The morning was spent sleeping and updating the blogs until we went for a walk to get to Matso’s for lunch.
Matso’s is a brewery and the chilli ginger beer had been recommended by Janet. They call it “the Angry Ranga” This drink was indeed very tasty. If we could have taken some away with us I would have been tempted.
The food was pretty good too.
We walked on home to continue the blogs and snoozing and made use of the beautiful pool while we could. How strange to be in clean, chemically treated water.
We had booked to see a movie at the historic outdoor “picture garden” sun pictures, so headed off there and watched”Buckley’s Chance” as the sky faded to dark and the stars came out above us
Dinner following the movie was a repeat visit to the fantastic Thai restaurant where we had lunch the other day.
The start of the day involved a reorganisation of our storage boxes and repacking of the camper. We said goodbye to our kind hosts and drove out.
With no home for a few hours, we again headed for the wharf (now beautifully clear) and walked along the pedestrian walkway before heading for the boat ramp. Here we admired the beautiful contrast of high tide of clear blue water against red rocks.
We then drove the sandy road towards the lighthouse point, stopping in in a number of places to check out the beautiful contrasting coast.
Eventually we reached the point and walked down the path past the osprey parents feeding the kids in their lighthouse tower nest.
We did some rock hopping, finding some beautiful crabs while we checked out what dinosaur footprints look like for later on when we intended to come back at low tide to see them.
We figured we had earned our lunch so rewarded ourselves with another walk on cable beach and a splash along in the clear water before we again treated ourselves to lunch at Zanders. Entree of calamari and decadent banana and white choc spring rolls for dessert.
We stopped in to have a cuppa with Ev and Craig at their Airbnb and check how Ev was going after feeling pretty lousy last night (presumably a reaction to the COVID jab that she had the previous day) and then headed for our hotel to check in.
It wasn’t long before we were again heading for the lighthouse point. This time the tide was out and we could rock hop all the way down to the water. The famous dinosaur footprints were located along with some other exposed corals and shells.
Look at the colours in this rock!
We like to think that we even located Anastasias pool (now broken) which was built by the lighthouse keeper for his arthritic wife so she could soak her poor limbs in lovely warm sea water (it filled at high tide)
We then drove across to Town Beach where we joined the hordes trying to see the stairway to the moon as the full moon rose over the mudflats on a low tide. It wasn’t really quite dark enough to get the full effect.
We dined at our Hotel restaurant for dinner as it was handy and adequate. It will be good to be on the road again with our cooking facilities at hand.
We have had some strange weather while in Broome. For the last few nights as the temperature drops to mid 20s the condensation builds on every surface and it might as well be raining.
Today was even stranger. It was as though the clouds had forgotten where the ground was and had dropped too far. Just like flying through the clouds, we were driving through clouds as we drove towards the wharf. Not ideal for birding. We drove to the boat ramp anyway but soon gave up on the idea when we saw how thick it was.
With birding out of the equation and lookouts the same we decided to soak up a bit of history and headed for Chinatown. We had downloaded the jetty to jetty history walk app and used part of this to listen to the stories as we stood looking out along Streeters jetty (the original jetty where the pearler would bring their boats in). It is currently under repair but you could almost feel history around you just standing there on the red sand looking out along the jetty as it poked through the mangroves.
We wandered on along the street. Pausing to check out the diver statue (how on earth did they work in those suits?).
We scooted past the pearl shops with only a quick glance and into Jimmy Chi Lane which runs through Chinatown. There are posters telling about the history of Broome stuck up around the walls of the arcade between the shops so we could work our way along. Even the roof has some art reflecting the history.
I went across to Sun Pictures and bought us all tickets for us to view a movie in the old outdoor cinema on Sunday night
Then we drove the 12 miles back out to “The Mango Place” to have lunch and taste the various mango treats.
Mango pizza, various Jams and chutneys, mango and macadamia cheesecake and mango icecream
The next stop was a Gin distillery, where we tasted the two gins they make, plus an aniseed liquor and bitters. We decided to try them as mixed drinks but were disappointed with the result so did not buy any for you Denise. ( we know you are discerning)
We did some essential shopping to keep us supplied on the road. Now we just need fresh bread, fruit and veg and milk as we drive out of town.
I cooked up a version of chilli con Carne and froze the two packs I made for later. These will be great when I need a lazy night.
We had Tea together at Al and Zita’s place and watched the opening of the Olympics
Thursday was a quiet day. We slept in, went to the visitors centre to find out more info about Broome, had a delicious Thai lunch, did some shopping for groceries and then headed home via the treatment works where we displayed a terrible lack of knowledge.
Metal sculptures on the way to the shops
Some of The Australian ibis looked brown-but we were pretty sure they were just dirty birds. The really annoying thing was the fat grey/black birds on the far side of the ponds that we had no clue about. In retrospect I realise that I could have used my camera to get a zoom on them and maybe figured it out. It was interesting to see the platform that has been built there specifically for the purpose.
We came home and had a cup of tea. I lay down to think about the answers to the crossword clues and woke up at 4 pm!!! So much for that visit to the museum we were going to make.
The night markets were on so we went there. We bought Thai food from one of the many food vans but bought nothing from the 30 or so stalls selling all sorts of crafts.
We were up early to go on the shorebirds tour at the BBO (Broome Bird Observatory) which started at 7am.
Ben, the current volunteer there took his 5 charges along with 3 spotting scopes along the track to 3 different spots. At each spot he stopped and jumped out to check if the rest of us should and each time decided “yes” but shepherded us quietly up the track so as not to frighten the edgy birds. A number of times they took off as they were scared by a kite, but each time the hundreds of birds settled again and we were able to continue our lessons.
We heard about the amazing migration watch that they do here-recording each day which groups of birds take off. Apparently they stop feeding and line up facing north in groups. Sometimes they do some wing stretches or circles before they form up and fly north. Apparently the calls of the eastern curlew are the signal to start the migration watch. Some of these birds fly 6000 km without stopping till they get to the China Sea (where their essential mudflats for feeding are being built over with concrete). They then go the next 4000km or so to where the bugs are just breeding gangbusters to breed. Apparently the baby chicks don’t get fed by their parents but just have to open their mouths for the bugs to fly in (the bugs are that thick!!)
Avocets. Picture perfect birding. Red soil, blue sea, reflections and lots of birds.
The BBO also runs intensive shorebird courses in March and April and also more general ones on the birds around Broome in September and October. They sound full on and amazing.
We also saw the track of a hermit crab in the sand. Very cute!
After the tour we enjoyed cuppa and anzacs together and filled in a bird log.
Camp kitchen to die for.
At risk of boring most, here is the bird list for our tour
Red necked stint
Gray Plover
Whimbrel ( with curved down bill)
Bar tailed godwits
Lesser crested tern(yellow bill and black cap)
AUstralian gull billed tern ( black bill and black smudge on head)
torresian crow ( it is hard to miss them)
Pelicans
Red capped plover
Red necked stint
Lesser sandpiper
Pied butcherbird
Great knot
Grey tailed tattler
black tailed Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Asian Dowitcher ( a very rare find)
Pied oyster catchers
Curlew sandpipers
Osprey ( scaring the others)
Brahminy Kite
White breasted wood swallow
Pied stilts
Red necked avocet ( beautiful)
Whistling kite
Little friarbird
We might have picked half a dozen if we were lucky without our guide and the spotting scopes which were 20x magnification compared to 8x on our binoculars.
The red sand of Roebuck Bay and blue sky and water contrasted beautifully giving us some spectacular views.
We packed up and drove into Broome, where we drove to the far end of Cable beach and walked a while more on the grassy area above the beach. The surf club sure has a fine position up there overlooking such a long beach with beautiful white sand and clear blue water. It’s hard to believe that there might be nasty snapping teeth hiding out there in the water (scary kind).
We had an early lunch at Zanders overlooking the beach (fantastic prawn and crab salad) and walked a little more before making tracks to our Airbnb for the next few days. It is basically a lined shed with a bathroom/ laundry built into one corner and lounge/ bedroom/ kitchen taking up the rest of it. Would be a 6 car sized garage if used for that purpose. We have a full kitchen, bbq out the back with our own outdoor space, use of the pool and washing machine. Big TV. (Not sure what to do with that) the bed is comfy, even if smaller than we are used to.
We spent the afternoon settling in and catching up on washing and decided to cook the last of our vacuum packed meat from Kununurra on the bbq and eat the last of the salad from Fitzroy Crossing.
I went for a bit of a walk to the local mini IGA where there was very little choice, and narrowly missed being involved in a tousle between the shop manager, a young girl and the local cops. It shook me up a bit to see the proof of the Social issues simmering below the surface of this busy tourist town so clearly.
After tea we walked around a few streets and visited Craig and Ev for a while at their little Airbnb spot. Al and Zita came over too and we cooked up a few plans for the next few days.
Tomorrow we will visit the local tourist info office and maybe see some of the sights of Broome. Until then we will curl up together in our double bed. Wish us luck xx
Al and Zita had managed to get in touch with the Horizontal Falls people. Apparently they have a mechanical breakdown with a pump but offered us a change to a rather different tour on Monday 26th instead of the cancelled one on Thursday 22nd. We’ve booked in for this so now we have to find 3 more days of accomodation in/near Broome to get us up to the morning of the 27th. It also means that we will be fast-tracking the trip down to Karijini over a couple of days instead of five days once we leave Broome.
We are scrambling to plan how we will manage all this, but aware that there is plenty to see in and near Broome and that this will give some time up the sleeve for Al and Zita’s van repairs to the electricals in Broome even if they get held up.
We stopped at the Mowanjum Arts Centre just a little out of Derby to learn more about the Windjana artwork and how it fits with aboriginal culture. No photos taken here due to their “ no cameras “ policy. Then, after a quick stop to see the “Frosty Pool” ( a small pool built for the military in the past) we were on the road to Broome.
We lashed out like big spenders and bought pies and ice creams for lunch at the Willare Bridge roadhouse next to the Fitzroy River before continuing on. We washed these down with a free cuppa for tired travellers. This is actually not a bad little oasis , with lawned sites and a swimming pool.
We came into Broome and found a camping shop where we found a chair to replace our broken one. Camping chairs are essential.
Then we drove down on to Cable beach and wow!!!!! What a contrast to Derby. This magnificent white beach with stunning clear water and the smell of the beach was so fantastic. We parked on the beach and went for a swim in the warm salty water. Wonderful!!!!
The whale watching tours go out from here using this tricky little land/water craft for the transportation out to the bigger boats
We are not due at our Airbnb till tomorrow so we decided to follow up on advice and head for the bird observatory. We could have camped in any number of spots off of the sandy, corrugated track, but decided to drive to the actual sanctuary and have a look. They hadn’t been answering our phone calls, but when we arrived we were greeted by a national parks camp host and given the last empty spot in their little campground there. Our$36 gave us access to showers and toilets and a really terrific camp kitchen surrounded by mesh (they call it the shade house).
We took ourselves down to the beach through the scrub to see the last of the fading light.
We were there to hear their regular 6:30 bird call (90 birds found within 70 km of the observatory) as we ate our tea in the camp kitchen.
We booked in for a shorebird tour the next day and took ourselves off to bed to prepare for the early start.
We were all packed up and ready to move out after delicious bacon and egg breakfast before 9.
As we dropped by the Colwells Evelyn was all ready for a walk and then swim so we decided to walk too. We were really glad that we did.
The rock features and the boabs were just amazing. In the unusual rock formations it was really easy to lose direction,especially since you had to keep on changing direction and look down to try to keep to rocks rather than spinifex. (it didn’t altogether work and I have “spinifex legs” at the moment.)
We were aiming to get to a path around the water that some of the other campers had told Ev about. Eventually we found our way to the path above the water after quite a bit of clambering and spinifex. The quarry went further than we had realised, and even from part way along there was no view of the ramp into the water that we had used to go swimming the night before.
The path took us to some wonderful views of the area, including a fascinating cave hidden in behind a big leafy tree.
After quite a walk we decided to have a swim after all before we left, so we enjoyed one more dip in this amazing spot.
Lots of the WikiCamps reviews of this spot say they found no water, so we assume that the quarry fills in the wet and slowly the water is used or evaporated until it is dry again. It would still be a great camp spot without the water but it is ideal with it.
We drove back out to the main highway and turned back on to the bitumen heading for Derby. There are lots of boabs along the road including some really huge ones.
Roadside Boab stop
We stopped in at Ellendale lake on the way past ( -17.931397, 124.783801) . Here we found a grassy area along a long billabong with many vans parked in under shady trees. It looked a lovely spot but wiki says there are crocs so probably no swimming. Heaps of birds and probably heaps of bugs.
We drove on, making the turn towards Derby and stopped in to see the Prison Boab tree. This huge Boab was used to hold prisoners before they got to jail as they were walked for days across here in chains (up to 48 km a day).
Derby was pretty underwhelming. We were hoping to catch up with Al and Zita and hear the news on the van but decided to see the wharf. The coast here is croc infested and muddy mangroves. Very uninviting. The tide was out, exposing the muddy flats and some quite large fish ( one bloke told us they are pop-eyed mullet) teemed in the shallow water.
If you can see the black painting on the jetty pylons you can see where the high tide comes to. Big tides!!
We did a very quick shop before meeting Al and Zita. Sure enough there was extra damage found on their van and the workshop are having to make some of the parts required due to lack of availability but the axle itself was ok. Bolts, bearings and some other bits and pieces are being replaced. They have got hold of a new tyre to replace the shredded one and the wheel arch needs repairs where a hole has formed. Apparently an independent suspension is not a great idea on the GRR.
Sculpture in the marsh at Derby
We headed out of town again and turned on to the very end of the GRR, doing the first 10km or so to get to Birdwood Downs station, where we were happy to find a quiet shady spot, hot solar showers (with lots of little brown frogs),a good camp kitchen and a warm welcome. Not bad for $35/ night. They are planning to add powered sites and a new shower block in the next year or so so it will become even better. To us it seemed a much better idea than staying in a caravan park in Derby.
Trev has received a voicemail from Horizontal Falls Seaplane adventures saying that our trip has been cancelled for Thursday and they will refund the money. We have tried to ring back to find out more but no joy getting through at this stage. We assume that this cancellation is COVID related as the whole country seems to be having COVID outbreaks. We heard late in the afternoon that SA is heading into more severe restrictions and sport is cancelled.
It had been a noisy and mostly sleepless night in the caravan park. It only takes one group of noisy people to make the difference and we had had more than that. But we had a booking to be at Gieke Gorge for 9:30 so got our bones out of bed and got ourselves showered.
We arrived at Gieke Gorge with enough time to read some of the information boards before the cruise.
The boat holds about 70. This morning there were 17 of us- so plenty of space. It cruises gently up the Fitzroy River and offers a chance to see the ancient cliff faces. These are of the same Devonian reef formed rock as Windjana Gorge. When washed clean by the wet seasons it shows as a beige/ white/pink colour. The level of past wet seasons shows clearly about 18m above the level of the water.
The gorge is eroded by chemicals formed from the water which eat away at the crevices, forming lots of holes and gaps in the rock.
From the quiet boat you also get a good look at the freshwater crocs
and maybe some noisy red tailed black cockatoos. The ranger also gives a bit of a commentary on the area including the significance to traditional owners.
I had been hoping to do the afternoon tour and see the sunset on the rocks of the gorge, but the timing didn’t lend itself to that. We had the benefit of less crowds instead. (Al and Zita did the sunset one the night before and did capture some lovely colours but had to share with a tour).
The fairy Martin’s migrate from SA to here. They build nests under the overhanging cliffs. They also had lots in the caravan park.
There are a couple of walks here. I did one and a bit and ambled along the riverbank a bit looking for birds. Trev rested up after his rough sleepless night.
When I returned to the shady shelter to have a cuppa I realised that the wifi connection to log in to do a COVID check via parks was still available and we made use of it, uploading our blogs from the holiday much faster than on the town 3G in Fitzroy Crossing. We also took the chance and make a Sunday Afternoon call to Ben and Jasmine to catch up on news while we could.
We headed back through Fitzroy Crossing, stopping for a hamburger in a slightly dodgy roadhouse ( and wishing we had opted for a pie instead at the Shell) The hamburger was good. Hygiene standards not so good.
We headed back to the Boab quarry that we had checked out the previous day and found a quiet little spot just big enough for us around the corner from the Colwells and some noisy people from the previous night. We enjoyed a dip in the lovely cool water in the quarry along with some of the other campers.
The place filled up as we got towards dark. We had a quick tea (chicken and SALAD-what a treat) before packing it in early and crashing. Trev got pretty much 12 hours of sleep. We were much happier after that.
We started the day with a walk on the “Savannah Walk” before we headed down the road for Tunnel Creek. It was fascinating to see all of those bower birds pop out of the bush again once the campers moved out.
Graceful Boab with Windjana Gorge behindProlific flowers
At tunnel creek we changed into our swimming gear and head torches to make the “walk” through the tunnel. You clamber over some of those big old pink and white rocks from the Devonian era first (just like those we saw at Windjana) and then we were into the tunnel where we alternately waded, walked and swam depending on water depth. There is an opening in the centre of the 750m tunnel where the daylight comes in briefly. The reflections were stunning. In one area there is a huge domed ceiling with bats circling. In another there is a flow type cave feature with water from a spring cascading over it into the tunnel. So beautiful. Stalactites too. We didn’t take our cameras into the water area so have no photos of any of this, or of the beautiful water monitor that we enjoyed watching sunning himself on the other side while we warmed up before making our way back through the tunnel. Ev and Craig turned up while we were at the end of the tunnel and we made our way back together. Their torches were much stronger than ours and helped to show the freshwater croc on the rock part way back really clearly.
This road through is extremely scenic and a bit rough in places. If I was sending someone to one road to see a variety of boabs this would be the road. Large and small. Couples, families, schools. Fat ones and skinny ones.
We headed on down the road towards Fitzroy Crossing, stopping to check out a possible campsite for tomorrow at the RAAF Boab quarry. Beautiful spot where water has dammed in the old quarry and boabs dot the landscape. Lots of people camping but lots of space available if you don’t want to be close to the water.
We continued on our way, reaching Fitzroy Crossing and shopping for fuel and essentials ( fruit and veg!! Hooray! Milk! Bread!-such luxury) before checking in for the night camping at Fitzroy River Lodge.
We had dinner with all 6 of us there and a delicious meal, but I suspect that my Thai fried rice had lots of MSG as I got through a lot of water overnight.
We had a quiet start despite a very early wake up ( compliments of the small noisy children camping next to us).
Al and Zita had already gone when we went past the resort on our way out. We passed them quite a long way along the GRR just as we were thinking about morning tea. Not long after that we passed Queen Victoria’s Head as we drove along!!
They didn’t want to stop as they needed to be in Fitzroy Crossing tonight. We met them again after we had set up camp in the campground at Windjana and walked in to the information board to figure out our plan.
The campsite we chose was (once again) in the generator area. There was so much more space available and shade too.
We decided to do the gorge walk this afternoon. After having lunch under our tree with a number of bower birds (making their mad muttering noises) we headed off.
There is a cage to deposit live cane toads in here. You can catch them and put them in the cage and they are taken away and disposed of humanely.
I can’t imagine transporting a cane toad back from my walk in a plastic container. I can’t imagine actually catching one. Apparently you should pick them up by the back legs from behind.
As we were just into our walk, starting the count of freshies spotted and marvelling at the strange rock we met Al and Zita again.
This is how you enter Windjana Gorge
They were on their way out. The rock is formed from ancient reef here and there are some good examples of ancient sea creatures to be seen
There is a very strange type of rock here. It looks like modelling clay. Some of it is quite pink with black dots-and would fit in nicely in one of those black and pink bathrooms of the 60s.
The cliffs above are the usual black and red
The walk was shady and much easier walking than we have had recently. But it was frustrating to have such great looking water nearby and not be cooling off in it. It was also annoying to find an “end of trail” sign on a clearly shortened trail. We had been hoping for a waterfall at the end, but there was just a sign and you could see where the trail used to go on. So we turned around and headed back.
Interesting bugs were found.
And new flowers coming out on the hakeas(??) we saw these in much stronger flower as we were emerging from Mornington. Very impressive!
There was another bowerbird giving away the position of his impressive bower on the way out, and we also met Craig and Ev just going in. They had located us in the campground and we found them parked right next door when we got back to the camper.
We settled down to rehydrate and watched all the campers trickling in and encroaching on our space bit by bit.
Tonight we thought we would eat chilli con carne reclaimed from Al and Zita’s freezer, but it turned out to be bolognaise sauce. We are down to our last litre of long life milk. Despite the fact that we have 3 nights booked here we will probably only stay tonight and then head on to Tunnel Creek in the morning and on to Fitzroy Crossing. Hopefully we can restock a bit there.
Luvapuzzle 