Week 14
Hi Everyone, At the start of the week, we drove out of Broome and down a dusty track to the Willie Creek Pearl Farm. On the way, we saw a couple of Brolgas. Our tour at the Willie Creek Pearl Farm started in a gazebo. The tour guide showed us the anatomy of an oyster. He said that in about 95% of all oysters there will be a Pea Crab sharing the space inside the shell. Pea crabs keep the oyster clean and are sometimes referred to as the GST crab as they take about 10% of the oyster’s food. After the introduction in the gazebo we had morning tea and set off on the Willie Creek cruise. We saw lots of mangroves and birds. The tour ended after the cruise and we drove on to Beagle Bay towards the top of Cape Leveque. On our way in and out of the town, we saw a fire that was on either side the car. Fires in Western Australia aren’t as fierce as the ones in Victoria, the aboriginals loved the fires because it cleared the ground for them and they could see clearly where they were going. It also got rid of most the snakes that would usually hide in the long grass. About 10% of Western Australia gets burnt each year, and Western Australia is 2.5 million square kilometres. So that means that 250,000 square kilometres of land gets burnt each year, and that’s just in W.A! We were planning to stay at Cape Leveque, but we ended up at Hunter’s Creek along One Arm Point. The next day we paid an aboriginal elder for a tour. We drove over dunes, up and down bumpy tracks and reached the 'horizontal falls'. These 'falls', are where the sea rushes through a 300m gap in the land, creating a rapid that looks like a vertical waterfall. The tidal change occurs twice daily. We were there at full moon, so the tide was changing a full 12 meters in a few hours. The aboriginal guide who owned the land told us that you can only see the falls in the early morning. Next, we went to a little cove where he showed us a fish trap. While we were looking at it he made us a pinwheel from a stick and woven reeds. The next morning, at 6 o’clock, (Victoria time 8 o’clock) we got up and headed over to the horizontal falls. We saw the sun coming over the horizon and the water was splashing over some rocks out at sea the created the falls. That afternoon we went to a secluded beach. The tide was going out. Every 15 minutes we had to move four meters down the beach. The beach grew by some 300 meters. After that, we packed up our stuff and headed to Middle Lagoon; about a quarter the way back from Cape Leveque, where we stayed the night. The next day, we drove to Beagle Bay where we could see the remnants of the fire. We visited the famous St Mary’s Church. Inside, it was decorated with shells of all different shapes and sizes. After that, we drove back to Broome and hired a room for the night. This place was definitely not the ‘quiet alternative’ and there was loud music at the beginning of the night. The day after, we left Broome and started heading towards Derby. Just before we went into town, we stopped at the Boab Prison Tree. It was the biggest Boab tree that I’d ever seen. Aboriginal being transferred from one area to another used to be locked up in it. |
The last day of the week was probably the busiest. It started off when we packed up and left Fitzroy Crossing, for Geikie Gorge. (Pronounced Geeky...Mum.) There, we waited for the next river cruise. When the boat came, we hopped on board and started to go down the Geikie River. We had a SC/M (Sighted Croc per Minute) of at least one. We saw birds’ nests that hung upside-down on ridges that were on the sides of the gorge’s walls. The owners of these peculiar nests were Fairy Martins, although they nests were directly above the water, they were safe from predators such as Geckos. After the Geikie Gorge tour, we drove to Tunnel Creek where Dad, Ali and I walked through freezing water in a pitch black tunnel. All we had out for light was Alistair’s unreliable red AAA battery torch that hasn’t had it’s batteries changed for ages. We came to a place in the tunnel where natural light came in. With the light, we saw millions of bats on the roof, although we wouldn’t have needed light to know about their presence. There was a strong smell of bat poo. After visiting the bats, we kept on going through the cave. I found that just after the bats, there was a warm spot in the cave. I decided to make sure on the way back that I wasn’t imagining things. Finally, we reached the end of the creek – and then we went back. I checked out the supposed warm spot again and it was definitely warmer. I wished that it wasn’t so dark in the warm spot or else it would be an excellent swimming spot. When we got out of the cave, Dad and Ali went back through, this time, with the camera. After Dad and Ali came back, we drove to the Windjana Gorge camping ground. That is where we stayed on our last night of week 14 on our Journey Around Australia. Cameron |
