flying boats and whatnot

We took a walk out on the mudflats to some wrecks today, and it got me reflecting on how we remember our story, how we package it up in our guidebooks.

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We have some relics of war around here.  The most famous I guess would be the flying boat wrecks in Roebuck Bay, sunk by Japanese fighter planes in World War II.  The fifteen flying boats were carrying Dutch refugees from Indonesia and had stopped at Broome to refuel.  All sank, with an unkown number of refugees, maybe eighty or a hundred, dying.

At very low tides you can walk out to the wrecks of the flying boats, about a kilometre offshore across the mudflats.  They feature in guidebooks as one of the "things to do" in Broome, usually with some instructions as to how to find them alongside a brief description of their sinking, focused on the tragedy of deaths of so many women and children as they fled an invasion.

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Another relic, from a different kind of war, is Lillimooloora Homestead.  As European settlers pushed deeper into the Kimberley in the late 1800s, many local Aboriginal people resisted the incursion.  The Bunuba people of the Fitzroy Valley had more success than many, thanks to a combination the cunning and skill of their leaders - particularly Jandamarra - and the land itself.  A high limestone wall, filled with secret caves and canyons, cuts across their land and made a perfect defense and refuge for those who knew it well. 

Jandamarra and the Bunuba held back the tide of colonisation for years with tricks and taunts and occasional violence.  They were feared across the breadth of the Kimberley.  The payback was brutal - massacres up and down the Fitzroy River, an unknown number dying.  Men, women, children.  Lillimooloora Homestead was made into a police station - the headquarters for attacks against the Bunuba.  We stopped there last year, wandered among the ruins and gazed up at the limestone cliffs beyond.  Tried to understand the significance of the place and its history.

Jandamarra and the Bunuba who fought with him and supported him could be remembered like Sitting Bull or the 300 Spartans.  A small band who stood against an overwhelming force, defending not just family and home but defending a civilisation, and who achieved more and held out longer than any would have imagined possible.

And here's how one typical guidebook sums up the significance of Lillimooloora and the whole Bunuba resistance: "Originally a pastoral homestead, the station was taken over by the police in 1893.  Jandamarra, 'Pigeon', an Aboriginal outlaw in the 1890s shot a police constable there in 1894."

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Lest we forget.

a week in the valley

Feeling brave after our trip up to Cape Leveque, we decided that Mel and Little Bird would head out to the Fitzroy valley with me last week when I went there for work.  Even figured we could handle sleeping in the camper trailer for the week.

It was a beautiful week, not short on challenges for our little family, but also well endowed with fun and inspiration.  To start with the challenges:

Challenge #1: Fitzroy Crossing is hot.
Most days we were there hit 40 degrees and most nights didn't get below 20.  Which is a big part of the reason that the campground (totally packed a couple of months back) now looks like this:

Challenge #2: Fitzroy Cossing has ants.
We live in the tropics.  We know ants.  Or so we thought.  The progressive invasion of our camper trailer started as soon as we parked, and rapidly escalated until the third night which we spent being ant-stung persistently from dusk to dawn.  Luckily they somehow missed the baby, so at least one of us got some sleep.  We are not hardcore campers - we spent the next two blissful nights in an airconditioned motel room.


Challenge #3: Fitzroy Crossing is a bit of a drive away.
395km with not much in between.  Two roadhouses and a bridge, a couple of hills, and many boabs.  On the way there LB only slept about 20 minutes, but was miraculously happy most of the rest of the time.  The way home was even more miraculous: she fell asleep as we left Fitzroy and woke up THREE HOURS AND FORTY MINUTES LATER.

So much for the challenges, now for the fun and inspiration.

First, Bun-gu sandbar in Geikie Gorge National Park.  We drove in here Monday morning for some pre-work R&R and discovered a secret little paradise.  Big shady trees along the shore, a sandy river bottom that gently slopes in, and water such a perfect temperature that LB nearly fell asleep in her mum's arms in the middle of the river.  I swam around looking for freshwater crocs, but no luck.  No luck sighting the freshwater bullsharks that reputedly live here either.  We left reluctantly as the morning wore on, wishing that this little oasis was just a little bit closer to home.

Over the past couple of months Little Bird has started to enjoy watching animals.  She loves walking down to our local park to laugh at the dogs running around, so the Fitzroy River Lodge was a great little home away from home for her, with it's resident mob of agile wallabies and a herd of cattle wandering around.  She was almost jumping out her skin trying to chase after them,  and she loved our little morning and evening strolls along the river bank spotting birds.

 The biggest highlight for all of us was the people we met.  I spent a few days working at the Baya Gawiy Buga yani Jandu yani u child and family centre (recently given a brief reprieve from having it's funding ceased) and Mel would come with LB from time to time to sit in the play area, playing with local kids and yarning with their mums and grandmas.  We also met Bob, a man with a quiet, gentle presence who would sit in the campground carving designs into boab nuts.  He sat down at our camp a couple of times for a cup of tea, and we bought one of his carvings for LB before we left.  The most memorable time in the week, for me anyway, was our trip to Wangkatjungka, a remote community south-east from Fitzroy Crossing (check out this great video).  Kids there showered affection on Elsa, and she loved laughing, playing, and dancing with them.  I just felt so happy and privileged that our little one can experience a different side of life, and a strong culture still being lived far from the cities and towns.

All in all - a great week for our family, we're hoping it will be the first of many similar ones (apart from the ants).
 

 * LB chilling in the car at the end of an epic week

camping up the cape

Everyone should have a cape to their north where you can head off for a few days in a four wheel drive for a bit of adventure.  In the time I spent in Queensland, I never did make it more than a little way up the Cape York Peninsula, but there was something reassuring about knowing it was always there, hanging over us with mysteries to be revealed and adventures to be had.  Over here our cape is not quite so famous but no less alluring.  We'd been up a couple of times last year, but not since Little Bird was born, and not in our car either.  But the heat and humidity of the Wet are closing in and we decided that if we were going to take Little Bird camping any time soon, then we better get out and do it.  I also had a long long weekend off work, so we had no excuses for moping around town.  We loaded up the car, strapped in the baby, and headed north.

The Dampier Peninsula is a big flat red triangle of land that sticks out northward between Broome and Derby with a sandy corrugated road up the middle of it.  We were nervous about how Little Bird might handle the corrugations, but needn't have worried.  She slept most of the way, waking at the end of the dirt just before Beagle Bay.  We pulled into the community there for a bit of a rest and to stretch our legs (photo above) and then cruised on north to Cape Leveque, at the tip of the peninsula.  Kooljaman Resort at the cape is locally owned with a full range of camping/glamping options - we decided that this time we'd set ourselves up in a beach shelter for the weekend and save some of the more glam options for something special.  Little Bird seemed to approve of the decision, as you can see from her face here as she helps me with setting up camp:

The weekend was a winner all round - cool breezes and hammocks, short walks to the beach, cool swims at least a couple of times each day, sunsets and sunrises.  I finally got my kayak out and paddled around the cape and out to see Leveque Island, and also did some snorkelling just off the beach where I was saw my first blue-spotted ray.

On the Saturday we noticed a poster for the harvest party and Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, just across the peninsula from us.  We decided it was worth a look, and we managed to score a beautiful seafood dinner, some live music from Beagle Bay, and the biggest bonfire we've ever seen.  We were probably the first people to head home from the party, but we also had the youngest party-goer with us, so I don't think we lose any cred on that one.

The drive home at the end of the weekend was a dream, with our little girls sleeping through almost the whole trip.  We got home refreshed and with that "why don't we do this every weekend?" feeling we seem to get (almost) every time we go camping.

dos abuelas

Broome is 'home' now, but it's also a long, long way from 'home'.  For six months of the year we can get a direct flight to Brisbane (one per week) or Sydney (two per week) and we can be back 'home' in a mere four or five hours.  For the other six months we might as well be in a different country as getting 'home' is an all-day flying adventure.

We feel that distance more now with Little Bird, and not just because the prospect of seven-and-a-half hours flying time with an eight-and-a-half-month-old (plus an hour or so spent in Perth airport between flights) is a bit like the prospect of an all-day visit to the dentist.  But more we feel it because we see our little one growing, learning, and changing so much in between our visits to family and friends back east.  We're really glad to be building some close connections in our hood here, but we really miss all you people and would love to have her growing up surrounded by your love.

So we're so glad for all the visitors we've had here, and especially that Little Bird's grandmas have both had the chance to come and visit recently for some slow Broome family time and to keep building their relationships with our little girl.

Home now

And so Broome is home now.  We've been taking things pretty easy the last few weeks - a couple of short trips out of town with friends, but mostly just settling into our new place and enjoying having our own furniture and knowing that we won't have to pack it up again any time soon.  Feeling strangely settled and curious as to how long that feeling can last.

West 3 ~ Karijini & the Pilbara

Five gorges in one day was our challenge on our first day at Karijini National Park.  Having arrived late in the evening after a long day of outback driving, we got to camp for free in the "overflow" section.  Next morning after breakie, we were off and into the gorges.  Karijini gorges are beautiful - they cut right into the deep red rock of the Pilbara, and each has it's own character, some tight and narrow, others are broad open canyons.  One nice feature is that you can basically park at the top of each gorge and walk straight down into it, making the five in one challenge achievable.

We started with Weano Gorge, initially following the open walking trail down the upper gorge, then slipping into our wetsuits as it got tighter and wetter further down.  We didn't bother taking the wetsuits off to climb out of Weano and down Hancock Gorge to Kermit's Pool.  We ate some lunch on the drive to Joffre Gorge, a big open gorge with a stunning waterfall and big cold swimming holes, and then ducked over to Knox Gorge.  The Sun was sinking as we got into Kalamina Gorge, but we marched on down to the Natural Arch and then had a swim at the top of the gorge that was partly to refresh ourselves, but mostly so that we could say we swam in all five gorges.

Next day we packed up the camper and spent the morning walking and swimming our way through Dale's Gorge before heading northward to the coast.  On the way down from Karijini the Great Northern Highway winds down through Munjina Gorge.  It's a pretty impressive sight, especially with the massive roadtrains rolling down, and we decided that one of us had to ride a bike down.  HJ took the honours, I got to be the cameraman.

For our last night on the road we camped at Cape Keraudren, a beautiful, bare little peninsula about an hour from Port Hedland.  We got in at night and it looked like everyone was asleep in their caravans, so we crept around setting up the camper and went pretty much straight to bed after a couple of quiet card games.  In the morning we had a slightly successful spearfishing expedition.  I say slightly because the one and only fish we caught was floating upside down when we found it.

One long final stretch of driving along one of the flattest dullest sections of road around brought us to Broome.  We had both survived nine days on the road, ten gorges, one cave, multiple attempts to find more caves, three bike rides, five snorkels, one skateboard ride, one bogging, three sci-fi audiobooks, innumerable inane conversations.  Whether our friendship survived remains to be seen.

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Gorges clockwise from top left: Weano, Hancock, Knox, Dales, Kalamina, Joffre.
HJ riding down Munjina Gorge.
Camp at Cape Keraudren.

West 2 ~ Cape Range & Ningaloo

When we travelled south through WA back in April we thought about making the side trip up the North West Cape to Cape Range, but it was still too hot, and Little Bird was still too small, and everything was too exposed - trees not being a major feature of the landscape here - so we bypassed it.  We got our taste of Ningaloo Reef at Coral Bay, and then kept motoring southward.  Not this time.  I'd booked 3 nights at Kurrajong campground, just behind the sand dunes (like every other campsite we saw in the park), so when we arrived in the afternoon our site was all ready for us.  Over the next couple of days we went walking up through the range at Mandu Mandu Gorge and Yardie Creek Gorge, riding bikes and skateboards up and down the roads, and snorkelling at the Oyster Stacks, Turquoise Bay, and just off the beach at our campsite.

The whole peninsula is basically made of limestone, making it prime caving territory, with at least 600 caves in the area.  As usual, their locations are kept secret so that clowns like us don't go crawling down them and get stuck.  That didn't stop us looking though, and we ended up finding a couple of promising holes in the ground, but the best of them were blocked up with rock fig roots, so we never managed to find something we could squeeze into.

The snorkelling was amazing, and we got in the water at least a couple of times each day.  The national park covers a long stretch of coast with Ningaloo Reef immediately off shore, so anywhere you stop and jump into the water is rewarded immediately with coral reefs and fish.  We both thought it was some of the best snorkelling we've ever done, and definitely the most impressive coral gardens we've ever seen.  Much better than anywhere on the Great Barrier Reef that we've seen.  We spotted a lot of big fish, as well as a couple of turtles, some eels, a shark, a big stingray and a humpback dolphin.

A little highlight for me was the birds at our campsite.  There was a constant twittering in the scrub around us, but I struggled to get a look at which birds were there.  Each morning and evening I prowled around with my binoculars and camera trying to get a glimpse, but the best I got was a little wren-shaped bird disappearing over a sand dune in the evening twilight.  Turning my fount of knowledge - my phone - I worked out that they were most likely to be white-winged fairy-wrens.  Still I struggled to get a look to confirm.  Finally, as our second last morning was wearing out, I stepped out the door of the camper and right in front of me, about three metres away, were three or four little birds on some sticks.  All but one were the usual vague brown fairy-wrens, but one was a male in his breeding colours: dark all over except for a patch of white on each wing.  He disappeared instantly, but it was enough for me to confirm the sighting.  Fairy-wrens are a bit of a favourite bird of ours, and I've given myself the challenge of seeing all the different species in Australia.  We've see our Superbs at Saltwater Creek and Splendids at the West Macs, Red-Backed at Parry's Creek Lagoon and Red-Winged at Pemberton, and we've seen Variegated Fairy-Wrens pretty much everywhere.  Adding White-Winged to the list, I'm now left with three more: Purple-Crowned, that we hope to see on some future ventures through the Kimberley; Blue-Breasted, that we might spot on another trip to southern WA; and Lovely, that will have to wait until we go to Cape York some day.  After that I guess we'll have to go to PNG to see the rest of the world's fairy-wrens.

One last highlight was spotting a couple of Black-Footed Rock-Wallabies at Yardie Creek Gorge.  There's only up to about forty of these shy little creatures living around the gorge, apparently they used to be a lot more common before foxes cleared them out in all but the most inaccessible places.