Above the Kimberley ~ coasts & islands

Last installment in my series of photos from small planes, most of these were taken on a scenic flight over the Buccaneer Archipelago.  Sure, it's quite an evocative name for a clump of islands but they more than live up to it, sprawling out from a remote coastline in shades of green and blue and bony spurs of pale rock.  My imagination gets the better of me as I look down on limitless empty beaches, leaping whales, coral lagoons, and sparkling bays where I dream I could lose myself for years.  If any place will ever stir me to get a boat and figure how to use it, then this is it.  

The last two photos are from a work flight down the coast from Broome.  Home is at the end of the culdesac front and centre in the final pic.

little bird's second venture

I was going to call this her first adventure, but then I thought that her birth, 4 weeks ago now, was quite the adventure, and this one probably pales in comparison in her little mind.  Still, for us, the thought of a good long drive out of town, dirt roads, nappy changes by the side of the road and all that was both appealing in a been-stuck-in-the-house-for-too-long kind of way, and a little daunting.  

Appealing and daunting - two ingredients of a great adventure.

It was, to be honest, a little more glamorous than we expect little bird's future adventures will be, but how could we resist wet season sales on resort accommodation?  And we aren't quite ready for camping - yet.  And so we set out.  Little bird decided to ease us into things by sleeping the whole way there.  The land, once brown and burnt, is now lush and green.  Water and birds everywhere, big pools across the highway in places, but nothing that would stop rugged outdoorsy outback folk like us.  Black-winged stilts, a beautiful little black and white wading bird, cleared the highway ahead of us and closed in behind.

We stayed two nights at Eco Beach, a stunning resort just down the coast a bit from Broome.  Wet season is definitely low season and they're only open a few nights each fortnight currently, so for half the usual price we got a villa on a sand dune with unbelievable views up and down the beach.  Yes, we feel very, very spoiled.  We were especially grateful for the view given that for most of the weekend it was either too hot and humid or too wet and rainy for us to want to go outside, so we mostly just sat and looked, read, played scrabble, ate and drank, changed nappies, cuddled the little one.

On our second day some showers came through and cooled things off a little, and between showers we made it out for a beach wander.  Of course, it rained as we turned back for home, but the rain was fresh and little bird didn't mind it at all.  Not a sigh or a sob from her until the moment we stepped back into our room.

That night we were the only guests in the resort and felt even more privileged.  The staff, who had treated us wonderfully throughout our stay, brought us menus and then served us dinner in our room.  It actually cooled off in the evening, and with little bird asleep in her nest, we sat on the deck looking out to sea and soaking in the moment.

The drive home was great, with more water on the roads and some heavy showers.  And we had our first ever roadside nappy change, complete with rain!  All went well - a beautiful little venture for our family that has left us itching for more.

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 PS - no, you're right, I can't do this whole post without at least one photo of this face!  Here she is bird watching.  We spotted some variegated fairy-wrens in these bushes.  Her first sight of her namesake!

broome beach therapy

We arrived to a busy and bustling Broome in August. The shop car parks were full of travellers vehicles, restaurants were full of grey nomads and the beach was packed. The weather was quite perfect: warm during the day, sunshiney yet cool enough in the evenings to carry a cardigan with you. 

The town has emptied out now, it's lovely and quiet and the 'wet' brings a really different vibe. It also brings with it hot and humid weather and very little 'wet'. Sometimes a brief storm will roll through during the night and rain will fall but by morning it is sunny and dry again - I always feel so ripped off when this happens!! 

So, in this season it is easy to feel just a little cooped up. There's not alot to do but run errands, stay cool in air conditioning, and swim at the fully shaded pool. Sometimes the cabin fever starts to set in. We have realised just how important it is to get out in the afternoons. There is usually a suprpisingly refreshing breeze at the beach (just don't get there too early!) which isn't necessarily present in the early morning. So we go, and walk, and explore and let the cabin fever fall away. It's my therapy! 

Gav is on holidays so we are going to be going on a little break for a few days. We're looking forward to a change of scenery and a pool to swim in, even if we are only going 10 minutes down the road! Then we will spend some time at home getting a few things 'baby ready' and just taking it easy. 

The following photos were taken at a range of coastal spots: Town beach, Reddell Beach, Gantheaume point, Cable beach.

Beasts of the Northern Wild

We had been looking forward to getting out of the city so much - getting to some place where we could feel a little more connected with the natural world.  Now we're living here we're loving being able to just duck down to the beach - or even just out into the front yard - to find some creatures doing their their thing - combing the beach for food, hiding in logs, eating each other...

Here's some of the local characters from round here.

 

Above the Kimberley ~ ranges and rivers

These were taken in the East Kimberley, flying between Kununurra and Kalumburu.  It was raining when we landed in Kalumburu, and even felt a little cool.  It's one of the most isolated places I've been and felt strangely like being in PNG (probably helped by the rain and the missionaries).  The flight crosses over some remote territory, and I realised pretty quickly that the famous gorges of the Kimberley are just a fraction of what's really out there.  Would have been nice to have had a better camera, better weather and a less bumpy ride, but hopefully I've captured some of the sense of mystery and wildness out there.

Local tales

Since coming here to WA, one of the things we've enjoyed is getting into some local stories.  Tim Winton has never been too far from the top of our reading lists, and we've both read a little of him here, as well as enjoying Cloudstreet on DVD, The Turning at our local Picture Gardens, and his interview with Jennifer Byrne on ABC a little while back.  We loved watching Satellite Boy at Sun Pictures so much that we did it twice.  I've read Jandamarra and A Town is Born, both gut-wrenching, brilliant accounts of people rising against injustice in the Fitzroy Valley.  We got Bran Nue Day on DVD too, a bit nuttier than I expected.  

It's intriguing how soon after coming to a new place you start to feel a special connection to the local stories, and how the stories then help to build and deepen your connection with the place.  Those stories from the Fitzroy Valley especially had more meaning for me as I've developed more of a sense of the place, and reading them has given me a much richer appreciation for both people and land.

I've just finished That Deadman Dance, a great book that caught my eye at a yard sale in Derby.  It seemed somehow familiar to me.  A beautifully told story from the south coast of the state, a place once known as 'the friendly frontier', although of course, no frontier has ever been 'friendly' for too long.  Looking forward to our travels down there.

Above the Kimberley ~ the dry lands

Work has had me flying around a bit, mostly in small planes.  Seeing the land from above, the patterns crafted by soil, water, wind, fire, and cattle, the occasional straight line of road cutting through, I love it.  Thought I'd share the view.  These pics are from the Fitzroy Valley - an open space, the ranges of the Kimberley to the North and the Great Sandy Desert to the South.