Denise and Barry's Caravan Travels: June 23, 2013

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Broome

We left Derby last Sunday and had an uneventful drive west to Broome arriving at the Broom Caravan Park in time for lunch. Once we had set up and had our lunch we went for a drive into town, as it was a Sunday the main st was very quiet, not a lot happens on a Sunday. Next for our first glimpse of the famous Cable Beach with it's beautiful white sand and aqua blue water. The beach was scattered with colourful umbrellas, people sun baking & swimmers. A notice at the walkway leading to the beach advised that the water temperature was 23 degrees, just nice to plunge into without feeling that chill factor. After the sights of Cable Beach we followed the road out to the lighthouse to the scenic cliffs at Gantheaume Point and then along to the Port.
Monday morning it was into a jewelry store next to the information centre to hear a talk from Marty on the history of the pearling industry in Broome & the Kimberley Coast. It was a very informative 1.5hr presentation starting with the history of pearls, how they form in oysters, and how cultured pearls are generally cultivated, harvested and processed for the market. We then had a lovely long lunch with Grant, a friend from Tassie who is currently here in Broome for a few months. Grant has been organising a memorial plaque and getting approval for it's placement as a remembrance of his son Adam, who was killed in a light plane crash on Cable Beach 12 months ago, family and friends will be here in Broome for the anniversary on the 11th July. We had just left Grant when we run into Riki and John whom we had met in Darwin and had spent some time with along the way, so then it was into the nearest pub for a nice cold beer and catch up. Finally we were back at the van to pack our chairs and drinks, as we had arranged to meet Grant & Claire at Roebuck Bay to view the natural phenomenon of the Staircase to the Moon. This occurs when the full moon rises over the exposed mudflats of Roebuck Bay at low tide, creating the optical illusion of a staircase leading up to the moon. Town Beach and the Staircase to the Moon is much like the Mindle Beach Sunset Market in Darwin, with it many food stalls, craft stalls & music. It was a truly magical time watching the very large moon rising over the horizon with hundreds of people gathered to share the experience.
Very humid today, the forecast is for rain later in the day which put a dampener on our plans to ride the Camels along Cable Beach and then have a BBQ with Grant and Claire on the beach & watch the sunset. There is beach access for vehicles to the north side of Cable Beach which is also the Nudist area, will have to leave this experience to when we return in a couple of weeks with Jason, Anita and Olivia.

Cable Beach

Gantheaume
Point

swimming pool Broome Caravan Park

Stairway to the Moon

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Derby

Thursday morning we left Fitzroy Crossing for the 2hr trip to Derby, we stopped for a short break at the Boab rest area that had a very impressive Boab tree. The tree had a very large opening near the base that Bazz was even able to climb into, I did not mistake him for a gnome!
Derby has a population of little over 3,000, with about half being of Aboriginal descent. It is the closest town to the Gibb River Rd and is a popular stop over for off road travellers that have either just completed or about to partake in their adventure along the unpaved 4wd road. Derby is also the ideal location to experience the Horizontal Water Falls in Talbot Bay and The Archipelago as it is only 35 minutes by plane.
Since we have been here we have taken in a couple of the popular sites, the first being the Jetty/Wharf which is a very popular place to view the stunning sunsets over King Sound also for fishing. About 7klm from the town is the Prison Boab tree, it is a huge tree believed to be around 1,500 yrs old and has a girth of 14.7 metres. It was used as staging point for prisoners being walked into Derby in the early days.
Today we had an early start as we were being picked up the caravan park at 8.15am and taken to the local airport for our next bucket list adventure to the Horizontal Falls. Bazz is doing a wonderful job as he has been outside his comfort zone a number of times this trip! It was a 14 seat prop jet seaplane that we boarded for the flight that took us over immense tidal flats & islands of The Archipeago before a very smooth landing on the calm waters of Talbot Bay. Upon arrival at the luxury houseboat pontoon we boarded a the boat with three 300 horse power motors that took us numerous times through the falls. These falls occur because of the extreme tide movements and the large volume of water that builds up because it cannot move quick enough through the small openings. After this exhilarating experience it was back to the pontoon for a swim in the shark cage for one of us, but I must agree with Bazz that you had a better view of the sharks & a very large groper from the pontoon than down in the cage. The groper has very good sight now, as we were speaking with someone from yesterdays trip and a women was bending down and her prescription sunglasses fell in the water and were quickly snaveled up by George the groper. The rest of the day was spent touring around surrounding bays and creeks with a lovely lunch of BBQ Barramundi, and more boat rides through the falls, so that you had the experience of outgoing, slack and incoming tides. All too soon it was time to board the seaplane again, must say there is not a lot of room in these little planes! Airborne once again the return flight was a different route taking in more of the beautiful islands of the Buccaneer Achipelago. If the tour was not so expensive we would do it all over again! Great day, can recommended this one it was really worth the money.