April School Holidays, Part II

After spending a week in Perth, I boarded my plane for the 2 1/2 hour flight to Broome. I had been to Broome the last time I was in Australia, but it was the gateway to Cape Leveque, my ultimate destination. The tour left bright and early Saturday morning, so I spent Friday afternoon poking around China Town. Staircase to the Moon was on that weekend, which is why I went to Town Beach to check it out. Staircase to the Moon is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the Kimberley (where Broome is) and the Pilbara (where Karratha is). It is caused by the rising of the full moon reflecting off the exposed mudflats at low tide, which creates a beautiful illusion of stairs reaching to the moon. Unfortunately the sky clouded over and there was no moon to see. You can't see it on Cape Leveque (there are no mudflats), so I was out of luck this time. However, you can see it from Hearson's Cove, which is close to Karratha, so I may have another opportunity later this year.

Source

The next morning I was picked up at 7am by Russell, our tour leader for the next three days. Accompanying me were two older couples from Victoria (the state in Australia, not the city in BC), a retired radio journalist from Sydney and a fellow backpacker from Calgary, Alberta (it's a small world!). After picking everyone up from their various hotels and hostels, we were on our way north. After travelling for a short while on the paved highway, we turned off onto the red dirt road that would lead to Cape Leveque. It was quite bumpy and rugged and Russell mentioned that it was one of the worst dirt roads in WA (he said this to reassure the others, who were all going on a five day tour to the Bungle Bungles immediately following this tour). I didn't find it that bad and I think we were on it for less than two hours all together. Our first stop was Beagle Bay, an Indigenous community that was first established by Trappist Monks around 1890. The Sacred Heart Church is famous for its mother of pearl shell altar, hand built by the local Indigenous people and finished in 1918. 

The Sacred Heart Church in Beagle Bay

The famous mother of pearl shell altar

We hopped back on the bus to continue on to Cape Leveque. We were staying at Kooljaman, an
Indigenous owned wilderness camp located on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula. We had lunch (Russell set out quite the spread: 4 different kinds of salad, cold cuts, a cheese platter, bread, wraps, veggies and more) and then most of us headed out to Eastern Beach. After spraying on some sunscreen (a must when it's hotter than 35 degrees Celsius) and talking to Thor, my fellow Albertan, about our travels, I went for a swim in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. It was awesome to just float in the salt water, rising and falling with the waves. Afterwards I went for a walk among the sand dunes before returning to camp for a shower.

Eastern Beach

We almost had the whole beach to ourselves

More red rocks

The sky had clouded over again, so no picturesque sunset photos. Instead the seven of us sat around the picnic table while Russell BBQed. On the menu was Scotch fillet, kangaroo (a chicken breast for me, the non red meat eater of the group), mashed potatoes, caramelized onions, vegetables, garlic bread and left over salads from lunch. Russell proved to be a good cook once again as we all dug in. An early night followed, as we got tired of fighting off the flies and mozzies.

After breakfast, we had some time to ourselves, so I went for a walk along the red cliffs of the Western Beach. These red cliffs are what had drawn me to Cape Leveque and they are indeed beautiful. If I had had even more time I would have loved to have walked around the tip of the cape to the Eastern Beach, but I walked through the wilderness camp, with a brief stop at the lighthouse, instead. Back in the water Thor and I met a couple of fellow Canadians (from Ontario) who were living in Perth. After talking about some cultural differences and what life is like living in Oz (food is so expensive! the climate is lovely!), Thor and I headed back to camp to shower before boarding the bus. We were off to Lombadina, an almost self-sufficient Indigenous community located close to Kooljaman. It was very quiet when we arrived and the only person we saw was the priest, a Kenyan who had found his home here, caring for Indigenous Australians. The church was like no other I'd ever seen. Constructed of timber, with open air windows, it was beautiful in its simplicity.

The church from a distance 

(I was trying to avoid having other people in my shot, which is why it's so far away)

We then headed east across the peninsula to Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm, Australia's oldest operating pearl farm. Pearling has been an important industry in Western Australia for a long time and in the early 1900's it centred around Broome. Dean Murdoch Brown began Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm in 1946 by collecting mother of pearl shell. When his son Lyndon entered the business, he learned how to seed a pearl shell, something previously only done by the Japanese. His other son brought the first non-hard hat diver to the industry. Today the company is continuing to expand with accommodation, dining and tours available to those who come visit the bay. We had arrived in time for lunch, an amazing spread of chicken, pork, fries, three different kinds of salad, vegetables and dessert. After our feed, we had our tour of the pearl farm. Pearling has a fascinating history, but it's not without its horror stories either. Some companies treated their Indigenous, Chinese and Japanese divers abominably; for example, sending pregnant Indigenous women down for shell because they believed their bodies could hold more oxygen and they could stay down longer. Fortunately, Cygnet Bay treated those that worked for them respectfully and continue to do so today. I was surprised to learn how much time and work is put into creating pearls and I now have a much better understanding of why the genuine article costs so much (over $AUS300 for a small set of studs, thousands of dollars for a strand). For more information, check out the Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm's incredibly informative website, http://cygnetbaypearls.com.au. 

The Kimberley has the second biggest tidal variation in the world (the biggest is in the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick, Canada) and five of us decided to experience it firsthand by taking a boat on to King Sound. These giant tides are responsible for the Horizontal Waterfalls, found in Talbot Bay, east of Cygnet Bay. The boat ride was amazing, going through whirlpools and looking at the moving tides up close. It was a great ride.

Horizontal Waterfalls (on my list of things to see)- source

The fast moving giant tides of King Sound

The sunset on Sunday was spectacular, but unfortunately we were on the bus back to Kooljaman and missed the best part. I did, however, capture this shot of the aftermath. Can't see the famous red cliffs of Cape Leveque though!

Monday morning I woke early (mostly because we were all in our own tents before 9pm the night before) and decided to walk down to the Eastern Beach to catch the sunrise. I was a little late, but better late than not at all. I followed that up by a swim in the ocean, empty at this time except for one other person. It was awesome. Everyday should start with a swim in the sea!

Following breakfast with the group, we had a bush tucker tour with Bundy, an Indigenous guide who shared his Bardi culture with us. Bundy taught us about the birds and how they can tell can us where to find food and water, or when there's danger nearby. He told us about a plum-like fruit that contains 50 times the amount of vitamin C found in an orange. He also taught us about a root that the Aboriginals use to stun fish. This article http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/travel/a/-/travel/16424027/reading-nature-a-lesson-in-survival/ does a much better job than I do at explaining Bundy's stories and is worth a read. After Bundy's tour, we took off for One Arm Point, another Indigenous community east of Kooljaman. We stopped at a lovely beach first (where we weren't allowed to swim because of crocodiles), and then we proceeded to the Ardyaloon Hatchery, where Barry introduced us to the different fish species they kept in the tanks. We then learned about the trochus shell, which they specialized in, and which they used every part of the shell to make jewelry and other trinkets. After a filling lunch overlooking the giant tides of King Sound, we boarded the bus for the drive back to Broome. Our three day adventure on Cape Leveque was over.

A trochus shell (source)

The view from the hatchery

The road back to Broome

I had three days in Broome before heading back to Karratha, so I decided to hire a bike to get around, as the town is quite spread out. The first day I biked to Gantheaume Point, which is on the south west end of the peninsula. I had come hoping to see 130 million year old dinosaur footprints, but unfortunately the tide, while low, wasn't low enough to see them. I did see the cast of prints, which is at the end of the path from the lighthouse, but that's not as exciting as seeing the real thing. I loved the pindan rocks around the Point~ the contrast between the rocks and the ocean is beautiful. I then biked north to Cable Beach which, according to my tourist map, is Australia's only beach rated in the world's top 5. It is named after the telegraph cable that was installed between Broome and Java in 1889. Twenty-two kilometres long, its white sand and azure waters seem to stretch forever. I stayed the afternoon, alternating between swimming in the warm water (love it!) and reading on the beach. I rode back to the hostel before sunset as I wanted to shower and eat before going to Sun Pictures, the world's oldest operating picture gardens, to see Silver Linings Playbook. The last time I was in Broome I had seen the movie Australia with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman~ what a perfect place to take it in (Sun Pictures itself is in Australia). Silver Linings Playbook was good, but it was funny when the helicopters flew overhead on route to the airport and drowned out the dialogue.

The next day I decided to bike the 20 or so kilometres to 12 Mile to visit The Mango Place (http://www.mangowine.com.au). A farm, a store and a cafe, The Mango Place was a cool oasis after my sweaty, hot ride and I thoroughly enjoyed my refreshing mango smoothie. They also served mango cake, ice cream, wine, chutney, jam, vinegar, dressing, tea and candy. In the store, they sold pindan (the rich red dirt found in north west Australia) dyed clothing, soap, moisturizers and repellents. I was glad I had ridden out. I returned to Cable Beach for another afternoon of swimming and reading, snagging a great spot to watch the sunset camel ride, which I had done 4 years ago.

My last day in Broome was more of the same. I rode out to Deep Water Port and to Entrance Point in the south east corner (nothing spectacular, I just wanted to go somewhere I hadn't been before), then I parked the bike and walked along a red dirt road to Reddell Beach, which I had completely to myself. It was beautiful and I'm glad I made a point of going somewhere different. I rode back to Cable Beach via Gantheaume Point for the afternoon, enjoying my last day in the ocean. I had had an incredible two weeks, but I was looking forward to returning 'home' and sleeping in my own bed. I was happy to have three days (my flight got in before noon on Friday) to recoup before heading back to work on Monday.

The rocks around Gantheaume Point

Cable Beach, looking south

Check out the water temperature!

Sunset on Cable Beach

The iconic camel ride

Just as everyone had told me, temperatures have dropped since April school holidays. In fact, it's been unusually cool and rainy, and we haven't seen the sun in a few days. If this is winter, I could get used to it, although I do miss the sunshine. The forecast for this long weekend (it's Western Australia Day on Monday) calls for more rain, which will make it easier to sit in front of the computer and write my report cards, due in two weeks. That might just be my next entry, we'll just have to see what else happens in the next few weeks!