The Humpback Highway at Exmouth

Yesterday we went on a fantastic whale watching tour on the boat Aliikai which is a 20m vessel. We saw so many Humpback whales we lost count and a couple came to within 15m of the boat, obviously making contact with us, putting on a bit of a show, moving from one side of the boat to the other.

I was so busy enjoying the whole whale experience that this is my best still photo which shows only part of the animal's back.

This little video taken with my very ordinary digital still camera is my attempt to catch a glimpse of what it was like to be there.

These massive mammals spend their summer in Antarctica filling up on krill and then head to the waters off the Kimberley coast to breed and calve. They snort as they come above the water. We saw them breech, give the pectoral wave and tail slap as well as just move their humps above the water.

Today we moved south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Blessings to you all and I will post my highlights of Carnarvon next week.

Millstream Chichester NP to Ningaloo Reef

Since the last blog there have been several highlights on our journey south along the west coast of Australia.

From Karratha we took a one-day trip into Millstream-Chichester NP where I walked the “camel trail”. This was a trail set up by cameleers in the 19^th century to get from one watering hole to another. I walked an 8km section between Mt Herbert and Python pool. It was a walk amongst the Spinifex topped Chichester ranges where often I could see forever. It was a wonderful experience to be out there on my own walking along rugged tracks and imagining what it must have been like for people who didn’t know there was a car park 8km away with someone who had a picnic lunch ready to eat!

While we were in Karratha we spent a considerable time trying to digest the enormity of the North West Shelf Gas Venture. The enormity of the project is mind-boggling.

We are currently in Exmouth home of the Ningaloo reef which is a place I have been waiting to see. I had hoped to see the massive whale sharks but they left at the end of July. The marine life here is so diverse and prolific that one can’t really be disappointed. You can see the Humpback whales frolicking in the ocean with or without binoculars. Tomorrow we are going on a whale watching cruise so I will update this page if I get my very own close up photos.

Yesterday we went on a reef cruise and snorkelling tour. The boat was a glass bottom boat so we were treated to some wonderful viewing of the coral and fish even before we got in the water. Before we had moved away from the beach we saw a ray swimming around in the shallows.

Being under water with the coral and the fish was a remarkable and spiritual experience for me. There were schools of pretty fish just swimming around doing what fish do best. They didn’t bother about the people swimming above them. Everything was so quiet, peaceful and beautiful. I swam away from the boat a little and around some enormous coral “bombies”. These were alive with fish, some as small as a 1-2cm in length.

These photos were taken in parts of the Ningaloo reef by Aleksander Nowak. (alekandgina@hotmail.com)

As we head south towards Perth and my flight to Melbourne on the 8^th September we will be visiting Carnarvon, Monkey Mia and Kalbarri before meeting up with friends not far out of Perth. Blessings to everyone.

Karijini National Park ~ 11th-13th August

On the way from Tom Price to Karijini NP we stopped to take a photo of the mountain I climbed. (Well nearly all the way up! I am at last finding the uphill muscles which never seem to get a workout in Koondrook.) This is Mt Bruce.

So here we are in Karijini National Park. We have discovered a fantastic place where mountains and gorges fill the landscape. We set up camp in Dales Campground and headed straight for the gorge.

The first view from the lookout really took our breath away. The cliffs are beautiful and the gorges really deep and scary. A lot of the rock is layered like slate and we walked down to Circular Pool where some people were swimming in the very cold water.

We walked and clambered on up the gorge a few kms, marvelling all the way at the beauty of our world and loving just being here, past lots of Snappy Gums and Paperbark trees, to Fortescue Falls and Fern Pool where more people were swimming in equally cold water.

Back up on top we looked down again at where we'd been. Here you can see Fortescue Falls.

The next day was the day for the challenges of the gorges in the Weano Recreation area.

Once again we marvelled at the view from the lookouts and then made attempts to walk into some of the gorges.

They get wet, slippery and dangerous as this shakily taken photo shows. It is a view of the handrail to help you get into “Handrail Pool” in Weano Gorge. If you want to go any further you have to swim through the pool of very, very, very cold water and enter territory where you need skills that I don’t have!

Hancock Gorge was another beautiful place. To go all the way down this gorge one needs to get wet, too.

The sides of the gorge are truly stunning and are sometimes reflected in the water which flows down the gorge.

During our third day at Karijini NP we explored the lovely relaxing gorge called Kalamina.

We walked for about 3kms enjoying the flat rocks which made for easy walking and the beautiful pools which accompanied us on our journey.

This dragon lizard took up an interesting stance near our campsite. Cute little thing isn't it?

Blessings to you all and we will be in the Pilbara for a little while yet.

Mining in the Pilbara ~ early August

Everything in mining in the Pilbara is massive – the companies (Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton), the trains, the trucks, the machines which work the mines, the piles of iron ore and salt, the ships and the monthly payroll. It is easy enough to find out information about mining here so I have not tried to go into any detail; rather I offer you my simple photos of massive things.

A ship being loaded with iron ore at Port Hedland.

The salt has been washed and is poured out into large stockpiles for drying at Port Hedland.

A machine for putting putting a pile of iron ore onto a conveyor belt at Tom Price mine.

We went on a tour of the Tom Price mine. David got into a disused "bucket".

I am standing next to a small front end loader. See the ladder which come down to enable the driver to get into the driver's seat.

The three locomotives of a train coming from the Marandoo mine near Tom Price, heading for Dampier.

We are now off to explore the ranges and gorges of Karrijini National Park, still in the Pilbara, so take care and I can assure you all, my loyal followers, I think of you often and will always remember my friends and family. Blessings to you all and we will see you again on the west coast.

Barn Hill 17th July ~ 3rd August

Our Beach Holiday

Walking, swimming, bird watching, beautiful sunsets, interesting rock formations, Sunday night roasts and entertainment. We are thoroughly enjoying being here and have extended our stay twice.

Wildlife

I love to watch the Brown Boobies each morning on the beach as they dive to catch their fish in the shallows. There are Pied Oyster Catchers with their striking red beaks and lots of Terns and Sea Gulls. White-bellied Sea Eagles use this place for their hunting ground, too. I have also seen a pair of Lesser Frigatebirds on a few occasions flying across the water.

It has been really exciting to watch Bottle-nosed dolphins and whales (I don't know what sort) frolicking in the sea.

Blessings to you all and we will be off to Port Headland next week.

Kimberley 3 ~ 30th June to 17th July

We are currently at Barn Hill on the west coast where the Indian Ocean is our swimming hole and a working cattle station is our caravan park. Before we arrived here we spent a wonderful 9 days in Derby with a 2 day excursion to Windjana Gorge followed by a week in Broome.

Derby

Our first few days in Derby were rest days after which we explored the town, indulged our penchant for bird watching at the waste-water wetlands and discovered the phenomenon of the massive tides of Derby and King Sound, attended several events of the Boab Festival and watched people tossing their pots over the Derby pier in the hope of catching a sizeable Mud Crab. Several times at the pier I saw a beautiful Brahminy Kite.

One of my highlights in Derby was a concert “Telling Stories Through Music” featuring the Aboriginal opera singer Deborah Cheetham and artists from the West Australian Opera. Deborah gained fame by singing at the opening of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. She has written an opera about the birth of the civil rights movement for Indigenous Australians in 1939 which will be debuted in Melbourne in October 2010.

During our stay in Derby we went to the Mowanjum aboriginal community for a corroboree they stage each year for visitors. This community is made up of 3 separate language groups from the area who share the spirituality of the Wandjina. They have a website which can help understand a great deal about their art, history, culture, spirituality and organisation.

http://www.mowanjumarts.com/aboutus.html

We were treated to a variety of corroborees telling stories about their spirituality. There was also a guest performance by a Torres Strait Islander group which has settled in Derby. I felt really honoured to be there. For the final corroboree dance everyone in the audience was invited to join in and so a large circle of black and white people danced and were joined together in happiness and joyous celebration. They have an arts centre at their community which was opened tonight and houses some amazing art work for sale. I bought a book on Mowanjum spirituality and have been struck by some similarities with Christianity. The Mowanjum people have a living and developing spirituality and a life which embraces much of modern technology. They provide a wonderful place for their children to grow and develop. The children were involved in the corroborees and were as excited as any children would be who are getting dressed up and about to give a concert.

Windjana Gorge

For our visit to Windjana Gorge we packed the caravan tightly and headed off along the notorious Gibb River Road. It was mostly bitumen along the stretch we covered.

After we turned off the GRR the corrugations began and it took us over an hour to do the next 22kms. We were concerned for the caravan but continued anyway looking for the best bits of road and driving slowly to avoid the damage of corrugations.

We set ourselves up in the fantastic camping ground of Windjana Gorge NP, fixed the loose parts of the caravan, cleaned out the red dust and had lunch.

I found a Great Bowerbird and his bower in the middle of the camping ground. It was so neat and clean.

I went for a walk later and made my way into the gorge. What a magic place! I persuaded David to come with me later as the day cooled into evening. We took some photos of the sunset changing the colour of the Napier Range. It turns a beautiful red/brown, rather like Uluru and other ranges we have seen. The colours are vivid at sunset and sunrise, very special times of the day.

On day two I set off early in the morning with the binoculars and the camera and went into the gorge again. The sun was making the place beautiful again. It was cool in the shade and as I arrived at Bandigan rock the sun covered much of the sand and warmed the whole place up.

Later after breakfast we both set out to walk the length of the Gorge walk a distance of 7km return. It was a 5 hour walk for us as we stopped often to look at birds, take photos and marvel at the beauty of the place. We clambered over rocks, trudged through deep sand and scratched our way through prickle bushes. The Lennard River runs through the gorge but there isn’t a real flow of water during the wet season, just some large residual pools joined by a slight flow.

The freshwater crocodiles take advantage of this beautiful place. They sun themselves and swim in the river. They have the north and western part of the gorge to themselves as humans aren’t allowed on that side of the river. It is really a good place to be able to watch the crocodiles in their natural habitat. They are not dangerous unless you interfere with them.

After lunch, when I had recovered from our gorge walk, I took off on the Savannah walk which is a short walk through the savannah grasslands and along the south eastern wall of the ranges. The interpretative signs tell about some of the plants and animals which live around here. I was looking for the Lillimilura Homestead track so that I could visit the ruins of the old police outpost from the 19^th century. I walked around all the campgrounds to no avail until I realised that the walk has been closed for some reason. The walk was not in vain though, as just on sunset, yes beautiful again, I saw something moving in the grass at the side of the campground road. There were 6 or so quail feeding and I was able to get a reasonable look at them but I am still not sure what sort they were.

It is truly a lovely place to be.

Broome

We set off very early in the morning to see if we could find a spot to stay in a caravan park in the fabled Broome, the focus of many people’s holidays. We arrived at 8:40am and booked into the Roebuck Bay Caravan Park, finding a place for our new friends here as well. So much for all the stories about not being able to get a place to stay in Broome in July!

On the first night we took our chairs out to the grass along the front of the caravan park which overlooks Roebuck Bay to view the phenomenon known as “Stairway to the moon”. As the full moon rises it reflects on the exposed tidal mud flats at low tide and creates an impression of a stairway to the moon.

For our stay in Broome we wanted to see and do lots of the things which make it a famous place, to find out why it is that some people come here year after year and spend 3 to 6 months.

We have found:

• Markets – multi-cultural and exciting

• The famous Cable Beach – 22km of beautiful, clear sandy beach which only sometimes is closed due to crocodiles and where thousands of people come to the beach to view the sunset every day. People take camel rides along the beach at sunset and have photos taken with the magic colours of the sunset sky in the background.

• An historical exhibition of the Sisters of St John of God beautifully presented and detailing their work here since the early 20^th century.
• A strong pearling history and lots of pearls to buy – from $20 to over $20,000.
• The working Willie Creek pearl farm.
• The Broome Bird Observatory which we visited at the wrong time of the year to see the thousands of migratory birds which use the rich mudflats to fatten up for the long flight to a variety of destinations north of Australia, some as far away as 10,000kms.
• China Town, the main shopping centre of Broome.
• The deep water port from where live cattle is exported.

• And the Lighthouse where the ospreys have taken over one platform of the tank-like structure for their nest and where some young over-testosteroned young men found rocks from which they jumped into the swirling and dangerous surf.

Some people come to Broome every year just to enjoy the warm winter here.

Barn Hill

From Broome we have decided (although all decisions are subject to change without notice!) to follow the Warlu Way to Coral Bay.

http://www.warluway.com.au/

Our first stop is a relaxing beach holiday here at Barn Hill. This farm-stay spot, on a working cattle station, is more than a caravan park. It has its own little recreation area where you can sit with friends or enjoy a little “something” from their very homely shop. Often they have something “on” for tea. Tonight it was a sausage sizzle, Sunday it will be a roast dinner and on Wednesdays they light the BBQ for people to bring their own meat and cook and spend time together. Today they also had a bowls tournament (bare feet essential) on their very own bowling green. This lasted all afternoon and judging by the standard of competition there are many bowlers on holiday.

I expect to spend much time on the beach here before we leave on the 24^th July.

Blessings to you all and we will meet again somewhere along the Warlu Way.

Kimberley 2 ~ June 22-28

Halls Creek

In Halls Creek we booked into the only caravan park in the town and set up in one of the few shady spots before going out to explore the China Wall.

Not having read up on this local phenomenon we stared at the strange white wall standing up in the middle of the limestone ranges discussing whether it might be natural or constructed by humans. Then we turned around and saw another one. It’s got to be natural we decided and learned later that it was a vein of white quartz, naturally occurring in this limestone formation. It looks like a deliberately constructed wall which makes its way up and over the hills, giving it the appearance of the Wall of China. (Not that I’ve ever seen the original!)

We travelled on out to the site of the old Halls Creek township which started life in the 19^th century as a gold mining town. Remains of the old Post Office still exist; it was made of a mud mix of spinifex and ant bed, protected now by a cover and walls which allow one to look without touching.

We encountered some Road Trains along the Duncan Hwy between Halls Creek and Old Halls Creek. Big, dust creating trucks. We used the UHF and looked along the road for their tell-tale dust plumes so that we wouldn’t be trapped at the edge of the road. There isn’t enough room on the road for both of us. They travel down the centre of the road at such a rate of knots you have no choice but to get off, close all windows, doors and vents and wait for the dust to settle. Now we know why the first 20 metres of vegetation along the edge of the road is so dirty. (By the way, if you click on the photo of the big truck you should see the movie.)

Wolfe Creek Crater

The next day we got up early and, with a packed lunch, made our way out to look at the Wolfe Creek Crater which you get to via the Tanami Road. We are getting used to letting down the tyres to reduce the damage caused by corrugated and otherwise crappy roads. The Tanami itself wasn’t too bad but then we turned off on the Wolfe Creek Crater road! It was AWFUL. The corrugations must have been six inches deep in some places and it took us over an hour to do this last 20 kms. Just as well we enjoy the actual drive and the scenery.

Wolfe Creek Crater itself was interesting but really just a big hole in the ground with vegetation in the middle of it. Having come all this way, I was determined to do everything possible while we were here, so I climbed down into the crater, heeding the warnings to take care as the track was very slippery, steep and rocky. I took only what I needed – water, binoculars and camera in my bum-bag so that I could hold onto rocks if I needed. 20 metres almost straight down and then a walk along the base of the crater, dodging the spinifex, where I was not rewarded by seeing any of the Major Mitchells they say are around. It is amazing to visualise the impact over 300,000 years ago of a meteorite crashing into the earth and making this big hole, splattering fragments of rock which have been found over 4km away. Imagine the thud!

It was a long way home, too. The corrugations put me to sleep at one point!!

Fitzroy Crossing

Fitzroy River Lodge, the caravan park we found in the little town of Fitzroy Crossing is like an oasis in the sparsely populated but beautiful land of the Kimberley. The distances here are vast and the land is harsh. The extremes of wet and dry govern the land. All the structures in the caravan park are built either on hills or stilts, so you have to climb a hill to use the ablution block, climb a hill to go to the reception or the restaurant and even the swimming pool. In the wet season everything floods except for these buildings which are beyond the reach of the high water mark.

The seasonally diminished Fitzroy River is close by so I took off one morning to see what birds were to be found. I didn’t see much to start with but then I thought I saw something move. Probably only a bit of rubbish blowing in the wind, I thought. Instinctively the binoculars went up anyway and I was rewarded for the effort. A Black Fronted Dotterel with a bright red beak and eyes was feeding along the bank. Can you see it in this photo? There were some interesting tracks on this sandy part of the river and I kept a watchful eye out for the Freshwater Crocodiles which live here. My other delight on this beautiful morning was seeing the Striated Pardalotes flying in and out of their nesting burrows in the river bank.

Geikie Gorge

Geikie Gorge is one of the main places of interest close to Fitzroy Crossing and you cannot see much of it without going in a boat. The DEC runs boat cruises at a reasonable cost so we got up very early one morning to get on the first cruise. (I like to see the wildlife early in the morning.) Geikie Gorge is the result of the Fitzroy River carving a 30 metre deep gorge into the remains of an ancient limestone barrier reef that existed here in the Devonian period. In the wet season the water of the Fitzroy River rises 16m through the gorge and covers the whole of the National Park. The water constantly rising and falling has caused the bleaching of the gorge walls as you can see in this photo.

We saw lots of freshwater crocodiles on our trip and I was treated to my first sighting of an Osprey. The crocs were sunning themselves on the sandy banks and the Osprey was soaring and diving, probably looking for food.

After the boat tour we went for a couple of short walks around the area and were able to see more of the Devonian Reef formations … and more birds.

Tunnel Creek

While in Fitzroy Crossing we took a day trip out to see the natural phenomenon of the Tunnel Creek. This is a long tunnel carved out of the limestone of the Napier Range by flowing water. During the dry season it is possible to walk the length of the tunnel which we did, getting wet feet, climbing over large boulders and carrying our torch. There are bats which live in the caves although we didn’t see any and there are some pretty cave formations - stalactites and shawls. We didn’t see any crocodiles (freshwater) but we did see lots of small fish in the water. We waded up to our knees through some of the pools and came out the other end to see a beautiful creek, some rock art and kangaroos which came down to the creek to drink. The only way out is back through the creek cave. Not nearly as eerie the second time! We read the sad story of Jandamarra the Aboriginal who was killed at Tunnel Creek. Here is an internet link if you want to read it, too.

http://www.dec.wa.gov.au/hotproperty/property/national-parks/tunnel-creek-national-park.html

Still in Fitzroy Crossing on Saturday and the footy oval was the place to be. The playground here was filled with young children playing on the equipment. Family groups sat on rugs around the perimeter of the oval watching the game cheering or just chatting. The first thing we noticed about this footy match was that footwear was optional. Over the loud speaker came a request for someone from the Magpies’ team to help with the stretcher. The game resumed and it really didn’t matter about boots. The kicking was just as long and hard. Another announcement, “Would the drink boys please put on their green shirts … properly!” Then, “Would all the guys please wear their uniform. Mr Waters, please put your uniform back on.” One of the umpires put his uniform back on. Shirts are obviously compulsory even if socks and boots are not!

Blessings to you all and I’ll see you next time on the west coast.