Broome to Ningaloo

As promised last blog post I am writing this from the shores adjacent to the crystal clear waters of Ningaloo Reef, where we have finally slowed down to a more relaxed tourist pace.  There really isn’t very much along the 635 km from Broome to Port Headland, so after leaving Broome, we sampled the delights of the North Western Highway, stopping off for a night a the southern end of 80 mile beach.  We veered into Port Headland for some cheap fuel and to check out the enormous iron ore boats in the port – I port that I helped to build I might add … well in a very tangential way, by reviewing some of the approvals documentation BHP.  Unless you earn a squillion dollars working for a mining giant or are locked up as an asylum seeker, there isn’t much to keep you in Port Headland, so we motored south-west into Millstream Chichester National Park.

This park is less well known than its nearby cousin Karajini, but we really enjoyed our 2-night stay.  The park is well within the tropical arid zone, and so we were treated to some spectacular Spinifex dominated scenery.  We did a couple of walks, saw some good birds and camped by the Fortescue River.  DEC has recently been upgrading the park and as part of the interpretation, they have developed MCNP FM – a radio station that broadcasts information about the park – we tuned in and it was really quite interesting and well done.  From MCNP we trucked south for another 600+ km and finally hit Exmouth, the gateway to Ningaloo Reef.

We had one night in Exmouth to get organised before heading into Cape Range National Park.  I had been to this one for “work” early in 2010, and was really excited.  Basically, we spent three days snorkelling off the beach, chasing birds and chilling out in some cooler weather (finally).  The snorkelling really was great – and just so easy to flop in off the beach.  We had a bit of a science geek moment when we both saw the species that we did our honours projects on – Black-footed Rock Wallabies for Luke and Stylophora pistillata (a coral) for me.  Cape Range NP is adjacent to the northern part of Ningaloo, and since we wanted to experience as much as possible, we took the scenic 4WD track 150 km south to Coral Bay at the southern end of the reef.

Coral Bay is just a sleepy little beachside tourist town with two caravan parks and not much else.  We booked on a diving and snorkelling with manta rays tour and had an amazing day.  The first dive site was ok and we saw a handful of potato cod and a group of three large lion fish hanging around in a cave.  We had a humpback whale and her calf swimming around at the site, and Luke got a very fleeting glance of something very large and white while we were under the water!  Once back on the surface, we got a really great look at the whales who were cruising along very close.  We then went off in search of manta rays.  We found a couple that we managed to follow for a while and one was doing summersaults whilst feeding.  The others were cruising lazily, but were too fast for us mere humans on snorkel and they got away after a few minutes.  The second dive was at a great site with really high coral cover and diversity.  It was also the location of a reef shark cleaning station and at one point I counted seven of them.  We also saw dolphins, turtles, lots of fish and seabirds. 

Now we are both pooped and are off for dinner at the local seafood restaurant and then I’m sure it’ll be an early night.  Heading south from here to Shark Bay, so next blog will be from there with more tales of maritime adventures.

Click here for photos

Darwin to Broome

We’ve had a whirlwind two-week trek from Darwin across the Kimberly to Broome.  Heading out from Darwin we spent two days exploring the wonderful swimming holes throughout Litchfield National Park.  While we really enjoyed the swimming, especially given the ever-increasing temperatures, we couldn’t bring ourselves to agree with those that think Litchfield is better than Kakadu.  We then headed south to Pine Creek, a funny little ex-goldmining town, hunting Hooded Parrots (with success).  This is also where we saw our first really storm of the wet season – it really chucked it down for a couple of hours in the evening.  Luckily Troopy’s canvass is holding up well. It was then down to Katherine to restock and have one last dip in the springs before swinging west.  On the way to the WA border we stopped off for a night each in Gregory and Keep River National Parks, which both have amazing sandstone escarpments.  We would have loved to spend longer, but when it is still 32oC at 9 pm, you know that it is time to seek cooler climes!

Our crossing into WA marked entry into the final mainland state/territory of our trip and Luke’s visit to all eight (I still have Tassie to go).  We headed up to Wyndham searching for Gouldian Finches, but didn’t see any.  From there it was a long day in the car down to Purnululu National Park, home to the world heritage listed Bungle Bungle Range.  What an amazing landscape – hundred meter high red and black stripped domes – my attempt at a description wouldn’t do the site any justice but our photos should just about give you the idea.  We then trucked on – our strategy was to drive for 300-400 km per day at about 80-90 km/hour to maximise our time in the air-conditioned comfort of the Troops (thank goodness we got that fixed before leaving Sydney!!).  On the way to Broome we stopped off at Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek (natural air-conditioning in a cave where we spent 4 hours reading our books on the picnic blanket) and Derby.  In Derby we ran into a group of the oh-so-controversial asylum seekers, being held in Curtain Detention Centre.  We didn’t really chat to them due to the language barrier, but had an interesting discussion with one of their escorts about the pros and cons of the governments various migration policy (his main take on the issues was bring on the boats, because it meant more very well paid work for him!!).

We’ve spent the last 5-days in Broome and have really enjoyed it.  Firstly, it really cools down here overnight, which is just lovely.  We mooched around town for a few days and enjoyed being at the beach, having coffee and going out for dinner.  We also watched the ill-fated rugby world cup semi-final in a bar that was full of kiwis, so had to cheer for the Aussies very quietly!  We have spent the last two days out at Broome Bird Observatory mixing it up with the 20,000+ migratory shorebirds that have arrived recently from Siberia.  We’ve done some great twitching and have actually managed to id some waders, thanks to the lone of a spotting scope from the observatory.  Tomorrow we are doing some mist netting with the guys that run the place and will have a final twitch at the golf course and sewerage ponds in town before hitting the road south.  We’re planning to travel the ~1400 km south to Exmouth over the next few days, so next blog will be from the crystal clear waters of Ningaloo Reef.

Oh, nearly forgot the Big Croc in Wyndham (check the big things page).  Other photos are on flikr.

Click here for photos

Kakadu and Nitlimuk National Parks

After our relatively fast paced trek from the east coast to central Australia, we have slowed right down to enjoy the national parks of The Top End.  Our first stop was Nitlimuk NP just outside of Katherine.  The most famous and accessible part of the park is Katherine Gorge, where we stayed for three days.  Luckily the only accommodation option at the gorge is the caravan park with a “resort-style pool”.  Normally, we would avoid such places, but given the temperatures were reaching a very hot and sticky 38-39oC, we were very pleased that we didn’t have any other options.  Despite the heat we managed to explore Katherine Gorge, both on foot and in a canoe, doing early morning bush walks on two days and then canoeing up the first three gorges (there are 13).  Our last night at the gorge was somewhat traumatic, as a group of about 200 Victorian school kids descended on the caravan park.  Troopy was quite concerned for her safety, since their tents looked suspiciously like Darleks (from Dr Who), and I had to fight my way through mascara, lip stick, hair driers and hair straightening tongs to get to a sink in the ladies.  We were pleased to move on to the lovely swimming spot at Edith Falls, which is in the northern section of Nitlimuk NP.  The scenery in both the gorge and at Edith Falls was quite spectacular – see photos on flikr. 

Next stop was the world famous Kakadu NP, where we spent five days.  We could have easily stayed longer, except that the heat was really becoming oppressive and we felt that we needed to retreat to Darwin and some air conditioning.  Each part of Kakadu was different and amazing, so I’ve detailed each spot below.  Overall, we really enjoyed Kakadu and both felt a deep appreciation and awe for the amazing natural wonders and the ongoing connection between the country and its traditional owners.

Gumlom – our first stop in Kakadu was at the base of a large waterfall with a clear plunge pool at the bottom.  We spent the first afternoon frolicking in the swimming hole and chatting to German tourists who were traumatised after the 37 km stretch of (not too bad) dirt road into the campground (while we were suitably sympathetic to their faces, we rolled our eyes behind their backs and decided the autobahns were making the Germans very soft).  First thing the next morning, we trekked up the side of the waterfall to check out the amazing view of southern Kakadu from the top. 

Yellow Water – the cruise on the wetland here had been recommended to us by several sources, and so we decided to take up the bargain offer of doing two cruises for only $20 extra.  We did both a sunset and sunrise cruise and were rewarded with amazing views out over the wetland, great birding and some up-close croc sightings.  We also went to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre, which was simply excellent – really interesting stories and very well done interpretation.

Jim Jim Falls – Troopy was excited about some 4WD action again as we travelled down to Jim Jim Falls.  The road wasn’t actually too bad, and we decided that Luke’s old Subaru would have made it apart from one muddy spot (where Troopy nearly got stuck on the way out!!).  The falls themselves and surrounding gorge were spectacular, with a clear green plunge pool at the base of 150 m high surrounding cliffs.  The walk in was a bit of a challenge, with 500 m of scrambling over large rocks and boulders in the ~40oC heat.

Nourlangie Region – we made the mistake of having a lazy start this morning and didn’t make it to Anbangbang wetland until around 11 am.  We decided to do the 2.5 km loop walk despite the heat – big mistake!  We (more me than Luke, but I’m telling the story) got very hot and bothered and cranky.  We did see some good birds and a croc being stared down by a group of ducks.  Later in the afternoon we checked out some of the Aboriginal rock art in the region and listened to talks by one of the rangers.  It was really great to be able to see the art and to hear the associated Dreaming stories – one about Lightning Man who continues to keep an eye out from the Arnhem Land escarpment and another about forbidden love.

Ubirr – we had some more croc action at Cahill’s Crossing, which is a crossing into Arnhem Land over the East Alligator River.  This section of the river is tidal and we watched the river level at the crossing rise around 30 cm in about 45 mins and a cop car nearly get swept away trying to cross at a river height of ~0.6 m.  The crocs (some quite large) gather on the incoming tide and swim around with their mouths open with the hope of catching a barra or mullet.  The most we saw them catch were sticks, but they were menacing nevertheless.  Ubirr is just up the road from Cahill’s Crossing and is a renowned rock art site.  We had a great experience there – appreciating the art, spotting some rock wallabies, seeing a thunderstorm threaten to start the wet and hiking up to a high point and having an amazing 360 degree view over the East Alligator River floodplain and Arnhem Land escarpment (see Luke’s panorama shot on flikr).  The following morning we did two bushwalks through the stone country and monsoon forest.

We are now in Darwin, where we have treated ourselves to a hotel room for four days.  The air conditioning has been a blessing!!  We are off again tomorrow heading south to Litchfield NP and then slowly west towards WA.  Photos of the above adventures are on flikr and the one below is of the painting that we splurged on – My Country by Janet Long, one of her Water Dreaming series.

Click here for photos on flikr