting in the horizon, great day. We would recommend this tour to anyone visiting this area.

4/9/2011

We drove into Fitzroy Crossing deciding which caravan Park to choose from, there were 2. We decided to go into the old Fitzroy Crossing Inn Van Park, this was a basic park with power and water, all we needed for 2 nights. On the day we arrived we found we had time to take the 3pm cruise up Geikie Gorge, this was a one hour boat ride up the Fitzroy River into Geikie Gorge with our guide telling us the history behind Fitzroy Crossing and it surrounds. The gorge itself was pretty, but the crocodiles that lay on the banks of the river were what had everyone entranced, there were quite a few. This is a great way to see this gorge but you could also do a walk along the river, but today was too hot for us.

On returning to the van park we decided to have tea in the restaurant that was attached to the park, this was a good decision, we both had Barramundi and it was good.

On Friday we went for another 4WD into Windjana and Tunnel Creek National Parks, this road was not as bad as some of the roads we have been on but it was long. At Windjana there was another gorge, this time we took the walk along the river bed, this was hard going as it was a gravely sand that we were walking on, but it was well worth it as we got really close to some more crocodiles that were laying on the sandy banks, we were no more than 3mts away from them. The scenery in this gorge was as good as all the others and we enjoyed this sometimes shady walk.

We drove back to Tunnel Creek National Park, although not a huge Nat Park it was a different sort of experience The walk started out in bright sunlight as we made our way up another river bed, as we got further along it started to get rocky and we had to climb over rocks to get to the start of the true walk. This was a cave or a tunnel which went on for 800mts, we waded through waist deep water in a few places and it was very dark for most of the way, we did have torches with us as recommended by the girl at the caravan park. This was a challenge for me as I am not too fond of the dark, but was it was worth it to see this interesting part of WA.

30th August

What an amazing few days we have had. We left Kununurra on Monday and headed to a place called Warmun or sometimes Turkey Creek. On the way we had a detour to Wyndam, we wanted to see the 5 rivers lookout. When we found the turnoff for the lookout it showed that it was not suitable to take our van up, we noticing that there was a van parked in the car park we debated whether or not to leave ours, the couple belonging to the van returned and reassured us that it was well worth leaving the van and going for a look at the top, and yes it was worth the trip, the views were amongst the best we have seen on our trip and the van was still there when we returned to it.

We found a free camp site just outside of Turkey Creek to park the van. This is a popular spot and you need to get there early as it fills up very fast. As we were only there for 2 nights we did not set everything up.

The next morning we were up early to start our trip out to the Bungle Bungles which are situated in Purnululu National Park. It was a 53km 4WD road through a cattle station before we made it to the visitor center.

Once we had paid our entry fee, studied the map of the area and made our decision on which direction to take first we headed off on yet more 4WD roads another 27km to Cathedral Gorge and Piccaninny Walk and lookout. The lookout was a fairly easy walk along a dry river bed and took around 45mins, when we got to the end the outlook was of flat plains with beehive shaped domes that were stripped with black and red bands of earth layered down over millions of years then as time has gone on erosion has formed these extraordinary formations.

We then headed back down the track to head the other way to Cathedral Gorge, although we have seen a lot of gorges, each one has a uniqueness about it this one being no different. We again made our way up a river bed into a canyon, the sides went straight up and the colours were vibrant and seemed to bounce of the walls. On the way we were lucky enough to spot a couple of local lizards on the track, on was sunning himself on the rocks as we walked by and the other was having a drink at one of the few water holes left in the area. At the end of the walk we were greeted with a huge amphitheatre with an area that looked as though you could have been spending the day at the beach and not in the outback of Australia, there was sand and a waterhole, although at this point I would not swim in it as it looked a little stagnant, but this did not take away the atmosphere of the place. This was a nice spot to have morning tea and relax a little.

It was then back to where we had left the car and head of to the next destination, back up the 27kms and then another 20kms of 4WD, this time it was a chasm that we were going to explore, called Echidna Chasm, this was a 45min walk that starts off on a river bed out in the hot sun, then goes into a cool narrow chasm with walls towering up to 200mts high, this area does not see sunlight for most of the day, the only time it does see it is at around midday and then the walls of the chasm light up with yellows, oranges and reds, it is again amazing. There is a surprise at the end of the chasm, what seems to be the end is not, there are large boulders that seem to be the end but if you look closer and with a little climbing there is a further 100mts to go and it gets narrower as you go in. Above you can see rocks that have fallen and have become jammed in the narrow opening above.

We ended the drive with a quick walk up a small hill to a lookout that gave a great view of the area, it was then time to make the long drive back along the road to our campsite for a well earned rest before going to Fitzroy Crossing, where we will spend a few more days exploring and relaxing.

22nd August

Today was a first for us, it was the first time we were a little disappointed. We took a 4 wheel drive track to a place called Black Rock Falls; the only problem was that there were no water coming over the falls. This would have been a beautiful spot if the water was flowing but it was still a pretty spot and a nice drive to take anyway.

On the way back we stopped off at a couple of springs that were in the area, because of the lack water in this area, the first stop did not look to inviting for a swim. The second one however did hold a little more water than the first one. We stopped here for lunch and had a paddle in the water, but the water was a little chilly for a complete dip.

We started back but decided to make a detour along another track that would lead us to the Old Ivanhoe crossing, this was a nice spot for Ian to try his hand at fishing again although with no luck.

We made our way back to the caravan park slowly, stopping along the way so as Ian could put his fishing line in the water.