Day 52-55 Karijini National Park

It’s about a six-hour drive from 80 Mile Beach to Karijini, but I have to stop in Port Hedland, so we leave early and plan to make it to the park by 5:00. We end up spending about three hours in Hedland and make it to the park about 5:30. On the advice of others we plan to stay at the most basic caravan park. There is no power, drop toilets and water is a 10K drive up the road. At night it is completely and utterly dark. There are no lights around and it is moonless. The cloud-like Milky Way stretches across the sky and the stars are as numerous as I have ever scene. We have been using an app on my Ipad to locate and identify various stars and constellations and this is the perfect location. 

Karijini has only been a National Park on its own since 1999, previously it was know as the Hamersley Ranges. The local aboriginal community now operate the Park and have a resort in one area. The park itself is completely unassuming. As we approach on the road, there is no indication of what lies ahead. The ground is the now familiar bright, rusty red and the hills are more numerous but it all appears somewhat plain. It’s only as we actually approach one of the numerous gorges that the majesty of the area is revealed. Here, in the middle of the desert, several rivers converge and have carved multiple gorges throughout the area. Most of the gorges now have trails along their edges and most have trails down to the bottom and along their bases. We are nearing the end of the dry season and while the water still flows, the torrents of the wet season have subsided to small streams or even trickles. The walks are graded from easy to impossible without specialised climbing equipment. We begin the first day with an easy walk around Dales Gorge and are rewarded with beautiful views and a pleasant swim in a lush pool surrounded by ferns and trees reminiscent of the wettest areas of the Northern Territory. It is a stark contrast to the desert located only a few hundred metres away. Today’s walk was an easy one but tomorrow we’ll tackle the harder walks and it will prove to be one of the most exciting of the trip.

Day 50-51 Broome and 80 Mile Beach

We’re pretty quick with packing up and getting on the road these days and we’re on our way by 9:00. We’ll drive about 5 hours today and spend the night on the beach. The scenery is mostly dry coastal sand and scrub and the kids are put through the schooling paces. You might think that having a break from school would mean they were keen to get back to it. Well, you would be wrong. The break only serves to make them not want to do school even more. It’s a struggle but finally completed about two hours after starting. The scenery changes to a drier and more desert like environment and we catch glimpses of the beach. We arrive at 80 Mile Beach about 2:00 and are quickly set up. The caravan park is a mecca for grey nomads, fishermen and shell collectors. Jake is busting to get to fishing. Unfortunately, we have arrived just after high tide. This area shares the enormous tidal changes that we saw in Broome. The edge of the water moves over a kilometre from high tide to low. Jake is undeterred that he is the lone person fishing on the beach and he repeatedly casts into the retreating surf. Occasionally, he ventures into the water and we are reminded by a passing walker that the sharks are feeding just on the edge of the surf. It’s not uncommon to see them completely out of the water in pursuit of the fish. After about 3 hours fishing, we manage to convince Jake that it is a lost cause. The promise of plenty of fishing adventures further along the coast provides some comfort. Tomorrow we will continue our trip south to Port Hedland and then turn inland for a few days at Karajini National Park.

Day 48-49 Cape Broome (again)

It’s been a long delay in blogging. What can I say, I’m on holiday....

We have one day left in Broome before starting the long trip down the West Coast. We start the day with a trip to what are purported to be dinosaur footprints in the rocks on the coast. We have to go at low-tide so it means an early wake up and drive to the rocky coast. When we arrive we realise there are no signs indicating how to find said prints. All we can see is a mass of tourists walking around staring at various indentations in the rocks and allowing their imagination to picture a dinosaur. Very entertaining. The rest of the day we spend shopping, cleaning and getting ready to leave in the morning. Sarah promised the kids a camel ride along the beach at sunset so we make our way down at the appointed time. I’m struggling to see why camel rides on the beach have become a Broome institution. There are at least three companies with about 20 camels lined up, attached by ropes. They sit waiting the riders and then they struggle to their feet and walk about 500 metres down the beach before turning and returning to the starting point. I’m the designated photographer but the kids seem to have a good time. We watch another glorious sunset and get ready to head south. Tomorrow 80 Mile Beach.

Day 45-47 Cape Leveque

The seed for our trip to Cape Leveque was sewn several years ago when Handbrake was watching an episode of ‘Getaway’.  The episode ranked the top beaches in the world and ranked Cape Leveque as the second best beach in the world. It sort of begs the question as to why Brake decided she had to go for second best. Certainly she doesn’t do that in other parts of her life..... Does she? Anyway, Cape Leveque was a must on this trip. Located about 200km north of Broome, Cape Leveuque is also a tourist destination with its heart in the pearl industry. The road is only sealed about half way and is too rough for caravans,  it took over two hours to make the journey. We plan to stay in a cabin about halfway up the peninsula at a place called Middle Lagoon. Calling the place we stay a cabin does an injustice to the rest of the cabins in the world. It was a hut with shade cloth walls and a roof. That’s it. The accommodation left a bit to be desired but the scenery was spectacular. The lagoon is a shallow inlet from the ocean that fills and drains with the tide. The tides here are some of the biggest in the world, up to 12 metres! To put that in perspective, if you stood at the water’s edge at high tide, at low tide the edge was over 200 metres away. It was an amazing site to watch the enormous lagoon fill and empty over the day. The highlight of the trip was a tour we had organised with a local aboriginal guide, Brian Lee. It was a bit hard to fix a time but we were very happy we went to the effort. Brian is the Chairman of the Board at the main accommodation and park on the Cape and he does tours of the area on a semi-regular basis. We arrange to meet him at 8:30 and we will follow him around as he shows us the sites around the area. Brian’s appearance is deceiving, he has grey hair he pulls into a ponytail at the top of his head, and a pot belly that disguises a clear level of fitness. The giveaway that we are in for something special lies in the twinkle in his eyes and great enthusiasm in his manner. The kids were besotted from the beginning. We spend the day listening to Brian tell us the stories of his life and the land around us. The kids pepper him with endless questions but his patience is never tested. We spend the morning searching for mud crab and spear fishing. We are rewarded with two large crab over 1kg each. Lunch is mud crab cooked over a fire on the beach while listening to more of Brian’s tales. We finish the tour and head off to Broome. Well, we head that way but one last stop is required. Cygnet Bay is on the tip of the Cape and home to the local pearling industry. Handbrake has had a birthday, she’s generally been good and so a small purchase is made. Tomorrow is our last day in Broome and then we start to make our way further south.  

Day 42-44 Broome

Our original itinerary had us in Broome a few days ago. My week long diversion has thrown a spanner in that plan so we decide to save a day by driving from the Bungles to Broome in one day. It was a long haul of over 800km but we arrive in Broome just after 5 and are happy to be here. Broome started in the late 1800s as a pearling town. It has been through some rough times but reinvented itself as a tourist stop and a popular wintering spot for the grey nomads. Cable Beach, so named for an underwater cable from Singapore that connected to Australia here, is home to Australia’s largest nude beach, camel rides and possibly the most beautiful sunsets on the planet. Tourism is the largest money earner but there is no doubt that the heart of the town remains the pearling industry. We take a tour of one of the main pearl areas to educate ourselves about the mysterious industry. The tour is informative but it is clear that the main aim is to sell pearls. Australia exports more than $200M worth of pearls annually and most of that comes from the Kimberly. The tour is interesting and someone has a birthday coming up so, we shall see...... Luck is with us with our visit coinciding with the ‘Stairway to the Moon’, a regular event when the rising of the full moon occurs at low tide and the reflection gives the illusion of a staircase. The local markets are on and it is Sarah’s birthday. The entertainment that night is a traveling street performer who juggles, balances, twirls fire, tells jokes, a little bit of everything. The kids are particularly entertained with the show. Imagine their delight when he requests a ‘helper’ and learns of a birthday girl in the crowd. Now, imagine Handbrake’s delight as she is pulled in front of a hundred or so people to participate in the show! A perfect day is brought to a perfect end. Tomorrow we travel about 200km north of Broome to experience the delights of Cape Leveque.

Day 41 Bungle Bungles

We stay at the closest caravan park to the Bungles. Unfortunately, that still leaves us a 55km drive on a rough, dusty, unsealed road to get to the visitor’s centre. Much to the dismay of the kids, the first walk we plan is a further 25km up the same road. The Bungles are a group of large rock formations that resemble enormous bee hives. The rock is striated red and black and it is crumbling in many places. Our first stop starts with a 2km walk through many of the bee hive formations to a natural amphitheatre with a roof about 150m above the ground. The kids are amazed to hear a softly spoken word from over 50m away as the sound bounces around the enclosed space. We enjoy the stop before making our way back to the car and another 50km drive to the second walk. We enjoy a quiet lunch before another 2km walk to a huge chasm in the rock. It’s actually a series of chasms we make our way through before arriving at the last, biggest chasm. The now familiar red rock contrasts beautifully with the white sand and provides a fantastic view for most of the walk. The stone edifice on either side of the trail extends over 100m and provides a welcome relief from the hot sun. As we return to the caravan park, we realise we have spent almost 5 hours driving in order to walk about 5km and see two spots. Worth it? Yeah, but I don’t think we’ll be in a hurry to do it again. Tomorrow, the long drive to Broome and, finally, the West Australian coast.

Day 40

Kununurra - Bungle Bungles

Ahhhh. It’s good to be back. Most of you are aware of the grey cloud that has been hanging over us over the last few months. An opportunity presented itself to bring that to a close, so I took it. It’s been a difficult but satisfying week away and it’s great to be back. The support and help from Sarah has made all the difference, and she’s even managed to blog a bit! All good things must end however, so, no more holding hands and discussing feelings, back to the facts. I arrived at the airport to an excited family. I had gifts for all and then back to the park to get ready and set off. Twenty-four hours on various planes from Dubai and now two and a half more hours in the car. Tomorrow, the World Heritage listed Bungles.