Today we had a relaxing start to the day as we counted back
and worked out we’d had 11 single stop nights in a row. Packing up and then
setting up at the other end of the day does get a bit tiring so it was nice to
not have to do it and we’re all possibly a bit run down as three of us have a
bit of a cough and runny noses. We just mooched around the shelter and swam in
the sea until around lunchtime when we went for a drive to the Ardyaloon
Trochus Hatchery situated right at the end of the peninsula. It’s a small
affair with about 12 tanks each about 3m in diameter and 1m high. Only a
handful of the tanks have the trochus in, starting from very small to quite
large. They can sell the shells unpolished, polished or even make them into bangles
or other jewellery. It is a community run business and they are finding it very
tough to make ends meet.
Next stop was Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm. This is a very
professionally run business and also make a very nice mango smoothie. We were too late for the last tour but booked
in on the 10am tour the following morning.
We headed back to the beach shelter to make dinner and relax
before crashing.
Friday 12th September
This morning we were up and packed to get to the Pearl Farm
tour. There are two levels of tour, one land based only and one which includes
a boat ride to see the lines. We did the land based which was very interesting.
Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm is the oldest Australian owned pearl farm and was started
in 1946. Before then only the Japanese
had perfected the art of culturing pearls, but Dean learnt how to “seed” the
pearl and that’s how the business started.
The farm is involved in a lot of research, both marine (they provide
facilities for marine research) and also pearl based. It was really very interesting to see the
amount of work that goes into getting a pearl from a shell and we can
appreciate a bit better the cost involved.
The tour ended in the shop with a overview of pearl quality and a try-on
of a $30,000 strand of pearls. Trish,
Emily and Keira thought they looked good on!
Sadly (for the girls) we left empty-handed.
We then started making our way back towards Broome but did
stop into Beagle Bay to check out the Church there. The church was built in 1917
and uses many shells as decorations on nearly everything you can see, altar,
windows, floor, walls etc. It was very impressive to see the work that had gone
into the decorations.
The drive back to Broome was pretty uneventful however we
did stop and talk to Scott and Tanya who were just making their way up the
Dampier Peninsula.
When we got back to Broome and after the tent was up, we
headed down to Cable Beach and had a drink while the sun set. Cable Beach is a
very nice beach and when the tide is out there is a lot of it and watching the
sun go down into the Indian Ocean is really very nice.
Saturday 13th September
Every Saturday and Sunday there are markets at the
Courthouse near town. We headed on down there for a look around. The
temperature has been warming up so was about 35 at around 9.30am. The markets
provided your usual fare, jewellery, fruit and veg, food stalls and also a bit
of entertainment. There was a young woman called Laura Hill singing and playing
guitar and she was very good so we bought a CD. There was also a very good
display by the current (or previous) Australian whip cracking champion from
Northern NSW who entertained the crowd.
He was very impressive to watch. We did have some Kimberley Coffee which we
really liked so had some ground for our plunger.
We then went for a wander around Chinatown. We had expected
it to be a bit like Chinatown in Sydney
(restaurants) however it was more “normal” shops although there did seem to be
an abundance of shops selling very nice pearls.
This is the oldest retail area of Broome and still has a lot of the
original buildings in it.
We then headed off to Matso’s Brewery for lunch. Matso’s are
becoming more and more popular throughout Australia. Their main range includes
a very nice Ginger Beer, Mango Beer, Pale Ale, and Chilli but we found several
other varieties including a stout, Bishops brew, Chango (mixture of mango and
chilli) as well as a lime and ginger cider and a mango and lime cider. Both
Richard and Trish liked the ciders but Richard thought he’d be quite happy to
drink almost anything there! The food was also very good, Richard had the
swordfish and Trish had the tuna pie, both very very good.
We then headed back to the campground and Keira and Trish
went for a swim and Emily and Richard played mini-putt before heading down to
Cable beach to watch the sun disappear again, they really are very good.
Sunday 14th September
After a quick visit to the market to pick up another bag of
coffee, oh, and for Trish to buy a nice pearl ring, we headed out for a drive
to the lighthouse and checked out the replica dinosaur footprints that are
found in this area. We then drove down to the wharf for a quick look to see
where they load all the live export cattle onto ships but sadly there was
nothing happening today.
We then headed back into Chinatown to the Pearl Luggers for
lunch before doing a bit more shopping in one of the pearl shops.
We then headed down to Cable Beach for the kids to go for a
camel ride, one of the iconic things to do in Broome.
For the last 10 days, Broome as been celebrating Shinju
Matsuri or festival of the pearl. There have been many events on with final
concert and fireworks on tonight which we got to see. This was a very nice way
to end our stay in Broome.
Monday 15th September
Today we were looking forward to a big drive (perhaps not)
towards Port Hedland. We did manage to pack up most of our gear after the
fireworks so were on the road early. Every weekday, there is a caravan which
sets up near town which sells coffee and basic breakfast. We availed ourselves
of both these items before going very far.
First stop was about 320km away, around halfway, at the
Sandfire Roadhouse. The roadhouse was set up by a man who had worked on the
road which ran from Port Hedland to Broome and he thought it was a perfect
halfway station for fuel, food and accommodation. So, in the early 70s, at the ripe age of 60,
he started bringing in fuel in 44 gallon drums and pumping it by hand. The
roadhouse was destroyed in 2007 in a cyclone but rebuilt to what it is today.
We then got back on the road towards Port Hedland. The
scenery has changed quite a lot, we have lost the boab trees, the soil has
become even redder and there are plains of low lying scrub rather than smaller
trees.
Not far from Port Hedland, we started seeing roadtrains
carrying mostly iron ore. We also came across the rail line which heads into
the port. We arrived into Port Hedland at around 4pm, set up the tent and
Richard and Emily went for a drive towards the port itself. Stating the
obvious, there is clearly a lot of money around here to make things work. We
couldn’t really get down to the wharf but did manage to see a mountain of salt
from the Dampier Salt Company. Emily wasn’t real happy there was a bulldozer
pushing the salt about, however I did let her know they probably cleaned the
bulldozer every now and then.
We did learn from one of the locals that BHP Billiton have
eight mines operating here and are the largest in this area. The others are Rio
Tinto, Atlas and FMG but are a fair bit smaller. A few years ago, BHP built
their own rail line to transport the ore to the port and FMG took them to court
because they wanted to use it. Don’t remember the full details however FMG lost
the court case so BHP use their own rail line and FMG continue to roadtrain
their ore. Rio also have their own rail line.
Some rail stats;
- 2.5km average train length
- 250 carriages, average number per train
- 120,000kg of iron ore per carriage
According to the local we chatted to, one of the big chiefs
of BHP wanted to get his name on a plaque. He had the longest train ever
assembled which had 682 carriages, was 7.3km long and required 8 engines each
with 6,250hp. It did earn him a place in history and the Guiness Book of World
Records for the longest and heaviest train ever (82,262 tonnes of iron ore) for
having it built. The chap we were
talking too said this particular CEO wasn’t remembered for anything else other
than his mission to get his name known.
Tuesday 16th September
This morning we awoke to what looked like rain over all the
tent, kitchen and table. The previous night after we’d set up, there was water
almost immediately on all surfaces. The humidity here is something else. Our
little gauge was telling us it was 98% and within 5min of wiping a surface, it
would be wet again. One of the locals (as well as Richard’s sister) had
mentioned “build up” which is a term used for nearly the entire top end of
Australia for the build up of weather prior to the stormy/wet season when it
gets hot and humid and there’s not much relief. Hardy people who put up with
this carry on and there is a term called “going tropo” which I imagine happens
from about now onwards.
We had a quick drive through town to show Trish and Keira
the highlights before hitting the road towards Karijini National Park. On the
road, there are a few mines which meant there were non-stop roadtrains. As the
road is pretty flat for the first part, we didn’t have to endure the
embarrassment of being overtaken but one as we could sit on 100kph and they
would also be on that. We did however come across some oversized crane looking
things going about 60 and before we knew it a roadtrain had pulled out to pass
us as well as the two oversized trucks. We did work out that the van following
the trucks would indicate to tell you it was safe to pass which is why the
roadtrain passed us.
We stopped into the Auski Roadhouse to fill up on fuel. The
roadhouse and surrounds (including plantlife) are completely covered in red
dust. Everywhere you look, everything you touch, is covered by red dust. As the
wind was blowing also, we all decided this should have been called Hells Gate
(instead of the roadhouse we’d come across a few weeks ago). It was perfectly
fine inside, the toilets cleaned regularly etc but outside it was like a windy
wild west movie, well, apart from the monster trucks about the place.
Anyway, we drove onto Karijini NP and visited the Info
centre before heading down to the campground to put the tent up and having a
couple of hours relax and catch up on some journal and blog writing.
Wednesday 17th September
This morning we headed off on a walk from the campsite. You
can walk into Dales Gorge which has three swimming holes where you can complete
a loop to bring you back to the campground. It was going to be another hot day
so we got away earlyish and started the walk down into the gorge. The walking
trails have classifications which start at one and end at five, five being the
hardest. This was a Class 4 but the walk down was fairly steep and there was
also a ladder in the middle but everyone coped with it well. The cliffs and
rock formations are unusual here. They look like they’ve all been cut with some
sort of saw as they’re all so straight and square. The layers of rock are also
another unusual feature. Hopefully some of the photos will show this. They are
also very red which is the iron content.
We got to the first pool (called Circular pool) but since
there was very little sun on it, it was a bit cool, however everyone got in and
had a swim. There was a small waterfall on the far side although you had to
clamber over some very slippery rocks to get to it. Once there though, the
water cascading down was really nice and warm, so warm it was hard to get back
into the pool.
We then carried on through the gorge to the next swimming
hole called Fortescue Falls. This had a really nice waterfall running into it
and was nice and deep for swimming too. On the side, the rocks looked like many
terraces going up. Next up was the Fern Pool. It was only about 5min walk past
Fortescue Falls and was larger and deeper and also had a small waterfall
running into it. Our pick of the swimming though was the Fortescue Falls.
The walk out wasn’t too bad, probably a bit easier than the
walk at the other end of the gorge so we headed back to the campsite and had a
bite of lunch. It had taken us a lot longer than we thought so it was around
2.30pm by the time we’d eaten and had a bit of a relax. We had thought we’d
head over to the other part of Karijini and do some of the walks there so off
we drove. This walk had been recommended to us by some other travellers and
sounded interesting as you have to do a spider walk between the rocks to get
in. It was however a Class 5 track so we did wonder how we’d get on.
We started down into the gorge and it was fairly steep with
a couple of ladders but wasn’t too bad. We then had to walk along the bottom of
the gorge and a couple of times had to sidle along the walls until we came to a
pool we had to wade through. We’d previously (in Broome) bought some wet shoes
so we could do this so we put these on and waded on through. The gorge then
get’s narrower and you have to either wade or try to clamber/sidle along the
rocks. There was really only one point where you could touch both sides at the
same time and since the water was so low we really didn’t have to do the spider
walk. The walking was made very tricky though because all the water running
over the rocks was extremely slippery and even out of the water the rocks were
so smooth they were slippery too. At one point Trish nearly put a stop to the
whole escapade however we pushed on until we got to Kermits Pool at the end. We
hopped in for a swim however it was fairly cold. On the other side of the pool
you could hop out and there is a rope strung up so you couldn’t go any further.
There did look to be some really nice pools further on although we think
they’ve stopped people from going further as it is probably too dangerous. We
decided, the way the world is going, in the not too distant future, they’ll
probably stop people even going into Kermits Pool.
We headed back out of the gorge and just in time really as
it was quite dark by the time we reached the top. We drove back to the
campground and didn’t arrive until around 7.30 and since no one was really
hungry, had banana on toast for dinner.
Thursday 18th September
Today we had a big drive to Exmouth ahead of us. Before we
got started we headed into the Visitors Centre as the kids had picked up a
junior rangers book and completed enough tasks to receive a junior rangers
badge.
It was then onto Tom Price to fill up, some basic supplies
and then hit the road. Driving out of town is the Tom Price mine. The iron ore
from the mine site is put onto a conveyor belt and then um, conveyed to another
site. Not sure where to but it looked pretty extravagant with a little
corrugated roof over the belts.
We then had about 40km of gravel, which was fine, before
hitting the asphalt. While the scenery does change in the Pilbara, it might
take 3-400km to do it. We both agreed this was the longest most boring drive
we’d encountered so far. Early on, the hills about were unusual, some looked
like layers of rock had been pushed up or they were some sort of flying saucer
which had crashed at a 45 degree angle. There were also plains which are flat
and featureless but then every now and then there’d be a hills breaking up the
view.
We arrived into Nanutarra roadhouse and filled up with fuel
and true to fashion, had an ice cream. We finally got into Exmouth at about 7pm
and had to push the after hours button to get someone in to let us in. While
setting up, a nice man next to us saw we’d arrived in late and since he had
ordered too many fish and chips dropped them off with us so that was dinner
taken care of.
Friday 19th September
After doing a big load of washing we headed into the
visitors centre to see what was about. At the visitor centre there is a very
large krill which we had to take a photo of. We got the lowdown on where to go
for our quick trip to the Ningaloo Reef so headed off there. We stopped at the
lighthouse for the 360 degree view and while there spotted 5 or so whales which
was great.
We then carried on to
the Jurabi Turtle Centre which tells you a bit about the three main species of
turtle found in the area. It’s not laying egg season so we couldn’t see that but
they still hang around on the reef.
Wandering around outside the centre was an adult Emu and baby. They were very unconcerned about people
watching them and carried on eating until the camera carrying people got a bit
too close then the adult started walking towards them.
Next stop was the Milyering Discovery Centre where we
watched a short video on the wildlife on the reef, mostly about the turtles and
whale sharks. The whale sharks are in this area much earlier in the year so we
wouldn’t be likely to see those but the snorkelling on the reef looks very good. Next stop was Turquoise Bay where there are
two areas you can snorkel. We were here
at low tide so was easy to swim out to the reef from the beach. There were many
colourful fish and sea life. The water
was fairly clear and warm and we all saw lots of fish.
Next we went to the other side of the bay where you “drift
snorkel” which means float along with the current to see the fish. Trish saw two sharks while we were
snorkelling here but didn’t say anything to the family while they were out in
case of freaking people out. The sharks
were probably reef sharks which are apparently harmless but still a freaky
experience!
Before heading home the kids stopped for one last snorkel
when Trish and Richard spotted a turtle in the water. Then we all got back in and swam alongside
the turtle for a good 10 minutes which was fantastic and a great way to end the
day.
We stopped in town for takeaways before showers and bed
although while the girls had showers, Richard did the dishes and while there
got talking to a Swiss author called Rudolph Bader who had just completed his
first novel. Richard bought one and had him sign it so will be interested to
read it. He’s an interesting man who lives in both Switzerland and England and
has studied Australian literature and gives regular talks at the Universities
here. He finds it ironic that a Swiss man can come to Australia and give talks
on Australian literature to Australians.
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