How’s it going everyone?
It’s been a couple of weeks since our holiday to Western Australia’s northern country and we’ve finally recovered from that wonderful expedition. Boy, oh boy, this vacationing business can be extremely tiring. It’s sort of like being retired I guess! I posted a bunch of pictures to the blog (too many most likely).
After a 400km+ drive to the airport at Perth on July 5, we hopped on a plane to Broome, the home of Western Australia’s famous Cable Beach. I think Broome is about 2,600 kms north of Perth and its origins in the early 1800s stem from the pearling industry. It was actually attacked by Japan in WWII. We stayed at Cable Beach backpackers about 6 kms outside of Broome and just next to Cable Beach. Accommodations were modest but a short 300m walk brought us to the beach where we started our recuperation under the hot, winter sun. They don’t have winter and summer up here in the north: they have the wet season (Nov. To March ) when the cyclones and rain come, and the dry (April to Oct.) when it is blue skies every day. Both seasons are hot! Cable Beach is absolutely huge. It’s 22 kms in length and with tides of 10-12m you need to pack a lunch to hike to the water at low tide. We had to rent an umbrella and a couple lounge chairs – otherwise, with our fragile tourist skin we would fry within a half hour. Over the next couple of days we hired a scooter (fun!), wandered about downtown Broome, visited aboriginal art galleries, clambered about the rocks and beach of Gantheoume Point, watched amazing sunsets and generally played tourist.
We took a cultural day tour out to 350,000 acre Anderson station (not considered a large farm)which is now owned and managed by aboriginals. There we went on a camel ride into the station’s outback, stopped at an old sheep shearing shed, went to a presentation on aboriginal artefacts and celebrations at the cultural centre and had billy tea and damper near some aboriginal rock art at an ancient living site.
At 6:30 a.m. one fine morning we boarded a 20 person 4WD bus/truck along with 18 other people to begin our 7 day tour of the Gibb River Road culminating in a trip around the Bungle Bungles (Purnalulu National Park). In addition to us Canadians there were a number of teachers exploring northwest Australia from Melbourne and from the Goulburn area (who know Jenny and Dave!), a family from Switzerland, a couple from Belgium, an exchange teacher from England, a lady from Ireland, a gentleman from France. Our truck was named Tammy (after the driver’s ex-girlfriend) and the supply trailer was Tessie. Everything has a nickname in Australia.
Day 1 initially included a fair bit of driving. We stopped for a brief look at the Prison Boab tree in Derby. This hollow tree was so large that it was used in the old days to imprison aboriginal people after capture while trying to escape from the stations (farms). We moved on to Tunnel Creek gorge. Armed with our torches (flashlights) we entered into one side of a mountain and walking through a very cold creek, came out approximately 1 km further on the other side of the mountain. It was huge but not good for photography as there was no light! That evening we camped at Windjana Gorge. Thesunlight was fading and a couple of us raced into the start of the gorge to see if we could see some freshwater crocodiles (we did). Later in the evening everybody was introduced to sleeping in swags which was new to all of us . Tents were available but our driver made it clear it wasn’t the traditional Aussie way to camp. Boyd’s swag was already named Beanie and Nancy got to christen hers and she named it Alberta. The official flashlights were named Dave and Donna and the shovel’ s name was Dougie – get it? Why did we have a shovel you ask? Well, many nights we camped in the middle of the outback and if you wanted to go to the washroom you had to take Dougie with you; I’ll leave it at that.
After breaking camp on day 2 we hiked into Windjana Gorge. The gorge is an ancient reef and fossils could be seen embedded in its rock walls. It was spectacular during the day and we saw a number of freshwater crocodiles lounging about the water. They are quite passive but nobody went for a swim! The saltwater crocs are a different story. That afternoon, after crossing a creek, we hiked into Bell’s gorge (it’s shaped like a bell) where everybody went for a swim even though the water was chilly. The hike had been hot! You could swim up to the multi-tiered waterfalls, paddle about 2 swimming holes and safely jump off a number of rocks into the pools. A monitor lizard was sunning itself on the rocks there, too. That evening we simply went bush and camped in the middle of nowhere next to a pretty creek surrounded by majestic boab trees. It was another night under the stars after a campfire.
On Day 3 Galvin’s Gorge was our first destination. While not big Galvin’s was a pretty gorge with a great swimming pool, a high waterfall you could swim to and then sit under or behind and a great big tree with a swing rope. Climbing and swinging from it was fun! After fuelling up (diesel at $2.28/L) we drove on to Manning Gorge and spent most of the day hiking in (3 km), lunching, swimming and hiking out. And it was hot – brutally hot. To get to the start of the hike you had to swim across a river by taking off your boots and socks and putting them, along with your towel, camera, lunch and anything else you brought, into a little Styrofoam box and swim across the stream pushing the box ahead of you. After a 3 km hike across barren, rocky terrain we clambered down into a beautiful gorge with pretty waterfalls, a great swimming hole and lots of places to explore. That evening we camped in the middle of an outback gravel pit. It wasn’t as romantic as the previous night, but as soon as darkness descended you couldn’t see 5m in front of you anyway. Many of us simply walked out into the scrub and spinifex and slept there. It took a little convincing but Nancy begrudgingly conceded to do this. She didn’t want to get any closer to the snakes and spiders then we already were (and she didn’t see the point in sleeping in prickly spinifex grass when there was a perfectly good gravel pit nearby!!!) By now, everyone was able to indentify each person’s characteristic snore. And believe me, the sound of a snore in the outback resonates a long way.
Day 4 saw us travel to the famous 1,000,000 acre El Questro station (not the biggest station in Australia). Gibb River Road is a notoriously rough gravel road and you don’t see many vehicles other than 4WDs. That morning we came across one poor couple who had totalled their rental 4WD. We stopped to see if everybody was OK. They were with the exception for a few scrapes and bruises, and being pretty shaken up. We gave them a lift to the next roadhouse and continued on our way. Soon after, however, there was a loud bang and shudder from our bus. Tessie (the trailer) lost a wheel and the 2” stub axle was snapped off. We looked for the wheel for a while but saw no sign of it. Its going to remain in the middle of the scrubland for decades to come. The supply trailer contained all our supplies, food, backpacks, stoves, etc. There was nothing to do but set up for lunch and tea on the side of the road, and have a game of football while our guide made arrangements for a new vehicle. Every vehicle that passed stopped and visited and offered help. We transferred as much as we could to the bus and eventually moved on. Nobody was at all fazed by this slight delay with most seeing it as part of the adventure. In the afternoon we hiked El Questro gorge and stayed in El Questro station campground in the evening. All the ladies were ecstatic because there were showers, flush toilets, washing machines, etc. etc. Another driver brought a newer and bigger bus for us that evening and we transferred everything to it.
The following morning saw us hiking amongst rocks and palm trees to Zebedee Hot Springs where we lounged about the little warm pools of water. Only the commoners were allowed in the springs in the morning. In the afternoon and evening, they surround the natural springs with tea lights, wine, etc. and only the wealthy clients staying at El Questro homestead (i.e. Elton John, Elle) are permitted in. A night at the homestead runs up to $11 000! No wonder they get the hot springs to themselves. Later in the day we went for a swim in the pool at Emma gorge. The hike was strenuous and everybody was dying for a swim but the water was cold, cold, cold. Only a few went in, the rest just cooled their feet. Boyd had to swim to the waterfalls just to say that he swam in all the gorges. After hiking out we pushed on to the Bungle Bungles. While we got to camp just after sunset, it took us 2 hours to travel the last 50 kms. The rough winding corrugated gravel road was brutal to drive – it is said to be the worst in Australia.
The next day we hiked amongst the hills of the Bungle Bungles. Under the hot morning sun, we walked amongst the dome shaped striated hills to Picininny lookout. They are quite amazing to see! The red stripes are oxidizing rock and the black stripes are a fungus that grows on the limestone layers. The rock underneath is white! Right after that we hiked into Cathedral gorge which, with the cool air due to high cliff walls blocking the sun and the vast underground chamber at the end, certainly felt like being in a large cathedral. They once brought in a choir and had a concert in Cathedral gorge as the acoustics are great! However, the highlight was a helicopter trip over the Bungles. The helicopter had no doors so we had a great view. From the air, you can really see how the bungles are created. The rock formations were vast, varied and inspiring and cover a huge area. It was easy to understand why they have become a tourist destination over the last few decades (if you want to tackle the roads). While known to the indigenous peoples for thousands of years the Bungles were so remote they weren’t really discovered by the Department of tourism until the early 1980s – not so long ago. Only a small area of the park is open to tourism, the rest is considered sacred site to the local Aborigines. After that trip, we hiked into Echidna chasm which was so narrow that you could touch both sides with your hands. The rock here was completely different from the domes at the other end of the park.
We spent our last night on tour in the Bungles, then headed to Kunnanurra the next day. Kunnanurra is a mining town set on the shores of Lake Argyle – a manmade lake larger than Sydney harbour! We said goodbye to all our fellow passengers (most were continuing on to Darwin) and spent a day poking about in Kunnanurra. All the tours of Lake Argyle and the diamond mines were full, so we looked around the art galleries in town and found an ochre painting of the bungles from the air, done in the traditional dot style by a local Aboriginal lady. (Ochre is basically ground rocks of varying colours)
We flew back to Broome for the last few days and rented a car so it would be easier to get around. We went to the movies at Sun Pictures. This is the oldest outdoor cinema in Australia and you sit in old fashioned deck chairs out under the stars and the palm trees (and the occasional plane flying over as it takes off from the airport a block away!) and eat ice cream while watching a movie. It was great! We met up with a few of the other exchange teachers who were vacationing here, too, and went to the Staircase to the Moon. This phenomenon only occurs when there is a full moon coinciding with extremely low tides (5 or 6 times a year). The moon’s reflection on the mudflats of the bay looks like stairs or a ladder leading to the moon. It was very pretty, and the town holds a market down at the town beach afterwards, so we had dinner there, too.
We spent our last afternoon lazing on the beach – a nice way to end a great vacation!
Cheers from down under,
Boyd and Nancy
