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Published: December 16th 2009
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It was driving through the Pilbarra that we had our first real appreciation of how big Australia is! We spent the day driving from Exmouth to Tom Price (that really is the town’s name, after the man who discovered iron-ore in the area which led to its current wealth) and in that 6 or so hours in the car, all we passed were a couple of roadhouses and a few cars - no other towns, houses or signs of civilisation! We had to smile when the Kaiser Chief song about being far away from home came on the radio - very timely! It was also noticeably hotter the further inland we got. However, it was worth the effort, as the slogan goes “Lovin’ the Pilbarra, Living the Dream”.
The next day we visited Karijini National Park which our Rough Guide described as “one of WA’s undiscovered pearls, offering dramatic, time-worn scenery equal to any in Australia”. The two places we went to - Oxer Lookout, where four gorges meet, and the idyllic Fortescue Falls definitely matched up to our expectations.
Another long day’s drive north to the coast at Karratha followed, stopping at Python Pool in the Millstream-Chichester National
Park for a cooling swim, until the fish took a fancy to me and started having a nibble! We spent several recovery days in Karratha enjoying the air-conditioned shops and the chance to clean out the ute, get it fixed and buy a radio, sand boards etc (all part of our newfound “Respect for the Outback” programme!) As it was 37 degrees by 8:30 in the morning, that was about all we could manage (that and keeping one step ahead of the tiny biting ants that invaded every nook and cranny of our tent, car etc).
After an overnight stop in Eighty Mile Beach where the stars were amazing, we arrived at Broome, the laid-back “gateway to the Western Kimberleys”. Although I haven’t seen Baz Luhrman’s “Australia”, I was very keen to see the Kimberleys, which are the size of Poland (!!!) and the last great frontier. Being there in November maybe wasn’t the best idea though as this is what they call “The Build Up”. Essentially northern Australia has two seasons - the Dry (Apr - Oct) and the Wet (Dec - Mar) with November in between the two being the time when humidity is building but there’s
no rain to clear the air! We did see a fantastic lightening storm though.
We very much liked Broome, as it was quite compact and with a lot of history (unusual in Australia!) It was a pearling town, established in 1880s and supplying about 80% of the world’s pearl shell used in buttons by 1910. There was a rich ethnic mix amongst the workers whose presence can be particularly felt in Chinatown. It is also very pretty - Cable Beach is described as one of the top 5 in the world. I’m not sure what criteria they use, but it was certainly a stunning sight at sunset. Another evening we went to Sun Pictures - the oldest surviving picture gardens in the world, which has continuously operated since 1916. It was great to be relaxing outside in comfy deckchairs on a balmy summer’s evening watching the big screen, even if slightly strange to have birds flying around and two jumbo jets overhead! It was also Charlie’s first time at the cinema and unfortunately, although Joe and I both enjoyed Disney’s “Up”, the suspense and peril was a bit much for both him and Bella!
In order to be
able to see anything of the Kimberley’s it became clear that we would have to go up in the air, as time, distances and the imminent arrival of The Wet were all against us. So, we splashed out on a light aircraft flight in a Cessna 6 seater with young Jeremy as our pilot (he was only 20 and his moustache for Movember was a bit woeful!) For the first hour after leaving Broome, the view was pretty barren - a few farms but not much else apart from amazingly straight roads. Then we crossed King’s Sound and the rock formations became really interesting. Jeremy was full of useful information - for example one part was called Point Torment because of the number of mosquitos, Valentine Island is where the Aborigines put newlyweds for two weeks to find their own food and water and test the strength of their marriage, and The Talking Tree is where two rival Aborigine tribes used to meet and stand back to back, shouting out their messages into the bush! We passed over the Horizontal Waterfalls which are caused by tides passing through narrow coastal gorges and were unfortunately a bit disappointing, although the archipelago
they were in was superb and consisted of over 1,000 islands (half of all those found off the coast of WA). One of them, Kooliman Island, was mined by BHP and abandoned in the 90s, but not before they had moved all their equipment to one place on the island and blown a hole in the sea wall to get rid of it!! At its peak it had 900 people on the island with their own shops, school, police station and golf club with one of the longest holes in the world - par 17 - that also doubled as an air strip! We stopped at Cape Leveque for lunch and a swim. The red rocks, white sand and blue water are very typical of this area. Bella spent most of the time drawing a very complicated country map in the sand with names for all the roads etc. There was more beautiful scenery on the flight back and we even saw manta rays and turtles in the sea below. The kids also got more confident about talking into the headsets!
Next stop was Derby after a short break at Twelve Mile Mango Farm to sample mango wine and
other products. Just outside Derby is a huge hollow boab tree which used to be used as a prison. We quite fell in love with the unusual boabs that are everywhere in this area as they seem to have their own personalities. The Aborigines believe that they got too arrogant so were turned upside down and it definitely looks as if their branches are their roots. We treated ourselves to a lodge in Derby so were off early the next day to tackle the Gibb River Road. The Gibb River Road is a 660km long cattle route. However, we did the mainly sealed tourist loop part of it. Nonetheless, once again the scenery did not disappoint. Windjana Gorge is part of the ancient Devonian Reef and the walls rise up 100m above the floor with beautiful colours and formations. The noise from the huge number of birds echoing off the walls was almost deafening. We saw lots of freshwater crocodiles too. Nearby Tunnel Creek was the hideout of Jandamarra in 1897 - an Aboriginal tracker whose story I had become quite interested in.
During this time we had lots of fun playing games such as I Spy with the
kids even though Charlie’s one was always “Fat tree on wheels” for some reason and Bella stumped us with such classics as “V for Very high hills”!! Last stop in WA was at Kununurra, just before the border where we were excited to see rivers and water again after days without. We stayed at the Hidden Valley Caravan Park which is a range of banded rock formations - a so-called mini Bungle Bungles - the large size Bungle Bungles were very unfortunately closed for the season due to forest fires. We did pass our own share of forest fires too but made it to Northern Territory unscathed...
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