Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
What an Experience!!
We did manage to find another tour operator who could take us to the Horizontal Falls after the previous cancellation.
On Monday we left Derby at 3.00 pm on board a Cessna Caravan Amphibian, flying across King Sound on the 30 minute trip to Talbot Sound. It is here that the Horizontal Waterfalls cascade through two small breaks in the cliffs. The water can drop eight metres due to the pull of the tides giving the impression of waterfalls - hence the name.
After overflying the falls we landed on the water and were picked up by a large 10 seat Zodiac which took us through the larger of the falls which at that time of day were flat due to the tide not being on the move. We made our way to our overnight accommodation at the "Barra Shack" which is a purpose built catamaran anchored in the Sound. The houseboat was beautifully fitted out with 3 double guest bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, amenities and a dining area on the open top deck. At the rear was a pontoon on which sat a helicopter for flights over the area and a couple of dinghies were moored for passengers to try their hand at fishing in the various inlets. We did not avail ourselves of the helicopter flights as there were rogue fires over the surrounding ranges and the views were not clear. After dark the lines of fire along the ridge lines did give the impression of modern art on a black background.
Afternoon tea was served on the deck and some fishing with hand lines was laid on. Nobody caught any fish of reasonable size so we returned for Happy Hour followed by dinner of delicious barbequed barramundi and salad, followed by apple pie.
We were up at dawn drinking tea on the to deck waiting for the sun to rise. The Sound had an ethereal quality with glassy water and soft swirling mist of purple hues which turned to golden reds as the sun crested the hills.
After breakfast we boarded the Zodiac on saddle style seating for the trip through the falls. The tide was now just right with the water cascading through the gaps. We took some great photographs with the spume looking like clotted cream. The experience was exhilerating starting with the revving of the engines for the ride. The captain took us through the top falls twice and the adrenalin rush did not diminish the second time. The lower falls were deemed to be too dangerous to navigate as the gap in the cliffs was much narrower but we did go close enough to feel the power of the surge - more great photos (well in our opinion anyway).
We then watched our seaplane come in for a text book landing and boarded for our return to Derby. Flying over the Buccaneer Archipelago at 800 ft we had a fantastic view of the myriad islands in the group, pearling oyster beds, barramundi farms and the tidal mudflats with intricate designs caused by channels with mangrove in them.
Between us we took 300+ photographs so picking just a few to try and convey the experience to our blog readers was an almost impossible task.
Enjoy the selection and if you are wandering up this way don't miss the opportunity to visit this lovely spot.
On Monday we left Derby at 3.00 pm on board a Cessna Caravan Amphibian, flying across King Sound on the 30 minute trip to Talbot Sound. It is here that the Horizontal Waterfalls cascade through two small breaks in the cliffs. The water can drop eight metres due to the pull of the tides giving the impression of waterfalls - hence the name.
After overflying the falls we landed on the water and were picked up by a large 10 seat Zodiac which took us through the larger of the falls which at that time of day were flat due to the tide not being on the move. We made our way to our overnight accommodation at the "Barra Shack" which is a purpose built catamaran anchored in the Sound. The houseboat was beautifully fitted out with 3 double guest bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, amenities and a dining area on the open top deck. At the rear was a pontoon on which sat a helicopter for flights over the area and a couple of dinghies were moored for passengers to try their hand at fishing in the various inlets. We did not avail ourselves of the helicopter flights as there were rogue fires over the surrounding ranges and the views were not clear. After dark the lines of fire along the ridge lines did give the impression of modern art on a black background.
Afternoon tea was served on the deck and some fishing with hand lines was laid on. Nobody caught any fish of reasonable size so we returned for Happy Hour followed by dinner of delicious barbequed barramundi and salad, followed by apple pie.
We were up at dawn drinking tea on the to deck waiting for the sun to rise. The Sound had an ethereal quality with glassy water and soft swirling mist of purple hues which turned to golden reds as the sun crested the hills.
After breakfast we boarded the Zodiac on saddle style seating for the trip through the falls. The tide was now just right with the water cascading through the gaps. We took some great photographs with the spume looking like clotted cream. The experience was exhilerating starting with the revving of the engines for the ride. The captain took us through the top falls twice and the adrenalin rush did not diminish the second time. The lower falls were deemed to be too dangerous to navigate as the gap in the cliffs was much narrower but we did go close enough to feel the power of the surge - more great photos (well in our opinion anyway).
We then watched our seaplane come in for a text book landing and boarded for our return to Derby. Flying over the Buccaneer Archipelago at 800 ft we had a fantastic view of the myriad islands in the group, pearling oyster beds, barramundi farms and the tidal mudflats with intricate designs caused by channels with mangrove in them.
Between us we took 300+ photographs so picking just a few to try and convey the experience to our blog readers was an almost impossible task.
Enjoy the selection and if you are wandering up this way don't miss the opportunity to visit this lovely spot.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Halls Creek to Derby
We left Turkey Creek early for our 200Km drive to Halls Creek. The road was OK but narrow and plenty of single lane bridges. We even had to drive through 15-20 cm of water covering the crossing at Fletchers Creek - a little mind blowing when you consider this is the dry season. Heaven only knows what it is like in the wet.
Halls Creek is small with a reasonable Caravan Park. As we arrived early we had our pick of sites and obviously chose a nice shady position and were joined later in the afternoon by a couple from Northam. We walked around the township which did sport a pretty good information centre, and quite an impressive recreation centre. A dip in the pool was almost obligatory on our return.
Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing was and excellent drive again with almost no traffice in the early morning. Again we encountered no problems getting into the Fitzroy Lodge Resort but the park did start to fill late in the afternoon. This township is quite spread out and we spent the next day taking the 8am cruise to the Gorge, then doing the reef walk, having a look at the old Crossing and post office. The photos show two snaps taken during the cruise, the old post office, Maruta on the old Fitzroy Crossing and one showed an outcrop photographed on the way in.
Geikie Gorge is very different from Katherine Gorge. There is no feeling of enclosure here as the walls are only ever on one side, the other quite often showing quite wide sand banks. Geikie is the remains of an uplifted Coral Reef from the Devonian period and does not have the strong pigmentation so obvious in Katherine. The white colouring on the lower portion of the cliff shows the level of the floods at various times as the water washes off the oxide. It was a bit scary when the guide mentioned that in a really serious flood the Fitzroy River can reach a width of 18 miles.
Our drive to Derby was also uneventful and there was no rush as we did have a booking here for two weeks. The owners provided us with a shady spot close to the amenities and even gave us a discount without us asking. Derby is quite a biggish country town but very spread out in an ad hoc manner. There is an IGA and Woolworths food store and three liquor stores. When we tried to stock up on a cask variety that only Woolworths seems to stock we were told that only one cask per person per day was allowed (!) We do not have a problem with this concept but were just caught off guard. We did have a brilliant red sunset last night.
We have just been advised that our proposed trip to the Horizontal Waterfalls tomorrow has been cancelled due to mechanical problems with the boat so we will have to look to alternatives.
Halls Creek is small with a reasonable Caravan Park. As we arrived early we had our pick of sites and obviously chose a nice shady position and were joined later in the afternoon by a couple from Northam. We walked around the township which did sport a pretty good information centre, and quite an impressive recreation centre. A dip in the pool was almost obligatory on our return.
Halls Creek to Fitzroy Crossing was and excellent drive again with almost no traffice in the early morning. Again we encountered no problems getting into the Fitzroy Lodge Resort but the park did start to fill late in the afternoon. This township is quite spread out and we spent the next day taking the 8am cruise to the Gorge, then doing the reef walk, having a look at the old Crossing and post office. The photos show two snaps taken during the cruise, the old post office, Maruta on the old Fitzroy Crossing and one showed an outcrop photographed on the way in.
Geikie Gorge is very different from Katherine Gorge. There is no feeling of enclosure here as the walls are only ever on one side, the other quite often showing quite wide sand banks. Geikie is the remains of an uplifted Coral Reef from the Devonian period and does not have the strong pigmentation so obvious in Katherine. The white colouring on the lower portion of the cliff shows the level of the floods at various times as the water washes off the oxide. It was a bit scary when the guide mentioned that in a really serious flood the Fitzroy River can reach a width of 18 miles.
Our drive to Derby was also uneventful and there was no rush as we did have a booking here for two weeks. The owners provided us with a shady spot close to the amenities and even gave us a discount without us asking. Derby is quite a biggish country town but very spread out in an ad hoc manner. There is an IGA and Woolworths food store and three liquor stores. When we tried to stock up on a cask variety that only Woolworths seems to stock we were told that only one cask per person per day was allowed (!) We do not have a problem with this concept but were just caught off guard. We did have a brilliant red sunset last night.
We have just been advised that our proposed trip to the Horizontal Waterfalls tomorrow has been cancelled due to mechanical problems with the boat so we will have to look to alternatives.
Monday, August 13, 2007
From East to West Kinberley
The last week in Kununurra was spent lazily. We visited Ivanhoe crossing which featured in the Durack story and was the ford over the Ord on the Wyndham/Kununurra road. Despite the crocodile warnings we were surprised to see fishermen up to their knees in the river fishing for Barramundi. A pretty spot.
We had our first rum tasting at the Hoochery, the local version of Bunderberg rum but on a much smaller scale, not bad if you like rum!!
Sunday saw us tidying up and packing the van. It was nice to wash both van and car as there are no water restrictions.
Monday was an early start, we were away by 7.30am heading for Turkey Creek some 220 km on the road to Derby. By 10am the temperature was 34C and getting hotter. First 100km was fine but the Great Northern Highway narrowed considerably during the remainder, fortunately the traffic was light. Turkey Creek is just a Road house and an Aboriginal community, not a lot going for it, but it is used as a jump off point for helicopters to the Bungle Bungles. It was fortunate that we arrived early as the park filled quickly. We spent the afternoon in the pool chatting to some of the other travellers in the park.
Tuesday will be another early start heading for Halls Creek, sight of the first payable goldmine in Western Australia- hopefully we will get in otherwise we might have to free camp somewere.
To date we have been very fortunate in obtaining the accommodation we wanted.
We had our first rum tasting at the Hoochery, the local version of Bunderberg rum but on a much smaller scale, not bad if you like rum!!
Sunday saw us tidying up and packing the van. It was nice to wash both van and car as there are no water restrictions.
Monday was an early start, we were away by 7.30am heading for Turkey Creek some 220 km on the road to Derby. By 10am the temperature was 34C and getting hotter. First 100km was fine but the Great Northern Highway narrowed considerably during the remainder, fortunately the traffic was light. Turkey Creek is just a Road house and an Aboriginal community, not a lot going for it, but it is used as a jump off point for helicopters to the Bungle Bungles. It was fortunate that we arrived early as the park filled quickly. We spent the afternoon in the pool chatting to some of the other travellers in the park.
Tuesday will be another early start heading for Halls Creek, sight of the first payable goldmine in Western Australia- hopefully we will get in otherwise we might have to free camp somewere.
To date we have been very fortunate in obtaining the accommodation we wanted.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Trip to Lake Argyle and Duracks homestead
The second week in Kununurra has been very laid back except for Tuesday. We were picked up from the park at 9am and driven to the boat ramp on Lake Kununurra. The Osprey was a fifty seat cruise boat. We were taken through three distinct areas on the Ord River, firstly the agricultural section of 15km called the Packsaddle, then the Gorge country which had the usual spectacular colour mixes in the rock formations for about 20km and finally the last 20km we rose 10meters in height to the base of the dam wall. The last 10km were over fast flowing shallow water which proved to be almost like white water rafting!!
At the end of the Gorge country we stopped for lunch at a delightful riverbank setting, albeit with a meter long Water Monitor wandering around our feet hoping to be fed. Plenty of fresh water crocs were sunning themselves on the banks and we also sighted Rock Wallabies and an Osprey which is rare in this area.
After the river cruise we boarded a coach for a sightseeing trip to the Durack homestead, moved from its original setting when Lake Argyle was formed. At 3pm we boarded the new upmarket Cruise boat "Kimberley" for a three hour sunset cruise on Lake Argyle. The lake is immense 70km long and 40km wide and at times you could not see the distant shore. The sunset was quite spectacular and the more hardy tourists jumped off the back of the boat for a swim while drinking a glass (plastic) champagne. As the water was only 23C we opted to just have the champagne.
The coach trip back to Kununurra took about 45minutes getting us back to the park by 7pm.
Film makers seem to be following us, they were in Darwin and now have descended on Kununurra for more scenes of Baz Lurhmans epic "Australia". Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman are supposed to be in town this week and apparently half the town have signed on as extras.
At the end of the Gorge country we stopped for lunch at a delightful riverbank setting, albeit with a meter long Water Monitor wandering around our feet hoping to be fed. Plenty of fresh water crocs were sunning themselves on the banks and we also sighted Rock Wallabies and an Osprey which is rare in this area.
After the river cruise we boarded a coach for a sightseeing trip to the Durack homestead, moved from its original setting when Lake Argyle was formed. At 3pm we boarded the new upmarket Cruise boat "Kimberley" for a three hour sunset cruise on Lake Argyle. The lake is immense 70km long and 40km wide and at times you could not see the distant shore. The sunset was quite spectacular and the more hardy tourists jumped off the back of the boat for a swim while drinking a glass (plastic) champagne. As the water was only 23C we opted to just have the champagne.
The coach trip back to Kununurra took about 45minutes getting us back to the park by 7pm.
Film makers seem to be following us, they were in Darwin and now have descended on Kununurra for more scenes of Baz Lurhmans epic "Australia". Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman are supposed to be in town this week and apparently half the town have signed on as extras.
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