Broome part 3

 On Monday 22nd August at 7 a.m. we were picked up from our campsite by Chomley Tours to visit Cape Leveque, about 200 kms north of Broome. This was  a large splurge for us but something we really wanted to do. Unfortunately the first 100 kms was dirt and very corrugated and sandy, therefore we thought better not to try the trip on our own.  There were 13 of us on the tour but there was sufficient leg room for us.

 Our first stop was Beagle Bay, and it's famous church. The alter was decorated with pearl shells and if you look really closely you can see two large pearls which form the stem of the urn. The boys weren't really excited by the church but that soon changed when we had morning tea and set off to visit a pearl farm

  The Reidy's and in the background Cygnet Bay pearl farm.  Cygnet Bay pearl farm is 100% Australian owned and run and has been running for over 30 years. We conducted our tour and learnt that this little outfit competes with only one other major competitor which is owned by the Japanese. It harvests about 70 thousand pearls a year. The boys did enjoy the tour but there was more to come. Staff live at the complex and are rationed 3 beers a day and are feed like kings as the cleaning of pearl shells is a regular and physical job. The complex also has 3 full time chefs as a result.

 Sue was very impressed with the pearls, this necklace priced at a lazy $15,000.00. I politely told Sue that she was "dreaming". After the tour we sat down for lunch in the outdoor cafe. We ate a fantastic lunch which the boys polished off with much determination.

Our next visit was to Cape Leveque's Trogus hatchery. They housed baby turtles, adult turtles, clown fish, barramundi and blue bone fish and many sea urchants, sea cucumbers, star fish and pencil urchans. We all got to handle the sea creatures and feed the turtles and fish. The baby turtles were a highlight they were only 6 days old. Apparently they were seen by locals shortly after hatching at a local beach about 600 in number but due to lots of seagulls, other birds and fish their numbers quickly dwindled to less that 10. A tough start to life but they are in good hands now. As we had no luck catching Barramundi this was our first experience of its loud slap as it catches its prey. We video taped the boys feeding them and it was truly frightening, luckily they have no teeth and are very gentle but the noise is bloody loud.

 Next up was a swim at a secluded Cape Leveque beach. The water was very warm and comfortable and we all, including Sue, swam in it for just under an hour.

We then sat down and had afternoon tea and watched the sunset and watched numerous humpback whales jumping out of the water from a couple of hundred meters away. Fantastic, we also have this on video. A great end to a great day. After this we headed back to Broome and on the way had a break to enjoy the stars, they were amazingly bright as a result of not having any lights around. We were dropped off at our campsite just a bit past 9 p.m., late but a great day.

A short political note, which will be the first and last. Although I did grow a beard and occasionally go without a shower  I have not turned into a hippy. But my rant is about a proposed gas plant being planned between Broome and Cape Leveque. You may have seen or read about ongoing protesting at the proposed sight at the moment. It's a beautiful spot and I would hate to see anything that would destroy it. Why they don't go down south a couple of hundred km's near Port headland which is heavily industrialised I don't know. I guess its always about money, but if you haven't yet heard about this issue, you soon will.

A couple of days later the boys and I thought we might try some fishing, I had been told that the pier was a safe and good place to catch fish. They weren't wrong, we spent about 6 hours fishing and caught 10 fish. We kept one which was of eating size and according to our book tasted 'good'. The smaller fish were blue bone fish which are said to be great eating but they were too small, damm it. We also saw numerous turtles and sea snakes and a couple of large squid. The boys loved it and  the fish tasted alright. Unfortunately the fish above colour had faded after spending a few hours in our iced esky. It was called a Banded Sweep.
 We all really enjoyed our ten day stay in Broome.

Broome part 2

 Sue, Liam and Jake having an afternoon camel ride. Benjamin decided he was too scared to go on one so Steve stayed with him. We really enjoyed our camel ride.

 There were 16 camels in the train and 3 companies providing camel rides so it's a popular activity in Broome! The sunset rides are usually booked out.

 They take photos for you using your camera and the photo above is an arty photo they like to take. I like it.

 Last night after dinner we went to the outdoor cinema in Broome and watched an Aussie movie called Red Dog which we all really enjoyed but it was sad for dog lovers. It was great to see the scenery in the film which was set in Dampier which is near Port Headland, WA. The scenery showed areas that we've been thru. like Kunanarra and central Australia.

 We went to the markets today and the boys had a Henna Tattoo of a croc put on their arms. It should last up to 2 weeks.

The boys are having their daily swim in the pool now. We can't wait for our big day trip to Cape Le Veque tomorrow. We get picked up from our caravan Pk at 7am and returned at 8:30pm. A big day which should be great.
Bye for now!

Broome part 1

 Before I start telling you about Broome, we did have a very usual neighbour whilst staying in Derby and he was very friendly and quite handsome.

Before we left for Broome we all visited Derby's school of the air. This was very interesting as it explained how the teachers taught the kids who live in the Kimberley area. We were also present when the teacher did the daily muster speaking to all the kids involved before they then spoke to their individual teachers. It makes our job of teaching the kids for 6 months look very easy.

We then set off to Broome and set up camp. Sue and the boys later had a swim in the pool that at this stage has been voted by the boys as the best pool ever. It has two lanes which are 25m long which you can do laps and another pool which is connected which is designed in a rock pool design. The boys have swam in it just about every day. That night at about 7 p.m. we drove down to the beach to visit what they call is the stairway to the moon. On three nights a month the tide is at a certain level that when the moon rises over the horizon its moonlight reflects off the tidal mud flats and as the name suggests it looks like stairs leading up to the moon. unfortunately our camera photo's did not work out but we have video recorded it.

The next day I was determind to fix out camp cooker problem. As that morning it played up and took about 30 minutes to cook porridge. I took it the the camping store and the little bastard was working properly. I'm sure the bloke thought I was a half wit but did say that if it plays up again bring it back. Well that day happened two days later and thank god the problem has been fixed. It was the gas hose I spoke to the same bloke and glad he came to the same conclusion. it might sound trivial but when we go to camp sites of the beaten track we need the cooker working or we will have three grumpy crocodiles wanting food, let alone me being hungry.

The next morning we visited dinosaur footprints at about 7 am. Waking up at this time was not a problem as it gets light at about 5.30 am, so the kids and Sue and I are awake at about this time. We took awhile to find the footprints and not really sure if they are genuine or not. The photo is hard to see but they are similar to an emus footprint but a little bigger. Apparently the experts have claimed they are genuine and state that the Broome area is abundent with similar dino prints.

 That arvo we went for a swim at Cable Beach. We were all very tired and all had a snooze huddled under our little beach umbrella to avoid the sun. After waking up we ventured down to visit the famous camels on the beach. Sue and the boys enjoyed patting the smelly, grumpy animals I kept my distance. Sue Liam and Jake latter booked in to ride them on saturday arvo

 After the camels we watched the beautiful sunset whilst eating fish and chips. I love holidays.

 A day of rest was had next for washing, repairing and relaxing in the caravans pool. The next day we went to the Malcolm Douglas Wildlife Centre. As you will soon see by the photo's we had a ball. We must have seen over 100 crocodiles and alligators. In one large lake there were about 70 crocs. It looked like something from an Indiana Jones movie they were everywhere. Feeding time was amazing, it went for over an hour and the boys still wanted more. The boys have just finished writing their journals for this day, both Liam and Jake have written pages for this day and more than any other day. They do love their animals future Steve Irwins or malcolm Douglas's, who knows.

 First tour we got to pat dingos, they weren't able to tell us where jakes back pack was from Kings Canyon.

 One of the many highlights the boys holding a little croc

 Liam and jake look like pros, Benjamins not too shore

 It felt very soft and cold. Liam took this picture.

 Water Lilies always look good and Sue was dying to get a good photo for our return home, maybe this is worthy to be framed and hung up on a wall at home

 Peak hour at the zoo everyone rushing to feeding time. I did witness plenty of road rage and blood was spilt. Much the same as melbourne's west.

The croc's were fed and occassionally had a fight over a piece of meat and injuries were sustained. The crocs were being fed crocs steak which is left over from the latest harvest of croc skinning. The Wildlife park farms crocs and sells parts to make ends meat. I am no convinced that the croc has no weaknesses, they are truely awesome and you have no hope if taken by one in the water. It's a handy reminder to me when the boys and I are looking for that perfect fishing spot.

 The boys were full of adrenaline after the hour long feed and still wanted more. Luckily this was not a real one. We saw a number of huge crocs they biggest ranged from 4.5 to 6 metres long. Bloody huge

 The view as you enter the park. The boys were salavating

Thought I would change the mood. Peaceful Broome.

Sue and I have also booked a day tour to Cape Leveque on monday, we get picked up from &am and return at about 8.30 pm. It will be a long day but apparently a fantastic one by all accounts. After speaking to many campers the road is very rough and sandy even for 4wd's, so we have no hope in our 2wd. We also thought of hiring a 4wd but found out that the hire car companies try to avoid customers driving up there and as a result there are large excesses if damage is sustained. After some thought we agreed to do the one day tour.

Will let you know how it goes. See you soon I have to go as Sue Liam and Jake are going for a camel ride.

Speak to you all later 

Kununarra

 After leaving Katherine we stayed one night at a low cost camping site at Big Horse Creek. This was our first view of the famous Boab tree. After viewing many around the campsite we thought this was the most interesting. That night we expierenced our first problem with our camp cooker. Luckily a kind fellow camper allowed us to use their cooking facilities. As I write to you we have not solved the issue with the cooker but luckily have been able to cook our meals and use it but have not diagnosed the problem.

 The wild man from Borneo, (NorthernTerritory), mind you there have been a few jibes that I look like father christmas.HA HA (Nick Linton) Sue totally agrees with this description!

 Benjamin's birthday celebrated at Kunnanurra. We put up a few balloons and after a few birds tried to land on them resulting in a big pop, they stayed away from us for the rest of the day. Benjamin enjoyed his breakfast cooked by Jake of french toast with bananna and maple syrup. A very special treat as the one bananna cost us $3.50, but it was good. Benjamin opened a number of presents and was waited on hand and foot by his brothers. I also enjoyed the day as I got to shave my beard off. It was a joy to have all that itchy stuff off my face. The boys thought I looked weird, I didn't care I was more comfortable.

                                                               Zebidee springs

                                                                     Emma Gorge

 We stayed in Kununurra for 5 nights. One of the highlights was our day trip to El Questro. We traveled along the Gibb River Road and visited Zebedee Springs. These springs were very hot and the water was somewhere between 28 and 32 degrees. We really enjoyed them the water felt hotter than any other springs we had visited. It was like a spa without bubbles. But the boys tried to provide as many bubbles as they could. We must have stayed in the water for at least an hour. The boys enjoyed catching frogs and tadpoles in the springs, Sue and I just lazed about it, was very relaxing. We then ventured further along the Gibb River road through some water crossings that we conquered to El Questro and had a look around. We then back tracked and visited Emma Gorge, after having lunch. We walked for an hour to reach the gorge/waterfall. We were all rather tired and the track was designed for mountain goats as there were many large rocks to climb. Benjamin found it the hardest but he was a little trooper and soldiered on. The end result was magnificent. The waterfall was picturesque but the water was freezing. Benjamin ventured out with Liam, Jake and I but he decided to return. Sue felt the water and was the designated photographer/videographer. Liam, Jake and I ventured out swam to the other edge of the gorge, then the waterfall and swam back. It was a beautiful setting and hopefully the photo's do it justice. Our car not a 4WD did well and negotiated the corrugated parts of the dirt track. After speaking to people who have driven along the entire Gibb River Road from Derby to Kunnunarra they informed us that the roughest part of the road was from Emma Gorge to Kunnunarra. So we did pretty well. The Kimberleys are truly gods country (to coin a phrase from my dad).

                                                                  Lake Argyle

 After having a rest day after our Gibb River Road trip we then ventured to Lake Argyle. Sorry on our rest day we thought we would try to catch a barra. As you can see there are no photo's of any fish, it was bit of a disaster. We lost three lures and found one. Unfortuntley the Ord river dam is releasing a lot of water which results in faster rushing water at our fishing spot Ivanhoe Crossing. Anyway that's fishing and it looks like we have lost the opportunity to catch a barra. I'm sure we are due for some luck in WA with some sweet Emporer's, They are said to be great eating equivalent to our local snapper.

Anyway Lake Argyle was beautiful as seen from the pictures above, unfortunately there was not much to do if you did not want to do the a boat cruise which costs a family of five just over $300. We felt the same about Yellow Water in Kakadu, if you are not prepared to spend this amount of money then there is not much to see and they don't cater for families. Anyway I am all for people trying to earn a living but they wont be getting my $300 plus. I haven't told Liam and Jake but I plan to take them on a fishing charter trip, either in Broome or Exmouth and I know this will be a hit. So missing these cruises does not make Sue and I feel too guilty. I know Sue and Liam and Jake are also looking forward to a camel ride in Broome along cable beach. I have volunteered to be camera man as camels are smelly grumpy beasts, Benjamin will decide on the day, he is wise for a 5 year old.

Our last day in Kunnunarra we decided to visit a secret swimming spot that even many locals don't know about. We were told this by our neighbour at Katherine who was an avid camper and was from WA. So with a bit of sceptisisim we made our way down a dirt track. We drove about a couple of kms until I reached a very sandy section. We were literally in the middle of nowhere and not close to any major highway if we needed help. All I can remember saying to Sue was "stuff this I'll walk to see how far this swimming hole is". Liam and I walked along the dirt track, Jake wasn't feeling well after projectile vomiting in Kunnunarra a couple of days ago, so he looked after Sue and Benjamin. Liam and I eventually found Molly's Springs after about 20 minutes. Liam, Jake and I had a swim whilst Benjamin and Sue found the water too cold. There were a couple of people who turned up a little later but we had the springs to ourselves for about 30 minutes. It was very nice and refreshing and well and truly worth the walk. As you can see I am still upholding the sun smart message instilled in me by my later great uncle. I do have a bit of colour on my shoulders. So I apologise to all of you who have just finished your breakfast.

We are currently in Derby for a couple of days and then stay at Broome for a week. Last night we stayed at a lovely camping spot at Mary Pool for a night. Unfortunately we have been placed close to some' permanents' at our caravan park in Derby and they don't like kids. Sue and I are dealing with it with our usual diplomacy, even though these permanents are the closest thing to trailer trash as I have seen so far on our trip.

Not a great way to finish the blog but we are really having a good time. The last two days have consisted of lots of driving and Sue conducting classes in the back of the car. Tiredness by all and enforced school work usually leads to some forgetable moments and its fair to say they were not captured on video or camera.

Bye for now

Kununarra

Darwin to Katherine

Hello to you all again. Well it feels like weeks since we last updated the blog, we have packed a bit in and it's all been great. Just a short update re Berry Springs swim which featured in our last blog. A couple of days later a front page article featured in the local Darwin paper stating that a salt water croc had bitten a swimmer at Berry Springs. A couple in the caravan park came over to us to tell us the news as they had seen us swimming at Berry Springs and when the German tourist declared that he had seen a croc. Apparently some brain surgeon the day before we visited Berry Springs had photographed the croc but had not thought to notify the authorities. So the day after we visited the Springs the same thing happened where someone stated that they had seen a croc. A female then swam towards where the croc had been sighted and she got too close and the croc 1 and a half metres long gave her a peck on the neck. She refused medical treatment and left the scene rather embarrassed. So as you can probably imagine we felt rather relieved that we had moved on when we did from the springs. Anyway it goes to show you that you dont try to approach wild animals especially if they are an ambush preditor and eat everything including their own kind.


Our last day at Darwin was spent with the boys friends Lachlan and Annabel (sorry Annabel for the wrong spelling in our last couple of blogs) and their parents Allison and Gary. We spent the arvo at the wave pool centre and had dinner at Darwins harbour area. We all had burgers which consisted of calamari, chicken, barramundi, kangaroo and camel, you could also choose buffalo, crocodile and the plain beef burger. No food poisoning was experienced.

As we left Darwin the next morning we drove to the Mary River area booked in at the Corroborrie Roadhouse. We drove a little futher up the road to visit Lyn and Bob, parents of my cousins wife Shelley. Lyn and Bob are caretakers for a defence force property. They treated us to a fantastic lunch and a tour of the property. As can been seen above the boys loved it. We left the property with some barramundi and bannanas. As you would know both of these items are prized and we almost needed an armaguard escourt back to our campsite. Thanks once again Lyn and Bob for your hospitality and hope to return the favour when you make your way to Melbourne one day. The next couple of days we enjoyed the barra and bananas, the boys have declared that barra is their favourite tasting fish knocking the flathead off from no 1 spot. It's fair to say that ever since tasting the barra the boys are dying to do some fishing for some more and I'm all for that.

 That arvo we booked into a wetlands boat tour along the Mary River during sunset. We had a small group on the boat and were able to float up to some crocs sunning themselves on the bank within 2 metres. We were also treated to some bird wildlife and billabongs which had hundreds of the iconic lilly pads. We got to see  the very stunning Jabaru bird up close.(pictured above) We watched the sunset and thoroughly enjoyed the tour.

The next morning whilst  packing up we  sighted the cleaner in the toilets with a little helper. The joey had been taken from her dead mum who had been hit by a car. Sue and the kids wanted to take it home. I was not convinced.

 The next day we visited Ubirr Rock, this consisted of some aboriginal rock paintings and some great 360 degree views of Kakadu. This was the highlight of kakadu for all of us and the pictures dont do it justice. But here are a couple to wet your appetite.

 Whilst at Kakadu we soon found out how ferocious the mozzies are. Benjamin and I faired the worst, I won with a grand total of 73 bites over the 4 days. The next day we visited Cahills Crossing at the change of tied. This crossing at this time is impassble for about an hour and the barra use this as an oppurtunity to cross the road (crossing). The crocs off course are one step ahead and wait on either side of the crossing with their mouths open in the water and as a barra swims past the croc clossess its mouth. We sighted about 5 or 6 crocs doing this and it was a feeding frenzie, very spectacular. The boys loved it anything with crocs in action is a hit.

We also tried our hand at barramundi fishing whilst at our campsite at Mardugal. It puts a whole different slant on fishing when you come across signs like this as seen below, it makes you wonder who is actually fishing us or the crocs. We all gave fishing a go crocs nil us nil which I spose is a good result. Apparently the water is still not hot enough for the barra to be out in force. I think we might miss the season by a month and will have to come back another time.

 After leaving Kakadu we  drove to Katherine and are currently half way through our 5 night stay. We are staying at a caravan park which has some hot springs a couple of hundred metres away from its back door. We visit these springs every afternoon before dinner and find it very relaxing. Today we went for a 2 hour walk at Katherine Gorge. The views are fantastic and the boys did a great job of negotiating the tricky rock paths at times. We also plan to visit some caves and other Katherine sights in our last couple of days.

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Katherine has been a good time to make some repairs, our jockey wheel on the camper trailer was damaged whilst in Kakadu and a replacement was needed. Our battery which powers our fridge/freezer has been slow to charge via our car battery whilst driving, so we have bought a battery charger 240 watt which fully charges our battery in about 10 hours so it is ready to go when we stay at a non powered sight. We have also been told by one of our fellow campers that there is a  recall on all current Ford Territory front suspensions, which we will get fixed when in Broome.

We have also been talking to a lot of campers re WA and have just about decided to spend more time in Exmouth and Coral Bay, lots of snorkling, fishing and layzing by the beach to be had and possibly not visit Monkey Mia at all as we've been told by a few people now (including you Paul/ Dad) that it's not as good as it used to be and Exmouth and Coral Bay are much better.

I hope all is well with you all and we will probably be able to update you when we are in Kunanarra in about 4 or 5 days time.
Speak to you then.