Australia Part 1 : April 16 - May 7
Broome, WA: Friday, April 21, 2006
We thought yesterday was a long day! We hadn’t seen anything yet.
Brian started his day at 3:50 am with a board call with ICEsoft. The rest of the family was up by 6:30. We had purchased some groceries the night before and had begun to decide on our plans for the next couple of days. When we had crossed into Western Australia the night before, we had to go through an Agricultural Inspection site where they search your vehicle for Cane Toads, fruit and vegetables. There is a huge war going on here against the Cane Toad and Western Australia is determined to not let the plague hit their state. This poisonous toad hit Northern Australia several years ago and in the last 5 years the snake population in some of the parks has been nearly decimated. Crocs are even dying now up near Katherine after eating the toads and they are being called the biggest ecological disaster to hit Australia in its history.
At any rate, as we crossed the border the officer informed us that access to most of the parks was still very limited due to all the rains. In particular we had wanted to get into the Purnululu Park and its famous Bungle Bungle range. If it was even open, we would now be faced with a 4-5 hour four wheel drive trek in and then the same time out. We were told the other parks at Windjana Gorge and Geikie Gorge that we had set up as back ups weren’t in any better shape. We got the same commentary from virtually everybody we spoke with. In any normal year we would have been fine but with the heavier and later rains, we were a good 2-3 weeks early. At least we were told “You get to see everything while its green!”.
After some discussion we finally settled on the plan. It was 1100 km to Broome on the coast. We would do it in one day. Fun, fun, fun! The Aussies were celebrating a long weekend that began today so we decided we had better book a hotel before heading off. Especially since we knew we were going to be arriving several hours after dark.
We headed off shortly after 7:00, gassed up and ready to go. Our first stop was the station at Turkey Creek (population 60). This station is located around 30 Km from the turnoff to the Purnululu Park. From here it is possible to catch helicopter tours of the Bungle Bungles. It costs some $ for the 1 hour flight but we decided we had come this far and the parks were a big reason we had decided to do the Darwin to Perth drive.
What a thrill! We had done helicopter tours before over the Grand Canyon and other miscellaneous rides. This easily surpassed them all. We took off virtually as soon as we were ready to go. We all knew this would be a bit different from prior rides as there were no doors in the back. Brennan rode up with the pilot in the fully glass covered cockpit so he didn’t have the same wild experience as the rest of the family. As the windscreen stretched below his feet, Brennan had a totally unobstructed view of the landscape whizzing by and didn’t mind missing out on the “open air”. Debbie, Brian and Sierra were in the back, with no doors and held in with only airplane seatbelts in the Ranger Helicopter. The wind force on our arms if we stuck them out the door was tremendous.
The no door policy however made for some terrific viewing and photo opportunities. The park including the Bungle Bungles is a world heritage site based on their unique geology. The largely sandstone and limestone formations sit on the edge of a very ancient fault line and have been pushed up and around. The erosion from the Outback and the deserts to the south and east has helped to create some spectacular canyons and gorges. The region is most famous however for the Bungle Bungle Mountains. These uniquely beehive shaped mountains are layered with different sedimentary layers of bright colours. Viewed from the air, the mountains were spectacular. We would have loved to have seen them from the ground but it looks like that will have to wait for another trip.
We were back on the road once again an hour after having taken off. No flats this time, just a very long grueling 9 more hours of driving in front of us. Thank god for the IPOD and its wireless connection. We spent the time doing crosswords and listening to music. We now have 4 days worth of music loaded on the IPOD and Brian purchased a wireless attachment that lets us listen to it on the radio. It all works very well. There was slightly more traffic than the day before but not much. The outback was beautiful but after 300 km of it we were ready for a change. The emptiness of this place is amazing! At one point we pulled onto a stretch of highway that went as far as you could see east and west in a straight line. No Cars! As Brian said while answering a call of nature on the centerline “Any country where you can pee on the centerline of its Highway #1 and not worry about getting run over or even be seen, can’t be all bad!”
We were driving due west as the sun was setting and we were treated to a good 30 minutes of amazing colors. It was a bit more difficult for Brian who had to put up with driving into the glare.
The moths and bugs came out as it got dark. In this place it was possible to see headlights from several kilometers away. We must have attracted bugs from miles away and at times it felt like it was hailing as they were hitting the vehicle so hard. The night also brought out several other animals. We had to be on constant watch for kangaroos (one hopped right in front of the car) and snakes. We counted 7 dead snakes and one live one around 6 feet long. In the dead column was one that we added which was really unavoidable because of its enormous size. It reached across our entire side of the highway and it was still partly curled! At one point Sierra’s window was hit by a large white owl! We didn’t see any feathers stuck to the vehicle so we aren’t quite sure what happened to it after the crash. Probably squashed by a roo, eaten by snakes and feasted on by bugs!
We got to our apartment around 7:30 that night. Chili dogs for dinner and Brian was in bed by 9:00. It was the end of another long day. It should be the longest drive of the trip. We hope!
Saturday, April 22, 2006: Broome, Western Australia
Broome turned out to be a really a pretty cool place! It was a high end resort community catering to retirees and vacationers from Perth. They spend the $200 per person to fly up here rather than face the $700 in gas charges and 30 hours of driving that we have opted to do. Broome was founded in the late 1800s as a pearl center. It was from here that Chinese and other Asian immigrants used to don their deep sea helmets and search for pearls. With the onset of World War 1, the banks that backed the pearling industry all pulled out and the town was nearly decimated. Now it is back as a large resort center and the jumping off point for travel into the Kimberley.
Our apartment for the night was not luxurious but it was a self-catering apartment so we were able to cook some of the food we purchased for camping. We were all looking forward to spending a day outside the car rather than inside it. We started off by visiting the large open air market, located outside the old court house. We could have bought everything here from gourmet noodles didgeridoos, jewellery and t-shirts. We held back however and kept wandering. From here it was off to the Chinatown and Japanese districts. The Japanese district was burnt to the ground in the early 40’s in retaliation to the war at the time. The Chinese district was the scene of bloody Asian gang wars in the early 1920’s which lasted several days. They resulted in several deaths and were finally put to rest after several tens of colonial land owners were armed and deputized to intervene. Having finally secured a peaceful settlement, the head constable at the time collapsed and died from stress and exhaustion at the end of it all.
The town is “chock-a-bloc” full of diamond and pearl stores. Now after our experience in China purchasing “South China Sea Pearls” we weren’t too sure what Debbie was after visiting all of the stores. It finally became clear that it wasn’t pearls she was after but rather the rather rare pink and/or champagne diamonds for which the region is famous. Brian had to choke back a “are you well and truly nuts” comment before they managed to escape the stores. On the positive side however the prices for the pearls reaffirmed for us that we truly got a great, great deal on the pearls we purchased for Deb and Sierra in China!
Wandering around town we also located a book exchange. Brennan was desperate for new reading material (AGAIN!!!!) and there was no way he was going to pass this opportunity by. With substantial additions to our library in hand, we grabbed a bite of lunch of meat pies and Deb chatted up a local to figure out where to go next. Our next stop turned out to be the local grocery store to purchase supplies as well as beer and wine for the next couple of days. Fed and restocked we headed off to the famous Cable Beach.
Cable Beach is certainly one of the most spectacular beaches we have ever visited. In the middle of nowhere, this amazing sand beach stretches for miles along the western coast of the Kimberley. The waves are perfect for surfing and body surfing. There are relatively few people hanging out as well. The beach is divided into 5 parts. One section for 4 wheel driving, one for fishing, one for camel riding (yes the things with humps), one of surfing and one for swimming.
We spent over two hours enjoying some of the best body surfing ever! It was great! There was no doubt however who was the best. Brian smoked everybody (Aussies included) by riding the waves several hundred feet up to the shore. By the end however both Brennan and Sierra had become experts and Brennan even beat Brian (once!). The wave action however didn’t stop Brennan from checking out all the Aussie ladies in their rather skimpy bikinis. While impressive, the truth of the matter was that most of the teens were wearing full length sun shirts. Everybody here seems to take the threat of too much sun very seriously.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped off at the grocery store again, to buy a barbequed chicken and cold slaw. After a day filled with sun, surfing and a bottle of wine we crashed rather quickly. Goodbye Broome. You were a really wonderful place. Tomorrow we head to Port Hedland!
(As a brief post script to our day on the beach, we found out that the day after we were there, three swimmers were stung by the infamous box jelly fish and hospitalized for 3 days. It just goes to show that in Australia you can never be too careful!)( NEXT PAGE )