The Kimberley and Beautiful Broome

The Kimberley region of WA is the most northerly, most isolated and most remote in West Australia. We had been dreading going there because we don’t like deserts, hot weather or arid vegetation...Paul and I are cool, lush forest types! So we started the next phase of the journey with some trepidation. But its huge skies and dramatic scenery tugs at the heart strings and we found that we actually loved it in a strange and primitive way. Most of the region is inaccessible, harsh, and many of the billabongs, rivers and bays have never seen a boat. The coast line is inaccessible except by plane or large boats, the tides huge and dramatic, and it is almost an unexplored frontier. The Outback is known as the red heart of Australia, and it is easy to see why because the soil is crimson/maroon and glows in the brilliant sunlight. The sunsets are breathtaking.
The first stop in WA was Lake Argyle where the huge Ord River is damned so that crops can be grown in otherwise arid country, and water and Hydro can help the north of Australia to open up. It was a massive undertaking building this dam, and it now holds up to 55 times more water than the Sydney Harbour. The country reminded us of Kariba, but the difference is that dramatic red cliffs frame the dam and drop dramatically into the blue water. It is huge, but only a small part accessible unless you have a boat or take a tour. We stayed a couple of days as it was peaceful and had great bird life, but then left to stay in the nearby town of Kununurra. There we camped on the edge of a billabong covered in water lilies, with freshwater crocs swimming around under the reeds.
Next on the journey took us to the most northerly town in WA, Wyndham. On a huge delta where five massive rivers drain into an even larger estuary it becomes a wide Sound. The town is small and rundown with a harbour and the huge tidal river is surrounded by mangroves and tidal mudflats which extend for many kms. Our first thought was...one night and we are out of here! There was a small jetty, a magnificent lookout where you looked down on the 5 rivers that drained into the delta..and not much else. But as luck would have it we met a real old character in the caravan park..a legend in the area. He and his wife knew the history of the area and the flora and fauna, and were its best ambassadors. He also knew all the best fishing spots around, and when he heard it was Paul’s birthday he offered to take us to a secret billabong. We set off with two other 4x4 across the mud flats with clouds of red dust billowing behind us, then onto a badly rutted track lined with mangroves and boab trees. Our first stop was at a muddy hole where he threw his cast net into the shallows a few times and caught some small mullets which he kept alive in an aerated bucket. Then off to another spot on the King River where there was another muddy billabong. I thought..”you must be joking; there are no fish in this shallow, muddy hole!” But he said calmly..”the tide will be in soon.” We were about 15 kms from the coast and so again I looked incredulously at him..what tide? However, true to his word there was a noise and a small tidal wave came roaring through the river bed and the next thing the river was a few meters higher and lapping at the banks! We all threw our lines in and waited. Paul caught a Barramundi but it got away. Our new friend caught a nice one, and it was very exciting, muddy work. Between us all we had a marvellous dinner of fresh Barramundi and chips..what a birthday! Paul also caught a small shark off the jetty which we cut up for bait and some tasty dinners. We stayed longer than we thought we would, and drove off with many waves and exchanging addresses.
We stopped overnight at a little place called Fitzroy Crossing, which, surprisingly enough, is at a bridge crossing the mighty Fitzroy River. Near the town is a gorge which has been eroded out of the ancient limestone beds formed when an ancient Coral Reef 350 million years ago was raised out of the sea bed..many fossils are found in these beds. However it is the Gorge that is interesting. The river runs through during the dry season at a rate that would fill Sydney Harbour in 5 hours. But during the Wet season it is at least 6 meters higher and rages as a torrent down the narrow chasm. We took a boat ride and evidence of the flood line was easily seen on the walls of the gorge. The walls were eroded limestone with interesting shapes and colours in the high sheer cliffs, and the bird life and crocs we saw were an added bonus.
Next stop was another little town further down the inaccessible coast called Derby. Once again we stood on a jetty that had pylons 3 stories high because the tides were a staggering 11 meters. The low tide showed mud flats as far as the eye could see, the high tide had water lapping the top of the jetty and showing only the top of the mangrove trees. We dropped some crab nets and caught 3 huge “mud crabs” which are delicious eating and have claws as big as golf balls. Tricky getting them into the bucket cos they are aggressive and go for unwary toes with razor sharp pincers which can cut through a can! That night we dined on chilli crab and wine. We also went to a typical outback fun night where they had “Crab Racing”. Mud crabs were put into a roped off ring and bets were taken on the various crabs ability to run, claws up and angry, to the edge of the ring. All participants were eaten at the end of the evening and much beer was consumed during the various races! The Boab tree is common in Derby and the sunsets were marvellous.
Finally we drove into Broome..the jewel of the Kimberley. This small town is so popular in the cooler months that its population multiplies 3 times and you have to book a year in advance. We took a chance and managed to get 3 days in one of the many caravan parks at an exorbitant price. But I must admit that there is a romantic holiday atmosphere in the place and it is gorgeous. We stayed near the famous Cable Beach (voted as the 5 th best beach in the world) and it is wonderful. Palm trees, pure white sand stretching 22 kms, and azure sea...and a balmy climate to watch the famous sunsets. A former Pearl Diving town it has a long history, and is an interesting little place with a thriving Arty community. There is also a huge tidal variance here and the impressive jetty with pylons 3 stories from the sea in low tide always have many hopeful fishermen leaning over the dizzying rail trying for the big one.
We took some photos at sunset one evening at some weird shaped rocky cliffs overlooking the beach..they literally glowed! Another night we watched the moon rise over the mudflats and witnessed a remarkable phenomenon known as the “Staircase to the Moon” because the mudflats and reflections look like a heavenly staircase..very lovely. Regrettably we packed to go to our next destination south of Broome on the impressive 80 Mile Beach.
Photos: Lake Argyle at sunset
Lookout at Wyndham showing the huge delta and 5 rivers flowing
Paul caught a shark
Geikie Gorge on the Fitzroy River.
Our Mud Crabs
Sunset at the point in Broome
Cable Beach with some tourists on a camel ride
Stairway to the moon

Darwin and Kakadu

Darwin is a busy modern city, with a turbulent history. Not only were early settlers constantly wiped out with disease and other tropical maladies, but it was frequently flooded and hit by cyclones. The worst cyclone ( Cyclone Tracy )to hit the town was in 1974 Mid night on Christmas Day when it became a Category 5 and winds of over 280 kms an hour almost wiped out the whole town, killed 400 people (most had left) and left a terrible scar on the morale of the townsfolk. They were also bombed repeatedly by the Japs during the Second World War, so they have had a lot to contend with. But to my mind the hardest part is the HOT WEATHER!! The tropics only have two seasons..”wet” monsoonal which is humid and very hot, and “dry”, less humid. Even though it is the ‘dry” season, days were almost always 35 deg and nights 25 deg. Also it is a VERY long way from anywhere...a long boring drive of hundreds of Kms to Darwin and then out again. Having said all that it had a certain vibrancy which comes from having a mix of many ethnic backgrounds. Being so close to Indonesia there were folk from the Asian countries that had made it home, as well as many from all parts of the world. It was teeming with tourists and backpackers, and the inevitable Victorians who all go “up north “ to escape their dreary cold winter. There were lots of colourful markets selling not only the usual clothes and souvenirs, but also some mouth watering food sold at stalls featuring all sorts of Asian and local delicacies. We went to a Sat morning market where we had lunch by trying tit bits from multiple stalls, and bought the biggest, reddest paw paw I have ever seen, and huge pineapples. We also went to the Mindle Beach Sunset markets which were set on the beach as the sun went down with buskers, side shows, people having champagne on the beach..and again the aromas from the dozens of wonderful food stalls. Darwin is not attractive as such. The beaches are often mud banks because of the huge tidal rivers, the vegetation not as tropical as one would expect (most of the big trees get blown away during cyclones! And the “dry” IS dry and dusty!) But it has a lot of atmosphere and tropical character and is a clean and modern city. We went to the excellent museum and art gallery. In the former they had a huge stuffed crocodile named Sweetheart who once had attacked dingy motors and tipping the occupants into the drink..something which made the fishermen a bit nervous..Understandably. Apparently Sweetheart thought the hum of the motors were other males (??) and so got all territorial. Unfortunately when they were trying to move him out of the area he got tangled and drowned. There are a lot of military museums and remnants of the WW2 camps, artilleries and other buildings dot the country. Darwin played a big role in protecting Australia during the war and even now there is a large army, navy and air force base. We tried our hand at fishing at a river mouth but had to be real careful cos the river was teeming with crocs. Our van park was very noisy because the whole town seems to be set around its huge airport so we had not only the Freeway noise, but jets taking off night and day. So after 5 days we left Darwin, having seen the best, had the car serviced, bought some new fishing tackle and prepared for the long drives ahead.
One of the biggest attractions for the overseas tourists is Kakadu national Park which is a World Heritage place not only for its scientific and ecological significance, but also for its cultural. It is a vast 20,000 sq km flood plain where the major rivers of the Northern Territory drain into the ocean, and in the “wet” they virtually flood the whole area making it one huge bird sanctuary. This is the place featured in Croc Dundee, and there are also Aboriginal paintings going back 300 000 years, and beautiful escarpments. Fishing is also good if you can avoid the huge number of monstrous Crocodiles. Once again we were blown away with the size of this land...what looked like a suburb of Darwin on the map, is actually a round trip of nearly 500 kms. Our first stop was near the Mary River which has the most crocs in the whole world! We found a spot on the bank which looked suitably steep (so steep we were almost slipping in) and went fishing one evening. As we fished we watched some really big crocs glide up and down the river. Next thing Paul caught a large Barramundi..one of the prize fish of the area..not only for its good eating but for its good fight! He was so thrilled, especially as the fish really prefer summer water temp above 30 Deg and are harder to catch in the “cooler” weather. It was tricky landing him on the steep bank without getting too close to the water, and then getting him up to a safer place to unhook him!
We went on a cruise on the famous “Yellow Water” billabong (a billabong is like an ox bow lake, a small lagoon in the dry season which is usually covered in lilies and reeds). This one is a huge stretch of wet land with reeds, Lotus lilies, thousands of birds and of course crocs. We did the early morning cruise ( dawn) and it was magical seeing the sun rise over the still water with the birds all flocking over the reeds and lily beds. We saw Jabiru, Brolgas (huge stork things) Large Fish eagles, colourful bee eaters and kingfishers, Kookaburras, and many other water birds...and the crocs of course. Lovely memories.We then started our long drive back through Katherine, and started heading west, passing some wonderful rock formations and ridges rising out of the generally arid and sparse landscape reminding us of the Kariba escarpment. We finally got to the West Australian border after two days driving, and I must say that I was pleased that we had passed through the NT and were now back in “our” state.