15th Sept

We went out to the Lighthouse point for a view of the Coast and to look at the rock formations out there. They were quite spectacular.

    The old Lighthouse keeper made a small swimming pool in the rocks for his wife Anastasia to soak in to help her Arthritis.
                                     Here is David sitting in what is left of Anastasia's pool.

From here you can see where the Red rocks meet the white sands of the Broome beaches.

This is the Lighthouse and the old Keepers house. It looks like its been renovated or replaced as it was very nice with great views. There was a huge Osprey nest near the top of the tower so I wouldn't fancy having to climb up past that to check the light.

Broome is noted for its big tides, 10 meters I think. This is our beach at low tide.

                                                              And this is it at high tide.

                                I will finish with a Broome Sunset over our beach at Roebuck Bay.

Cheers till next time.
Helen and Dave

11th Sept

We finally arrived in Broome after a short hop (compared to previous hops) from Derby.
We booked in to the Roebuck Bay camping ground,a bit scruffy but right on the beach with great views.

It was cheaper than any at Cable Beach and closer to the water and Town as well. The beach is in the back ground and I went for a nice swim the day before we left and the next day the beach was closed because of a Croc sighting. I didn't think I looked like a Croc!!
We did the Camel down the beach at Cable Bay, as you do when you visit Broome and could hardly walk when we got off after half an hour. I hate to think what it would be like after the hour long ride. You would be walking like John Wayne for days after. They are very wide across the back those animals.

                                                             I think we got the pretty one!

 Its a long way down from up there and not very comfortable. I was riding shotgun and Helen did the driving!

                                                       Looking up the line.

                                                    No mistaking that silhouette
                              We hung around and got some good shots of the Camels at Sunset.

                          These are the sort of photos you see in all the Tourist brochures

The beaches up the West Coast have been inundated with these Tomato Jellyfish which made Cable Beach smell a bit fishy. As you can see there was thousands of them. I don't think they were of the stingy type but I wasn't taking any chances.

14th Sept
We did a trip to the Willie Creek Pearl Farm today and decided to save $50.00 each and drive out there rather than take the Tour bus. The road was interesting and very Red.

We finally arrived after a bumpy ride but nothing too serious. The temps were very high 44deg on the car thermometer. Made it a bit sickly but as long as you found some shade it wasn't too bad.
We were given a very informative lecture on the seeding of the Oysters to get them to produce up to 4 Pearls in their life time.

                            Part of the display at the shed where the lecture took place.
  From here we had Morning tea, Damper,Coffee or Tea and Biscuits then
 went  out in the Boat to look at the Naughty farm! These are the Oysters that don't seed, so they use them for making button Pearls. These are half round pearls grown on the shell and not in the gonads (ooh!) like the other Oysters. The actual Pearl Farm is about 20km off shore.
They use a small piece of shell from an Oyster from Mexico to seed the Oyster to start them making Pearls. They are cut into small cubes then put in a Gem tumbler to make them round, then put into the Oysters Gonad!! They have to hide it away otherwise a small Crab that lives in the Oysters shell will clean it out. The Oyster then coats it with a liquid that over 2 years makes the Pearl. This process can be done up to 4 times with each successive Pearl seed being bigger than the last one. They use this particular shell from Mexico because it shows up on an Xray when they check to see if they have fooled the little Crab. The last Pearl is normally the largest, but the success rate is only small for the last one,hence the price of the big Pearls is high. And no I didn't buy one for Helen though the $90,000 string of Pearls was tempting!

The Oysters are put in these frames and suspended in the Ocean for 2 years to grow the Pearls.
They are taken up every 14 days put through a high pressure wash then are manually cleaned of Barnacles and other sea growth. So if you want a job in the Tropics,on a ship 20km off the coast cleaning Oyster shells 10days on 5 days off for $1000.00 a week. Free board and food for a 12 hour day on a 8 week contract come up to Broome. We were not tempted.
More on Broome soon.
Cheers
Helen and David.

10th Sept

We left the Mary pool free camp and headed for Broome. The scenery was quite spectacular for awhile with big rocky outcrops as we headed into the Kimberley's.

We headed for Fitzroy crossing and were passed by 3 caravans towed by Land cruisers doing at least 100kph. I'm glad I wasn't paying their fuel bill and we caught up with them at the Fitzroy crossing Roadhouse. Unfortunately they have their fuel fillers all on the same side so had to Que for the same pump. The Pajero has it on the other side so I just cruised in filled up at the free pump and left before them, Ha! So much for haste.

The trip to the turnoff to Derby was pretty uneventful, just the boring straight roads to contend with.
Rob from LEP would relate to these 2 photos as he did the same trip on his Motorbike in the opposite direction.

We arrived at The Derby turnoff and as it was getting a bit late we decided the 40km to Derby was better than the 180km to Broome,so we headed to Derby.
It is an interesting place with the highest tides in Australia,16 metres I believe.
The old Boab tree was a place to be at Sunset apparently, so we went for a look. They have some great Sunsets up this way and I have about a 100 various photo's taken at different places so a few more wont go amiss.

Some of these trees are up to a 1000 years old and originate from Madagascar. Apparently the seeds came across the ocean from there and are spread by Wallabies and Birds. They are spread all across the Kimberly's and beyond. A very effcient distrabution system.

They are a large tree and look like they are growing upside down with the branches looking like roots.

                                             Some nice effects as the Sun gets low in the sky.

11th Sept 

We head for Broome today and on the way out of Derby drop in for a look at the prison Boab tree.
This was used in the past by the Police to chain up Prisoners on their way to Derby.

On to Broome but that's for the next post.
See Ya
Helen and Dave

23rd Sept

Finally made it to Exmouth so we have Internet again so I can try and catch up to where actually are.

7th Sept

 Downstream from the Dam was a lovely picnic area and the finish to the Boat trip that comes from Kununnara.

This is the Ord river looking downstream from the dam with the Tour boat heading back to Kununarra.
The other thing worth a look was the old Durack family Homestead. This was dismantled due to the fact it was going to be flooded by the dam and moved to its present site,just down from the camp Ground. Apparently the last bits were removed as the water was lapping the foundations.

9th Sept
Time to leave Argyle and head for Broome. Not a lot to see on this stretch,nothing worth a photo anyway. We made it to the Mary pool free camp and decided a night here was the order of the day so we stopped for the night. We had met up with another nice couple from Victoria in a Motor home and travelled with them towards Broome. Warwick and Di had left earlier than us and we didn't manage to catch them up until Mary Pool.

Next time on to Derby.
Cheers
Dave and Helen

7th Sept

Back to the flight again and this time  we leave the Lake behind and close in on the Bungle Bungles.
I wont put many words in as the photos speak for themselves,so here goes.

                              The other Aircraft owned by Kimberly Air below us.

They are spread over a huge area which means you only see a very small part of them from the ground. From the air you get a better perspective of their size.

                                         From here it was over to the Argyle Diamond Mine.

A vast complex and an interesting story behind the discovery of Diamonds here and the formation of the mine.
Then it was back to Kununura Airport after an enjoyable 2 hour flight.

                                 Our trusty Cessna 210 that carried us on our flight.

 Helen with Pilot Tim from Newcastle who had been working for Kimberly Air for 3 months.
That's it folks,till next time.
Regards Dave and Helen