Yvonne Dacey – Wallyvonne’s Greyt Nomad Adventure – Australia 3

Visiting Broome is one of those places that you could put on your list of things to do before you die. More particularly The Kimberley. This is an amazing part of Australia, no, the world. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, we have been to the Bungle Bungles, Geiki and Windjana Gorges, the Horizontal Falls including a flight over the Buccaneer Archipelago and the latest trip was up to Cape Leveque for 3 days. All absolutely wonderful places. Wally continued the trip to go back to Geiki and Windjana as well as a night in an aboriginal community where they heard some of the aboriginal stories by the campfire under a star filled sky. I didnt go as it was way to hot and had already done the 2-day version, although I really was looking forward to the night in the aboriginal community, although I know my limitations.

At Cape Leveque we were camped in swags in shelters right on the cliff edge overlooking the water, which was the most beautiful turquoise colour. We spent all morning swimming on the second day and although we were both smothered in SPF 30+ we both got burnt from the shoulders up (my face is peeling). In the afternoon we went snorkelling in the reef, although Wally went up closer than I did. He saw coloured coral and heaps of tropical fish.

Adam (Wallys son) has been our tour guide and he is very professional and his passion for The Kimberley shows. He has some great stories and tells them in an interesting way. Some tour guides just prattle but he is really good. He also works really long hours, not just driving and taking us on tours, but he cooks (hes a great cook too) sets up camp, packs and unpacks the truck and then has to clean the truck and get ready for the next tour. I get weary just watching him. Well done, Ads.

Weve met some great people on the tours as well and when you are in such close quarters for several days, it was good that we had such a happy bunch of people.

We leave Broome on Monday to head south. Not sure where we are going, so we better look at the map.

UPDATE: Weve now left Broome (Im having internet connection problems) and have been to 80 Mile Beach, Pt Hedland (nothing to tell you about this place and no pix enough said), Munjina (bet you dont know where that is!!!) and are now in Tom Price. 80 mile beach was a really nice place, but the heat is getting too much. Its not a swimming beach – I didnt really understand what that meant, but the water is only knee deep for quite a distance and there are all sorts of fish close to the shore including sharks. The fisherwo/men (Im being pc) were catching the biggest fish, and so many of them. Ive never seen so many people all catching heaps of fish. The beach is covered in the most beautiful shells, which Ive been collecting along the way. The best thing about 80 Mile Beach has been the huge turtles that we saw come up the beach to lay their eggs. What an amazing sight!!! The turtles would be at least 4 in diameter. The first night, someone got too close and the poor thing got frightened and abandoned the birth. The next night I was lucky enough to see one come out of the water to head up to the dunes. I dont have any pix as the flash would frighten them. But what a fantastic memory.

We then visited the Karijini National Park where there are some beautiful gorges. The first day was a climb down the gorge into 2 pools see pix. They were really inviting, as it was quite hot. The second day we left Munjina to go back into the National Park to see some other gorges. This time we had the van on the back. Oh dear!! The car did a magnificent job, thanks to traction control, but its something we wont do again. The car and van were covered in red dirt which stains everything, so when we arrived in Tom Price, the first thing we did was wash them. Our neighbours commented on how clean our rig was and thought we had just bought it. Dont know how people could go off road for weeks at a time. You can take the girl out of the city, but you cant take the city out of the girl. While in the gorge we saw the SES, police and St Johns Ambos rescuing a schoolboy who had injured himself (fortunately, he hadnt fallen) while in the gorge and couldnt climb out. It was amazing to watch how they brought him safely from the bottom of a 100 gorge to the top. Well done SES.

Were now in Tom Price and this morning we did a tour of the Rio Tinto Pilbara Iron Ore mine. Big trucks, big trains, big holes in the ground.

Tomorrow we head for Karratha. Dont forget to leave your comments if youve had a look at this blog. Love to hear from you.

Cheers Yvonne and Wally