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Wicka Wicka Wild Wild West
Hello from Western Australia! If biggest is best, then we’ve saved the best till last. Western Australia (WA) covers about a third of the continent and it would be the 10th biggest country in the world in its own right. And Happy Anniversary to us, we have now been on the road for a year!
After our last update, we headed into Darwin to see the sights. The temperature was in the mid 30’s, but a nice breeze off the Timor Sea made it bearable to walk around and explore. It is a very relaxed city with quite varied architecture, but most of it modern thanks to World War II bombing and a huge cyclone in the 1970’s. Some older buildings exist that have either been lovingly restored or, as in the case of the old Town Hall, the ruins have been left as a monument. The most impressive building was the Parliament House, a huge brilliant-white structure built in the 1990’s and covered in colonnades, balconies and latticework. Inside it is cool and airy and after a cursory security check, you’re free to wander around and look at the chambers at your leisure.
Darwin is of course named after Sir Charles and in his honour there is a unique piece of public art based around a replica of the ship’s bell from his HMS Beagle. It’s a series of 11 bells, one with a sculpture of HMS Beagle on top, the others with a sculpture of a local bird. The idea is people gather around with sticks, taking a bell each and knock out a tune. Interesting idea, if only we weren’t the only ones there.
Our favourite attraction was the “Secret Fuel Tunnels”. The navy’s above ground fuel storage tanks were bombed in 1942, so it was decided to build some underground tunnels that would be safe from future attack. The work was mostly done by hand, except for the use of steam powered shovels, which only added to the humidity, which was worsened by the heat from the work lights. Some of the tunnels are over 180 metres long and about 4 metres wide. It was such a colossal task that the war ended before the project did, so they were never used for their intended purpose. It wasn’t until 1992 that their existence was made public (although they’re in the middle of the city!) and they were then opened for tours.
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We also learnt that the Japanese bombings of several towns on the Northern coast were kept secret from the major population in the South and East, so not to affect morale. Just goes to show what a vast country it is and how even more remote the North was back then.
In the afternoon we relaxed in the waterfront area, a new complex of apartments, bars and cafes set around a safe swimming beach (neither stingers nor crocs) and a huge wave machine pool. On our way back to the van we bumped into Dennis again and had a quick catch-up, sadly for the last time as our paths won’t cross again.
We left Darwin and headed back South, stopping at Berry Springs, another freshwater swimming hole and then onto Litchfield National Park for much of the same at Wangi Falls and Florence Falls. These were all much colder than the thermal springs we’d swam in before, but as the weather was still in the 30’s, they were a great way to cool down. Wangi and Florence have waterfalls dropping into the pools, not huge falls, or particularly powerful, but swimming up to them against the current was still an effort, as the wind and spray hit your face. At Wangi there is a small water filled hole eroded into the cliff by one of the falls, which Bry climbed up into. It was a lot deeper than it looked and his feet didn’t touch the bottom, which made getting out again a bit of struggle, with only one strong arm!
Litchfield National Park also has an impressive collection of termite mounds, some in a “cathedral” style, which grow to over 6 metres and some which are described as “magnetic”. You can’t stick spoons to these, but the ants inside somehow know which way is North, so build the mounds like gravestones along the North – South axis to avoid the strongest sun and keep the interior cool. Ant air-conditioning, very clever!
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We much preferred Litchfield to Kakadu, the scenery was more rugged and varied, the main sites were easier to access, it was less busy, it was more compact, the camping was cheaper and there was no admission charge. The locals apparently say “Lichfield-do, Kaka-don’t” and we can now see why.
We stayed for a couple of nights at a campsite just on the edge of National Park and were visited each evening by loads of cane toads, the ones that were introduced to eat the sugar cane beetle, but are now an invasive species and rapidly spreading across the country. We didn’t join in the local customs of hitting them with golf clubs, cricket bats, driving over them or even (as suggested by one camper) spraying them with bleach – we figure it’s going to take more than that to stop them. What started out 80 years ago as 100 toads now total well over 200 million, and they’ve evolved longer legs, to spread further, quicker. And they’ve made no impact on the cane beetle problem, preferring to eat tastier local delicacies like skinks and lizards, things that would otherwise be eating insects.
We have added to the road-kill tally a bit though, unfortunately. We’ve managed to run over more snakes that were trying to cross the road, or were just basking on the hot tarmac. Suddenly there’s a squiggly line in front of you and then a dull thud as they go under the wheels. We guess that’s the danger of not having any legs, it makes it a bit difficult to jump out of the way. The other day we also had a swarm of bees fly straight into us. A black cloud just appeared and was followed by the sound of fifty or so tiny explosions on the windscreen, leaving clear gooey splats. It gave us quite a shock! Another shock happened one afternoon when we’d just set-up camp “in the bush” and we were relaxing in our chairs, reading. Suddenly a rustle in the undergrowth and a snakes head sticks out and stares at us. Before we could decide what to do, it lunges forward and we then realise it was just a lizard with a particularly long neck!
So we headed back to Katherine to buy more supplies, including booze where the police recognised us from last time and so saved us from the paperwork and lecture. Then it was onto the Victoria Highway, heading for WA and the landscape started to change again. Huge rock formations as far as you can see with strata poking out at all angles, some looking like a manmade wall or fort part the way up a mountainside, some crumbled down, some leaning over like wooden building blocks about to fall. This then gave way to huge prairies dotted with cows. Planes and helicopters could be seen herding them up, ready to be loaded onto the huge road-trains waiting nearby.
We started to see our first boabs - the stumpy, bloated, brandy-bottle-shaped, spooky looking trees that the North West is famed for. Also called upside-down trees, as their branches look more like roots, they have a certain animated look and locals joke that they move around and give them human qualities. Shops sell cartoons of them doing all sorts of human things like riding bikes, fishing or drinking beer at a bar.
So we crossed over the WA border and had our first proper quarantine check on the mainland (the only other one was entering Tasmania). This was straight forward, they just needed to check we didn’t have any fresh fruit, veg or honey – we were expecting it, so didn’t have anything confiscated. The border brought with it another time-zone, now we were on Western Time. We were glad to gain the 90 minutes difference, until we realised it meant the sun would now set at 5pm! Oh how we miss the long summer evenings of the Northern Hemisphere!
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We headed to Wyndham, on the edge of the Kimberley region. Wyndham bills itself as the Top Town in WA – we can confirm this relates purely to its geographical position and not its attractions. Although the tourist information pamphlet gave a whole list of things to do, the receptionist at our campsite reduced this to going to the cafe, the pub or the bric-a-brac shop. Undeterred, we set-off the next day for the 5KM walk into town and found that the pub and the shop were closed, but the cafe was very nice and did some lovely homemade cookies.
After a long walk back to the campsite, (which is home to “the largest boab tree in captivity” with a 25m circumference and apparently 2000 years old), we headed to the pool to cool down. Here we met Heather and Dean from Adelaide, who said they’d seen us on our walk as they drove back from town and were concerned that Caroline was not wearing a hat. Obviously they weren’t so concerned as to stop and offer us a lift, but we guess it’s the thought that counts! We had a good chat and agreed to lookout for each other, as they too were heading South.
Apparently the best thing to do in Wyndham is drive up to a lookout, were you can see 5 rivers flowing into the Cambridge Gulf, but we were warned the road was probably too steep and the hairpins too tight for Mario, so we gave it a miss. You can’t do everything!
Wyndham has hundreds of cockatoos flocking around the town. They’re a beautiful sight, but they make one hell of a noise, all screeching as if they’ve suddenly but repeatedly suffered a fear of flying. The campsite uses the crack of a bullwhip to frighten them off, but the ultimate bird-scarer they use is a helicopter! We presume it was the owner’s husband and we presume he is a cattle drover, as he lived in the house on site and went to work in a helicopter. When he came home, he buzzed around the site at tree-top level, banking at ridiculous angles and not surprisingly scared all the screechy feathered pests away. He then plonked the ‘copter down and was sipping a beer on his terrace before the rotors had stopped spinning – what a job!
If you want to see the Kimberley area properly, you have to drive the Gibb River Road, but this is a real 4WD only track, so not for us. We skirted around the edges and saw just some of the incredible landscape on offer. We could of course have paid for an organised tour or plane ride, but with more important bills such as shipping and flights home to consider, we had to be happy with seeing things from afar.
Next it was on to the Northern Highway heading for Broome, via Derby. Although on this part of the National Highway, the main road that rings the country, some of the bridges are only wide enough to take one vehicle at a time! In Derby we saw a sombre relic from the colonial past, a large boab tree that had been hollowed out and was used to imprison kidnapped aborigines who were to be used as slaves in the pearling industry. Nearby was the “longest cattle trough in the southern hemisphere” at 120 metres long, which was used to water up to 500 cattle at a time. The Prison Tree and the trough were in use in the same periods, showing that cattle were held in higher regard than fellow humans, just because of the colour of their skin.
We then moved onto Broome, the North West’s famed beach resort, expecting a quieter version of Byron Bay, but hopefully with friendlier waves. Broome’s big attraction is Cable Beach, over 20kms of white sand, gently lapped by the turquoise Indian Ocean. The North end is open to 4x4s, clothing is optional and it’s where the three separate camel ride businesses operate. As it was closest to our campsite, it was our first stop for a few hours. But it wasn’t very relaxing with the constant stream of trucks up and down, most of which seemed to be full of young lads hoping for an eyeful. If overweight Aussie men drinking beer and “letting it all hang out” is your thing, get down there. We just went for a paddle in the sea, but no further as there was a sign warning of a crocodile spotted 2 days earlier.
The next day we got a bus into town and found it quiet nice, with a history of pearling centred in the Chinatown area. The industry was mainly run by Japanese and the area was called Japtown, until the Second World War. The industry continues today and in one of the many pearl showrooms we saw the “Pride of Broome”, the world’s largest farmed pearl at over 2cm across. Until the 1970’s the divers still used the big bell helmets and lead shoes. We took a stroll along the original jetty, which is now very rickety, but beneath were lots of red fiddler crabs, the ones with one claw much bigger than the other.
It was the more modern things that attracted us though. The airport (grandly called Broome International, but isn’t) is close to the town centre and you can stand right at the end of the runway and have QANTAS 737’s roar right over your head – which was fun. The local car hire place is called Broome Broome Car Rental - which is inspired. The local craft-brewers, Matso Brewery do a lovely mango beer and a ginger and lime cider – which were refreshing. And here they have frying-foxes. These are flying foxes which have touched two live power-lines at the same time. There’s a load of their little burnt out corpses just hanging about.
One afternoon we spent on the southern end of Cable Beach and found this much more relaxed than the North. Although the water was chilly, we had a good a swim, some sun-bathing and generally chilled-out. Back at camp we met Heather and Dean again (the ones from Wyndham that didn’t give us a lift), who invited us for drinks in their Mercedes based Winnebago. They’re both well travelled and Heather used to live in UK and Canada, but missed Oz too much. We had a lovely evening chatting about travels, the world and everything. We promised to keep in touch and sure enough saw them again a few days later, but only time for a quick chat while both vehicles blocked the street.
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Then it was on to Port Hedland, “the world’s largest iron-ore port” – sounds nice, hey? They haven’t let the fact that there’s a huge port - operating 24 hours a day, fed by endless trains, spreading red dust about the place – stop them from getting the tourists in. On the contrary, they embrace it! Their tourist information leaflet reminds you that other cities have their industrial ports on the outskirts “invisible as well as inaccessible” – for good reason, you may think? But not Port Hedland, where “the coming and going of ships from dusk to dawn... is one of the unique qualities of this remote town”. The tourist info centre even has a board outside logging the arrival and departure times of the tankers. However, just around the coast and where our campsite was, there is a beautiful, unspoilt beach perfect for long walks (but not bare foot, as there’s stonefish and snakes and stuff). And at night we could look over to the port and see all its twinkling lights, just like Port Talbot steelworks – grim by day, beautiful by night. From there we went round to Point Samson, a similar scenario of beautiful beaches next to an industrial port.
We are now in Coral Bay near the Ningaloo Reef, the West’s answer to the Great Barrier Reef and hope to do some snorkelling. School holidays are just about to start, so we’re expecting the next couple of weeks to be a bit busy and noisy, with families flooding up from Perth for some winter sun. With this in mind, we have actually booked ahead for the first time ever! We can therefore exclusively reveal to you that next week we will be in Carnarvon and then Geraldton a week later. Mixed feelings having a definite plan in place, nice to know we won’t be stuck for accommodation, but it does take the spontaneity away.
After that it will be down to Perth and starting the laborious process of sorting out shipping Mario home. Oh what excitement lies ahead of us!
HooRoo!