Finally, driving south to Port Hedland 16th August 2012

16th August 2012

Ah, what a sweet relief it was to receive our Ute back. It is going well and without any problems. We left Broome about two weeks ago and drove to 80 mile beach, about 360 ks south. All this driving was pretty much across The Great Sandy Desert . We drove about 12 ks on a dirt road to get to 80 Mile Beach. It is pretty much strictly for fishermen and women with lots of pretty shells on the beach. There are people here from all over Australia, who stay for up to six months here and then have six months at home. Most people say there are not a lot of fish this year. There are, however, lots of sharks, large sea snakes and large jelly fish which the fishermen do not like. It seems to almost be forbidden to actually get into the water. The beach is pure white and goes as far as the eye can see, on a firm base. Some kindly folk accompanied us four wheel driving on the beach, which was fun.

We then stopped in Port Hedland for a few days. It is an absolute ruin of a place. It is entirely under reconstruction. The 100 year old main street is all fenced off and the shops are not operating except for the PO and the Information Centre. People say there are no ladies dress shops here. We haven't seen one. The main part of the town is a wasteland which fills with ocean water when there is a cyclone. So Port Hedland is built up on a ridge between the ocean and the wasteland. There is another town called South Hedland. Total population is 40,000. There are lots if big He-men here, but not so many women. I think it is just work, work, work, pick up your fat pay packet and back to work again.

Rio Tinto and associated friends are the King Pins here and multi billions of dollars are being spent for the mining companies, but not for the town. The town folk just want them to pack up and go away as they lose all their memories to the mining. The mines are putting in a new loading bay for the massive ships, 3.5 km out in the ocean. It will fill 8 massive ships simultaneously with iron ore for China, where it will be processed into iron and we then buy it back. There are 500 km of railway tracks, the trains are up to 4 km long and some contain 120+ carriages of ore. The way they have transformed the earth is unbelievable, its the big "take-over" all right. The devastation is as big as the money that has been spent. Rent on a tiny cottage in the van park is $2,000 to $3,000 per week for a foreman contractor. 

The prettiest thing in the town, and maybe the only thing, is the Olympic Swimming Pool together with a diving pool and wonderful children's pool with a car sitting in the pool for the children to play in. The Council is really trying to improve the town.

We found some lovely young couples at the church in Port Hedland and one couple knew us from Kanwal days and now they have three children. There were about 50/50 whites and Aboriginal folk there. We were taken four wheel driving out on reclaimed sand from the ocean floor towards the end of the day, where we had an enjoyable time together. 

                                                              Ore carrier in  Port Hedland

                                                                       Port Hedland

                                                   Port Hedland loading facilities

                                                         Rio Tinto salt works

                                                   Port Hedland is under construction

                                                       Seagull squabbles

                                                     What you meet on the road

                     

Broome to Horizontal Falls and Cape Levique

The days are sunny and glorious every single day, with cool nights.  Its a fine place to be stuck for a while.  We shop and swim at the pool and generally muddle about most of the day with meals etc.

 

Yesterday we went to The Horizontal Falls and Cape Levique.  Its a full day from 5 am to 5.30 pm. It starts with a 2 hour trip on a float plane that takes off from the airport.  We land on the water at The Horizontal Falls.  There are many pontoons and all different kinds of boats and hospitality areas, shark and fish feeding cages, jet stream boats (600 hp), with sea planes (on skis) coming and going throughout the day. It was the best organised thing we have ever seen. Nobody is idle for a moment as hundreds of tourists fly in and on and out.  The staff feed large colourful fish by hand.  The area is made up of the mainland, and hundreds of island sitting like islands of meringue on the beautiful aqua blue waters. The scene is breathtaking, reminding me of Alaska in many ways. There is complete serenity.  Even the large sharks which swim around the pontoons continuously, do not seem dangerous, although they are.   The food and hospitality is beautiful.  We were taken up a couple of rivers to see the cliffs, some at 90 degrees to the water when they were thrust up from under the ocean many eons ago.  The day moved in quick order. 

 

The Horizontal Falls are caused by a massive build up of water between the mountains at high tide.  The water is forced at tremendous pressure through a narrow gap in the mountains to let it out.  We rode up and down one of these three times.  They could not do the smaller one while we were there, due to the higher water being about six foot higher than lower water, with a narrow opening, it was much too dangerous to take us through.  Later in the day it would have been quite accessible as the tide fell.  We flew over the Buccaneer Archipelago, a very scenic flight with many islands in the beautiful ocean below, landing at One Arm Point, and being driven a short distance to Cape Levique. We photographed the lovely beaches with the yellow wattles and the fine white sand surrounding the very blue ocean.  We were provided with a lovely lunch, then it was time to take the 4 WD vehicle to Beagle Bay ("Bran Nu Day" fame) followed by the 3 hour drive back to Broome.   The road was red bull dust with some corrugations and bumps.  It was cut deeply down into the earth and I'm sure in the Wet, it would be a raging river.  We had two hours on the bumpy road and glad to finally get to Broome.  It was an adventure all of its own, really.  The crowd we were with were delightful company  (ten people in our group).

 

We got some photos of Town Beach at high tide, showing off the lovely colours of the scene. We lunched with the church family overlooking Town Beach and in the evening we celebrated Solomon Islands Independence Day, which was fun.

 

Right now it seems that the ship is taking the live cattle trade animals at the long, narrow wharf.  Approximately 18,000 cattle go out at one time and it takes 36 hours to load them.  They are well looked after and on-lookers are not permitted too close.  Tonight we saw a destroyer and an accompanying smaller vessel running down the WA Coastline.  Perhaps they were looking for Boat People.

First Horizontal Falls

Approaching Horizontal Falls

Beagle Bay RC Church with Mother of Pearl Shell

Cape Levique

The rough road home, 90Km

Horizontal Falls

Float plane

Horizontal Falls

Horizontal Falls

Island in Archipeligo

Our Bus

Sharks swimming around our pontoon

Town Beach, B roome & ship at wharf

 

Broome - sunset, Moon rise, China town and birds

Yes, we are still sitting tight in Broome.  Another beautiful, sunny day, however it was a cold and windy start.  Last night we captured Staircase to the Moon for your enjoyment.  Fortunately we did a dry run the night before and found out we needed lots of warm clothes on.  So last night we had everything we needed and watched everybody else wish they had more clothes on as well as a tripod for their camera in the nearly dark conditions.  I think everyone was amazed to watch the lovely spectacle of the rising full moon reflecting off the exposed mud flats at extremely low tide, creating the illusion of stairs reaching to the moon.  The spectacle will be repeated tonight and tomorrow night, an hour later each night.  The event occurs between March and October along the coastline of Roebuck Bay, Broome.  The local market stallhalders will be there for two nights, some serving up beautiful Asian meals.

 

The place we watched from is a tiny finger of land reaching out into the sea.  Everyone crowds on to this little promontery, as well as scattering along other places of the coast to watch the event. There is a lovely water park there for the children to play in, a nice cafe and an old cemetary on the highest point.  Other viewing spots are the Mango Hotel and the golf course.

 

We have been fortunate to be loaned a little old car for our use from one of the church members.  Firstly we had a new stop light fitted to it and it has a wondrous way of getting into reverse that we have not seen before and the blinkers are on the LHS and it has a few little dings in it.  Nevertheless, Graeme is becoming adept at driving a manual car and we are so grateful.

 

We had a phone call from NRMA today and they will be paying our rent at the SDA Overflow van park until nearly the end of July, or however long it takes to get our Ute fixed.  We will move there on Monday morning.  Now, we are able to think about visiting some of the tourist attractions and taking a beautiful flight to the Horizontal Falls and other places.  So keep tuned for the next exciting adventure.

 

We also had the comforting information that one of spare parts will come at the end of next week and the others a week or two later, so we are enjoying some peace of mind that something is being done to get our vehicle back on the road.

 

Graeme has started working on his tax return, we swim most days at the town pool. The rest of the day goes into meals, business or shopping.

 

We have included a photo of the Sunset the night our utility broke down. It has been the best sunset so far.  Chinatown is like the main part of town.  It is full of Pearl shops, so alluring.

 

Birds at Tarangau Caravan Park, Broome

Several Moon rise photos on 4th July 2012,

in reverse order, look at the bottom ones first

China Town, Broome

 

Broome and Bust

We arrived in Broom via tow truck.  The ute burnt out the front dif. due to a malfunction in the controller.  The main controller and wiring harness is not available and they have to be manufactured overseas which is an indictment on Mazda and Ford. In the meantime, the local dealer has not yet lodged our Warranty claim, so nothing else can be done until that is done.  We are still in our van near Cable Beach. Our booking is for two weeks, then we will probably have to move.  Population  of Broome is normally 10,000, but now, in the tourist season, it is 20,000.

 

 EXTRA!   EXTRA!   Today, Monday, we received permission from Ford's Warranty Manager to approve the work that needs to be done on our ute.  He rang the local company and gave them the precious Warranty approval number, so now we can move to step 2, to order the parts needed to do the job. The local company is not coping with the huge influx of jobs, with the tourists, and the staff seems to be taking it in turns to have nervous breakdowns!

 

 Broome is beautifully warm with blue skies every day, and few signs of clouds.  Sometimes the nights are chilly (15 degrees). We swim each day at the town pool. However, the beach is the most beautiful shade of turquoise as you will see from the photos.  Many people go to watch the sun disappearing over the western horizon, as it travels on its merry way to some other place.  The camels take riders at 3pm and at sunset. It is such a ritual here.  The 4 WD vehicles drive down on to the beach by the hundreds to watch the sunset and the camels. There is a nudist beach at the far end of the camel ride! Cable Beach is pure white sand and is in a big horse-shoe shape.   Lots of sand and lots of very high tides.  Staircase to the moon happens this week. They seem to be expecting thousands to turn our for that, even though it happens each month.

 

Broome is on a peninsula and there are two main beaches, Town Beach and Cable Beach. There is also a shipping terminal on the Town Beach side.  We saw many trucks arriving with hundreds, or more beasts to be shipped overseas as live exports.  The huge trucks, double story and with 2 or 3 trailers behind, drive right down the pier and can turn around there, as they unload the animals.  Lilies: Lying on the ground we see these beautiful lilies. The plants they grow on, look like Gymea Lily plants, but when the strong stem grows tall, it falls over and the flower heads may be quite a distance from the mother plant.  This means that you see these lively lilies lying in the most unexpected places on the ground and you think they must be plastic, until you realize where they have come from.  Birds: We have seen lots of beautiful birds. We don't know really what the birds are, you can inform us if you like.  I just felt the "Cuccoo Bird" looks like a face that only a mother could love, and he makes me laugh.

 

We have had the most fabulous support from everybody around us, firstly here at the van park but mainly at the church, where they offered us a vehicle to use, a place to park our van and a hoist with 3 mechanics to take care of our car.  However, without the spare parts, we can't do anything very much.

 

The history of the Pearling industry here is very important.  It has a checkered history, between the Chinese, the Japanese and the whites.  There are pearl shops everywhere. Now there are only 20 pearling luggers left. There used to be hundreds after the pearl shell, but now the oysters are seeded, the pearl itself has become the main object of beauty and  desirability. Broome also suffered Japanese bombing attack on 3/3/42 and 140 people were killed.

 

Camels on Cable Beach

Camels on Cable Beach

Cuccoo Bird

Green parrots at Derby

Lilies

Shipping terminal seen from Town Beach

Sunset at Cable Beach

Camels at sunset at Cable Beach

Sunset at Cable Beach

Town Beach

 

Derby - Windjana Gorge & Tunnel Creek

Derby is a small Aboriginal town. The Aboriginees seem to be well integrated into society, though there are always problems.  All who live there, agree it is a very social town and many prefer to work in Broome for the week and drive home to Derby.  A lifeguard travels twice a week from Derby to Broome to go on Lifesaving duty on Cable Beach (220 ks).  He is in charge of the nurses at Derby Hospital. I found a beautiful pool to swim in at Derby.  I was there with about a dozen or so Afghan Detainees from the Curtin Air Force Base, which is currently acting as a Detention Centre (800 detainees).  The runways there are 5 km long, to take the biggest planes.  They are increasing the size of the Detention Centre.  In war time, I'm sure they would quickly be evacuated if the base was needed for war. They detainees had four guards with them, one a young woman who had a Bronze Medallion, as most of the Afghans dont swim well, so they received a lifesaving device around their waists.   It was hot and they all enjoyed themselves at the pool and were happy to chat and practice their English.  All were about 22 years of age and looked like nice young men.

 

The biggest shock at Derby was the ocean is red.   It is 50% Kimberley red mud mixed in with ocean water.  Its not safe to get into it.  Derby has the highest tides in the World at 13 metres. This means the town is surrounded by mud flats where the tide spreads out all over the place when it is high tide.  It looked a little bit like Wyndham where five rivers empty out into the sea and the mud flats go as far as the eye can see.  There are islands beyond Derby where the once again returns to blue and the ships go out for weeks at a time to fish.  There is a French fish and chip shop on the long promenade out to the shipping terminal where they serve yummy food.  Their Air Conditioning system consists of hundreds of tiny sprinkler heads around the roof of the building, which spray the clients every two seconds with cool water. It works very well.

 

Graeme decided to take a bus tour out to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek.  The bus was a big and sturdy 4WD vehicle, which can tackle the Gibb River Road.  He had a great day out there and the pictures will tell the story.  The Prison trees were used by the Police in olden times to hold mostly Aboriginees, as a resting place, overnight.   What a terrible experience for them - all chained up, some by the neck.  Some of them were taken as divers for the pearling interests in the earliest times.  Derby used the Boab trees as street plantings down the main street.

 

Tunnel Creek

Windjana Gorge

Windjana Gorge

Boab tree

Crocodiles at Windjana Gorge

Tunnel Creek

Tunnel Creek