Carnarvon - Geraldton WA

We left Carnarvon for perhaps the most uneventful road trip of our holiday to Geraldton - very few road trains, the scenery was very flat and scrubby for most of the way until we were approaching Geraldton and then we started to come into civilisation again, with traffic and traffic lights etc. until we reached our Caravan Park stop for the night a bit away from the main town precincts and close to a beach. During our drive we saw more goats than cattle, some sheep and one echidna (scurrying across the road). The goats were wild (feral) and roamed in family packs of Billy (with his beard and horns), several Nannys and all of their Kids.

Typical country between Carnarvon and Geraldton

View toward Indian Ocean from roadside lookout

We went for a walk to the beach, which is a headland, and saw a lighthouse that looked like a lighthouse should look - with bright red and white stripes and a light on top - so many nowadays are just a steel tripod style structure. The beach was typical of most of the beaches we have seen over here, not much surf, but it was windy and there were a couple of wind surfers having fun and one lone board rider trying to catch waves on a bit of a reef off shore. However we have noticed that they allow anyone to drive along the beach and even have access roads onto the beach. So as I said, this day was quite uneventful, but we arrived safely and that always makes it a good day, for which we thank God each and every time we stop to eat and before we leave each morning.

Lighthouse at Geraldton

Beach at Geraldton

As this is a small update, there is something I have been meaning to tell you for quite some time. That's the "Wander's Wave" - as I call it. Ever since we passed Charters Tower in Qld we have been caught up in the "Wave" - whenever another caravan (or campervan or camper trailer) pass, the driver (mostly, sometimes the passenger) give a little wave, which I then return. The wave comes in a variety of forms - the most common being all of the fingers of one hand (doesn't matter which one) being lifted off of the steering wheel whilst the thumb stays attached to the steering wheel. Other varieties include just one or two fingers being raised - and no one takes offence at that - a full hand wave taken wholly off of the steering wheel and least of all just a nod of the head. I would say that 90% of the "Wanders" (not always Grey Nomads either) do this and those who don't always seem to have a sour look on their face. Some cars will wave but not many. As I said not all "Wanders" are Grey Nomads - although the majority are - we have come across a lot of foreign young people, mostly backpackers, and even some parents with their children, whom they are home schooling.

Broome - Carnarvon WA

We left late from Broome in the rain on Thursday morning 6th June not knowing if the roads would be open south - after record-breaking rainfall for June in living history (remember "it just doesn't rain in June in Broome"). When we got back to Hwy 1 they had a sign saying that Hwy 1 was open but all side roads to 80 Mile Beach were closed, so we just carried on until we reached Sandfire Roadhouse 315 Kms from Broome and stopped for the night. 

 Next morning 7th June, we took off for Port Hedland and the closer we got the more we could see that this was mining country - road trains going back and forth and 4WD vehicles with long antennas identifying them as mine's vehicle - they are all over the place - I think that every employee must be issued with one. 

 Coming into Port Hedland for lunch we saw quite a lot of termite mounds with white tops, but as we got closer we could identify the white tops (some coloured) as safety helmets - it would appear that when your helmet is no good this is where you bring it to rest, we even saw one where the termites had continued to build their nest on top of the helmet. 

Helmets on Termite Mounds near Port Hedland

Just as you enter Port Hedland there is a welcome bay off the side of the road with a huge circular sculpture that is supposed to represent the area - it has very hard red reinforced concrete for the base part and the top is made from steel (see photo). 

Entry Monument to Port Hedland

It's not too far from there to the main area of the town where we stopped for lunch at a small park right on the harbour - it very much reminded me of Newcastle (in its heyday) but much smaller, although the ships coming and going where just as huge as those that still come to Newcastle for coal and wheat now.

Port Hedland Harbour

Sea Salt Pile at Port Hedland

We topped up with fuel and headed off for Karratha, but we didn't go into town but stopped at a rest stop just outside of town where the road trains stop for their obligatory rest times. We felt really small and insignificant next to these huge road trains - a four trailer road train has 82 wheels compared to our eight wheels (well nine if we count the spare - but then each trailer also has at least two spares, so that would bring their count to 90).

Road Train at Karratha

We left early on Sat. 8th June for Carnarvon 640 Kms (one of our longest runs in a day) so as we could go to church and have a full rest day. They don't have a Baptist church here in Carnarvon so we went to the Church of Christ church. I don't know what it is but we seem to pick churches that sing songs that we have never heard, every one was new - they had pre-recorded music on video that had been professionally dubbed with the words and a singing voice included which was really off putting , especially when the lass leading and the preacher had really good voices. I still prefer the way we do it!

 Driving down here was pretty drab - lots of dead scrub, but Ruth was quite excited to see green spinifex grass everywhere - she says everywhere we have been before the spinifex was brown (I couldn't tell the difference). We also saw lots of dead kangaroos and whistling kites (they don't seem to be as road savvy as the Queensland ones), cattle and one feral cat (we saw a few live ones too). We actually saw one poor kite go under the wheels of a road train coming towards us - they just don't want to leave the road kill, if I hadn't have slowed a couple of times we would have hit them also. We also had a few close calls with cattle - they just wander out onto the road (no wonder they get killed as a road train either can't or won't slow down for them). 

We woke refreshed this morning, went to church, then did some fruit and veg shopping - this area is the market garden region for Perth and environs - it has lots of banana plantations, mangos (unfortunately out of season now), and most anything else you can think of. The only problem was that the prices right out of the packing sheds weren't that much cheaper than the supermarkets and Ruth said it is probably the stuff they can't ship because it is too ripe. 

So we packed our lunch and drove to the Mile Long Jetty here which they wanted $4 each to walk on it or $7 to take the ancient train out there.

One Mile Jetty History

Ruth and Mile Long Jetty at Carnarvon

We decided to do neither, so we just took some photos and drove back to town where we stopped at the boat ramp and had our lunch in the car whilst we fed the seagulls - we were right near the fish cleaning table and there were two huge carcasses (that had plenty of meat still on them - just been filleted) in the garbage bin, so I took them out and threw them on the rocks near the water and a large seagull at least twice the size of the regular gulls (same as ours at home) came and started getting stuck into the fish with the crows. I think the fish were bonitos and they were at least a metre long. 

Big Gull at Carnarvon

From there we went and did some supply shopping at Woolies, filled up with fuel and then went to see the OTC Tracking Dish that Carnarvon was famous for until it closed down in 1987 after tracking Halley's Comet. It was built to support NASA's Gemini and Skylab programme and was the first and last station to communicate with space capsules leaving earth's orbit and then at splashdown.

OTC Dish at Carnarvon

 Tomorrow we leave here for Geraldton and from there we are off to see the Pinnacles

The Horizontal Falls in the Kimberleys WA

Broome Half Day Tour Route (in blue)

Woke up this morning (still in Broome) to raindrops on the roof of the caravan and as the morning worn on they got louder and louder. Not a good omen for our trip to the Horizontal Waterfalls.

{An Aside - you would think that a town, Broome, that is smack in the Monsoon Tropics where they get heaps of rain in Summer, would have a good drainage system. No, with the amount of rain we have had, which in the scheme of things isn't that much, just consistent, the gutters here are overflowing and the water in town is right across the roads and any dirt roads are closed. How they cope in the wet season makes me wonder. }

However my morning was brightened up when I opened my emails and had a lovely YouTube birthday greeting (with an epic production of "Happy 68th Birthday Grandpap") that made my day no matter how it went from here on.

We were to be picked up at the van park at 11:30 am and by this time it was just sprinkling - the bus went around to the other resorts and van parks to pick up our contingent of passengers for the 12 o'clock flight, which pretty much left on time after we were given our safety instruction and yellow life jacket to put around our waist. Ruth and I said our prayers after breakfast, but the photo just happened to turn out as though that was happening at the airport, but we were really being told how to fit our life jackets.

Saying our prayers before takeoff

These seaplanes also have wheels so they can land and take off on ground or water. The first photo shows the route we were to take - the Broome Half Day Tour - so after a bit of a wait for another plane to land we then took off over Broome, out to the ocean and headed north to Cape Leveque named after the hydrographer of the French ship Geographe which visited there in 1803 - it is now owned by the local aboriginals and is important for the lighthouse stationed there.

Broome - the Circus setting up in town

Unusual sand patterns from the air

Cape Leveque

A lot of the way there it was overcast and rainy, but I managed to get a few good shots. We then turned and headed east as we flew over the Buccaneer Archipelago. The archipelago was named after the English buccaneer and privateer William Dampier, who charted the area in 1688, and consist of up to 1,000 islands across King Sound.

Some Islands of Buccaneer Archipelago

Beautiful isolated beach and shadow of our seaplane

By now the weather had changed from rain to scattered clouds with the sun shining through at times as we crossed some of the Kimberley coastline and approached Talbot Bay where we will land on the water. By now the sun was shinning so before we landed we did several passes over the Horizontal Waterfalls. There are actually two of them, the smallest opening is land-locked, but is the most spectacular because of the smaller opening of 6 metres into the bay, whereas the larger one of 12 metres, is not so spectacular, but is still quite a sight. 

The tides today were not the biggest, only 6 metres whereas the very large tides can reach close to 12 metres. but it was enough for us to see white water flowing. In case you don't already know - the falls are the result of the high tides up in this area flowing into bays through the narrow openings causing a quick flowing current going in, but there is so much water trying to get in that it mounts up and the height on the ingoing side is higher than it is on the inside causing a waterfall effect, then as the tide falls all of that water now trapped inside the bay only has this small opening to get out, so its like a stampede to see who can get out first and fastest causing the turbulence and opposite effect that's now know as the Horizontal Waterfalls. We saw the effect of the tide falling in our photos.

First photo of the Horizontal Falls

Closer view of the Horizontal Falls

View of both Horizontal Falls

After we had our fly-over of the Horizontal Falls the pilot got into position for his water landing, which was a bit hairy because there was quite a bit of air turbulence and he had to come very close to a cliff before his turn onto the landing area. The water was not smooth, had a bit of a chop so the landing was choppy also - however we made it and taxied to the pontoon where we were to disembark. When we stepped onto the pontoon it was like stepping onto one of those fair ground attractions where the floor is moving and tilting and throwing you off of balance. One poor lady, who was already feeling sickly after the landing, couldn't hold it in and let loose over the side and prematurely fed the sharks.

Our seaplane and pontoon.

I was a bit worried for Ruth as she didn't have any floatation device on and not being able to swim, with sharks in the water and no railings along the edge of the pontoons (which were connected by equally wobbly small bridges - which fortunately did have hand rails), but she managed quite well. We were directed to the top deck (under the helicopter deck) where we were met by a hostess who welcomed us and offered us water, cordial, tea or coffee - most went for the water and cordial, so we all must have had a bit of upset tummies.

They had two hostesses (gals) and three hosts (guys), who live and work on the houseboat for two weeks and then get three days off in Broome, where they have to find their own accommodation etc (I know this because one of the gals was having a bit of a complaint to us guests about it - especially because there is nothing to do in Broome - except get drunk - her words).

Whilst we were having our drinks the previous party was getting ready to leave on their jet boat ride to the falls (they had been delayed because the new bus driver had taken them to the wrong airport in Derby - thus putting the whole day's schedule out). So we were then asked if we wanted to swim with and feed the sharks, and one huge groper. There were ten in our party of guests but only five of us decided to do it - it wasn't all that scary as the cage where we swum was in the centre of one of the pontoons and the sharks who came for feeding were only gummy sharks, although the guy assured us that they could take a finger if not careful - he was more afraid of the groper than the sharks as its mouth was big enough to take his whole arm.

 I fed a gummy and swam under water to look at them from under the water but all I could see was their tummies because their heads were out of the water begging for food - I did see the groper, but it wasn't real clear because the water was a bit murky.

Bernie feeding a gummy shark

 After that I went into one of their swanky ensuites and had a quick shower and got changed and by the time I went to the upper deck everyone else was tucking into lunch of BBQ'd barramundi and salad. There was plenty and I even had seconds, as did Ruth. By this time the jet boat had returned with the previous guests and it was our turn.

The jetboat that took us to the Falls

Once again we had to don life jackets after being told not to inflate them unless you fell into the water - we wondered if this happened often. The seats on the jet boat were like the saddle for a horse only made of softer material and instead of a pommel they had a metal hand grip - which we found was an essential part of the seat when we took off at speed and turned almost back on ourselves and leaned over at about a sixty degree angle, also when we hit the turbulence caused by the horizontal falls. 

 Ruth and I were the second couple to board, the first couple took the back seat, so Ruth decided that we should take the front seats, which I was a bit dubious as I thought that they would be the most vulnerable to bow wave splashes, but we took them and yes we did cop most of the bow wave splashes, but not as much as I had imagined. First, he took us to the large falls and went straight through them without stopping to explain what he was going to do.

Approaching the large Falls

 There wasn't much white water there but it was certainly moving swiftly and the turbulence bucked and rocked the boat quite a bit and this is where we got wet because we went in against the flow, coming back through with the flow was quite smooth in comparison. He did this again and then paused right in the middle of the falls, but he was still registering that the boat was going 10 knots, so he was compensating for the outgoing flow of the tide.

Holding station at 10 knots in the large Falls.

We then went straight for the small falls but stopped short of going over them, much to everyone's relief, because they were flowing much faster and there was quite a lot of white water. He backed away and explained that these falls were falling about two metres at the moment and he wasn't allowed to risk it unless it was under one and an half metres - even at that I'm not sure I would have wanted to do it, I was quite happy just to go close to it and see it.

Approaching the small Falls

Small Falls - this far and no further, thanks!

After messing about a bit more and going back through the wide falls he took us for a bit of a cruise around the bay and into an inlet where an old dilapidated pontoon was moored, which he explained was his and his co-workers accommodation before they set up the new pontoons and house boat. He had some pet bat fish there which he fed with bread and they came right up and took it out of his hand. Here is where the I took the photo showing the two tide marks on the side of the rock face. The really dark mark is called the Oyster mark as this is where the high tide always reaches, but the lighter mark above this is where the bigger high tides reach and when they have the king tides at Easter and Christmas they reach another one and a half meters above that mark.

Notice the tide marks on the rock formations

We then went back to the pontoons and house boat where the next lot of guests had arrived - it was about 4 pm by now and these where the overnighters - we weren't allowed in to see the accommodation, it was on the lower deck of the house boat.

Pontoon, plane and houseboat

We had a quick drink and then left in the seaplane for an hour flight back to Broome - Ruth volunteered to be co-pilot going back and it made me think how vulnerable we were on this flight, if anything happened to the pilot (I sat behind him and he kept on cracking his neck), it would have been up to Ruth to land the plane - not. Also it was a single engine plane so anything happening to the engine would mean no back-up - glad I only thought of this on the way home!

Ruth flying us home.

Ruth managed to get a parting shot of the falls and the jet boat and I managed to get a couple of nice shots of the Kimberley's from the air, before we were in the clouds and then the rain for the rest of the way back.

Parting shot of the jetboat heading for the horizontal falls.

View of the Kimberleys from the seaplane

We obviously landed safely and were back at the van park by 5:30 pm where it was still raining and rained all night and in the morning and most of the way to Sandfire Roadhouse (315 Kms from Broome) where we are now staying the night and heading out for Port Hedland or Karratha tomorrow.

Broome WA

We are in Broome - what can I say about Broome? 

No much, I'm afraid! Oh yes, I did get my broken tooth fixed this morning and it only cost me $220 - tell your kids to train up as dentists @ $220 for a quarter of an hour's work, that's $880 per hour - pretty good money even if half is taken up by overheads (which I doubt). 

Cable Beach

Broome is famous for its beautiful, fabulous Cable Beach - see photo - our beaches around the Port and Newcastle beat it hands down - there's virtually no surf, there are stingers (last one caught was on May 15th - but they could still be there), the sand is white and fine with chunks of coral and rocks in it and it was raining (never rains in June in Broome). About the only thing about it that was better than our beaches were the man made structures, cafes and walks etc., obviously intended to attract the swank set of people. 

It started raining (sprinkling) last night and early morning it came down quite heavily - locals are gob smacked because it shouldn't rain in June - it sort of cleared up, but stayed overcast most of the day.

We went down to the point where the lighthouse is, called Gantheaume Point, named after the French Captain who first saw the point, didn't really inspect it properly as he thought it was an island and called it Gantheaume Island. 

Rock Formations at Gantheaume Point

More Rock Formations at Gantheaume Point

There are some very jagged and dangerous rock formations there that seem to be eroding very quickly and the sign says they have found lots of dinosaur foot-prints down in the sandstone at the base of the cliff, which can only be accessed a very low tide and they don't advise to go looking for them (or even tell you where they would be if you did - secret information). 

This point is very significant for the local aboriginal people because this is where, after they die, they come back and are re-born. They also state that they have always been here and that their Gods came from the north. 

Ruth found a new boyfriend

After that we drove to the main town area where there are three streets that are called China Town although we didn't see many Chinese shops or restaurants, but we did see lots of cultured pearls - a single large pearl drop on a gold chain started a just over $1,000 and a string went for $8,000 and up to $34,000. 

A Mosaic at the Entrance to the Shopping Centre in China Town

So that is Broome, I think it is aimed at the more affluent people, we looked at some real estate advertisements and starting prices for units $400 to $500 thousand and houses over the million dollar mark. 

We are hoping for a clear, fine day tomorrow for our flight over the Kimberley Coast!

Derby WA

We had intended to go to Broome after the Bungles, but we decided we needed a break to let our spirits catch up to our bodies, and so be re-directed to Derby where I believe that has now happened. Derby is a quiet. small town on the north coast of Western Australia where the tidal differences are the greatest in the Australia. Yesterday it was a one metre low tide followed by an eight metre high a seven metre difference, but at the right time of the year it can be as much as twelve metres. The water here is never clear as the continual ebb and flow of the high tides just won't allow the silt to settle.

Derby Jetty at Low Tide

Derby Jetty - Flow Tide

We haven't done much whilst here except take a trip back down the highway to see the 1,200 year old Boab Tree that was used as a prison in the late 1800's and near by is the longest watering trough in the Southern Hemisphere, 120 metres, which was built in 1916 to water up to 500 head of cattle at a time before they were shipped out of Derby to Fremantle.

Boab Prison Tree - 1,200 yrs old

Southern Hemisphere's Longest Water Trough 120 Mtrs

Apart from that we have been been taking photos of boab trees at all times of the day, but especially sunset as Derby is renowned for its beautiful sunsets, but some of the locals have been saying that they haven't been having really good ones lately.

Tree with Whistling Kite at Sunset

Same Boad tree in pre-sunset

Also the Jetty is a favourite spot for sunset pictures and each time we have been down there at sunset there have been quite a few touristy people taking photos - like us. We also went down there when the tide was flowing in and it comes in really fast and the currents are very strong - you can see the dirty, muddy, silty water just swirling around the jetty piers and wonder how you would fare if you accidently fell in - then over by the bank where some aboriginals were fishing, one guy decides to jump in and have a swim, so not only was he risking being swept away, but we were told that there is a big old crocodile that hangs around there and was only seen the previous day.

Derby Jetty - High Tide

Derby Jetty at twilight

Today we went to church at the Derby Baptist Church - it is only a small church, built onto the side of the manse, but they have a really small core of dedicated members who also hold services at the Curtin Immigration Detention Centre and practically run "Kingdom Aviation" which was founded to spread the Gospel in remote schools and pastoral communities by air. This morning they had about 15 men from the detention centre (with two women guards) who knew very little English. Apparently, there was to be three interpreters who were also supposed to come and translate the service for these guys, but something happened that meant they couldn't come, so we had a very short sermon because the pastor was expecting it to take a long time due to being translated in three other languages.

So now that we have had a good rest and have caught up with ourselves, we leave tomorrow for Broome where I have an appointment with a local dentist to get my broken tooth fixed on Tuesday and on Wednesday we have booked ourselves a tour to fly by seaplane and then catch a speed boat over the horizontal falls. Ruth made an executive decision that this would be our big splurge for this trip and as it will be on my birthday, well that was a bonus for me.