Friday 6 June Broome

 Ann was excited, she has a hair dryer which was quite strong! Had a great meal last night starting with prawn cocktail, then lamb blackstrap and finished off with Elton Mess which we all survived (see  the film The Menu). Had a great nights sleep, no alarm needed, first tour doesn’t begin until 9.45. Off to breakfast at 7.30.

Monday 9 June Broome - Melbourne

 Well it has finally come to the last day. The sun is shining and a pleasant 20 degrees at 9 am. Melbourne showers, cold and miserable. Ann is keen to get home and I am looking forward to getting home and back to some normalcy, although not looking forward to the weather.

We have check out at 10 and we will head to the airport then and grab a brunch before our 2 pm flight.

Arrive at the airport at 10.30. Check in doesn’t open until noon! We sit down to wait. Around 11 some American passengers place their bags at the front of the line and then go and sit down.we take our bags and do the same. By 11.15 there is quite a queue so we go and stand with the bags. There is a long queue of priority and business class. At last check in starts, but it is one person and priority is first. After the first goes through a group of Indians with bag after bag fronts up. It is a shambles! Bags must be overweight as one of the women starts unpacking and repacking in different bags. Clothes and goods are transferred down the line, all the while holding everyone else up. Another two gates open and after the Indians have gone things return to normal and we are soon through. At 12.30 we finally get something to eat after we passed through security.

Our flight is 30 minutes late so the turnaround time is now 1 hour in Perth. It is a very smooth flight. It is a long walk to the terminal and as we hurry through I discover our flight is delayed, so we have plenty of time. The Perth airport was very confusing, we are heading for terminal 4 and our gate number, but it suddenly changes to terminal 1 international departures. Turns out the terminals are combined. Our plane leaves 40 minutes late in departing, again a very smooth flight. Land just before midnight (Melb time), luggage arrives timely, Karen contacts pick up and we walk out and straight onto the pick up. We are driving away from the car park at 12.45 am and Ross has dropped us off and we are in bed by 2 am. Another long day after a great adventure. 

Sunday 8 June Horizontal Falls

 At 2 am I suddenly get an idea that our pick up is 5 am and not 5.30, so I change the alarm for 4.40. We are down waiting at 5. Pick up is 5.35! A bit breezy this morning but still warm even at 6 am. There is already one person on the bus, and there are ten of us. A few more stops to pick up other passengers and by 6 we are on our way. We stop after 7 at Beagle Bay to visit the church which was first built in 1908. Its altar has mother of pearl shells as its backdrop, it is very striking. The church was built with all local materials, mud brick and mortar made from limestone. 

Just before 8 we head off for Cygnet Bay, it is from the airport there that we will fly to Talbot bay and horizontal falls. We arrive after 9 and have breakfast before a tour of the cygnet bay pearl farm. Our guide Terry is a wealth of information and quite a character. Terry is a local indigenous who grew up with the grandson of the Brown family who started the farm. It is a third generation business, and Brown developed a method for cultivating his pearls independent of the Japanese methods. The industry was originally about the shell which was used to produce buttons cut out of the shell. The plastics industry killed off this use and at its peak there were over 80 business and now it is reduced to a handful. Terry explains how cultured pearls are formed and dispels the myth that they develop from a grain of sand. They have to be seeded and the best seed is from a Mississippi Mussel and these seeds are imported from: USA at about $11.50 each. It takes two to three years for pearls to develop and then the quality determines whether they are any good. Those that do not make the grade are smashed so the seed can be re-used. It is not a good success rate. He tells us that natural pearls are very rare and rarely tear drop or round, generally they have imperfections. You should never wear a pearl in the sea, as it will start to disintegrate. He gave us the gradings and what to look for and had examples that we were able to examine. He had a string of natural pearls that would start at auction at $330,000. He also had some great information on his mob and the differences with other tribes outside the area. One was that the didgeridoo had no place in this area, anyone bringing one in would be told to take it away! 

We head off to the airport for our seaplane flight to Talbot Bay and the falls. It is only a 35 minute flight but at a low altitude so we have great views over the Bucaneer Archipelago and the surrounding waters. It is mesmerising flying reasonably low over the water. I am on the look out for whales but see none. It is a very smooth landing on the water. Once on the pontoon we are given a briefing on safety and then it is time to swim with the sharks. We are in a cage and the sharks and other fish swim up to the cage as a staff member throws in bits of barramundi. They are nurse sharks but not grey nurse, some are quite big. There are other small fish swimming around which can go in and out of the cage, every now and then I feel a nip as they check me out. After our “shark encounter” it is time for lunch. A scrumptious piece of salt water Barramundi cooked to perfection with some delicious salad.

It is time for another safety briefing and then into the speedboat. It is powered by 4 large outboards and we head off at a leisurely pace up into cyclone creek where the rock formations are spectacular. It is called cyclone creek because it is a perfect haven to seek shelter in a cyclone.

It is now time for some speed and the horizontal falls! We power away towards the falls. There are two enclosed bays where the water pours in and out on the change of tides through narrow entrances. There is A very strong current flowing and we have fun powering through time and again, in some instances getting spun about. We only go through the lower falls as the upper is very narrow, but we get a close up look. After hooning about for an hour it is back to the floating dock and our sea plane flight back to Broome.

It is an hour’s flight but we have a couple of loops around the falls for another spectacular look. Once we clear the area, the rest of the flight is at a higher altitude so we have broader views but loose out on the detail below, but still an enjoyable flight. The sea plane however was very noisy. We land just before 5 and our back at our rooms by 5.30. We have a final beer with rest of the group and head out for a pizza. It has been a long day, but a great one.

Entering the Falls

Sea Plane taking off

Over$300,000

Approaching falls

Upper Falls

Part of Buccaneer Archipelago 

Shark feeding

Broome Sat 7 June

 A bit breezy this morning but still very warm. 25 degrees at 9 am and expecting 32. Our check out is 10 am and our new check-in is just 5 minutes in the truck. We are now waiting for rooms to become available which could be some time.

We finally got our room at 12.15, Karen and Ross got theirs at 11.15. We are meeting John and Kaye for lunch between 1 to 1.30 at the Divers Tavern.

Lunch was filling, started with calamari to share with Ann, as did Ross and Karen, one would have been enough for the six of us. Then we had burgers with chips - no tea tonight. The hotel was very busy and had the football on. I enjoyed it, Ann not so much. We say our goodbyes to the Luggs and head back, it is less than 10 minutes walking back to our resort. Settle down for a nanna nap at 4 pm. Tomorrow we have a 5.30 am pick up for our horizontal falls trip.

Quiet for the rest of the day and hit the sack at 9 pm.

Broome Friday 6 June

 Great nights sleep, Ann woke me up at 6.40 am. Breakfast at 7.30, then off for our last tour at 9.45. Another warm sunny morning and we head off for a look at the main pier, then we head off to Gantheaume Point  where the dinosaur footprints are located. They can only be seen at low tide but they have a replica set at the top of the cliffs. On the way we see an osprey and its nest set up in the disused light tower. We then head to the town centre for a shopping spree. Ann and Karen look at some pearls but no purchase - super expensive. Karen is on the lookout for a hat, she left hers back in her room. We find a shop where there are hats the same as Ann, Karen finds one and I get one too. They will be great for out African tour.

It is now lunch time and we had pre ordered yesterday. Quiches, pies and sausage rolls and cakes. John our truck driver takes us to a place where we drive onto the beach where there are up to 50 cars on the beach!

After lunch we have a pointless visit to the Broome cemetery for Chinese and Japanese. Bit hard to read the headstones! We are back just before 2pm and we meet up with John and Kaye at the pool. After a swim and a couple of drinks we head back to the Luggs to try out some of John and Kaye’s reds from Magaret River. We are enjoying ourselves so much that we miss sunset!

At 6.45 we head off for another lovely three course dinner and are back to our room by 9pm. Tomorrow we have a 10 am checkout to move to the Kimberley Sands. It is getting close to the end.

Dinosaur footprints

Garden area at Cable Beach Resort

Looking out over the dinosaur point

Still more photos

 

Coming in to land at heliport

Mitchell Falls from the air

Looking down on Mitchell Falls

In the air from Merton falls

Merton Falls

Chopper coming in to land at top of Merton Falls

Behind little Merton falls

Our camp room at Ngawudu

More Photos

 

Bungle bungles from the air

Our pilot 

Our plane

Base of the BBs

River slowly receding

Rather wet

After the wet finally sunshine at Ngauwudu Safari camp

No flies on Ann

Off to get some red wine