Australia – Page 51

Broome …

The Kimberley adventure brought us finally back to Broome. We finished the trip at the Broome Bird Observatory.

One of the trio still needed a few mangrove birds for his Aussie list and Little Crab Creek, not far from the observatory, would be the place to find them. A tour of Broome including the Port, the playing fields and the sewage works is birding heaven. Add the proximity of Roebuck Bay, which even over winter holds a wonderful trove of migratory waders, Pindan woodland and open plains and a hundred species in a day can be seen with relative ease. I gave a guarantee that I would deliver the White-breasted Whistler and the Dusky Gerygone.

The first morning saw us in the mangroves beating off the mozzies. The whistler duly surrendered and what’s more, the first one to parade for us was a beautiful male, usually much harder to find than the drabber females and young males. But no Dusky Gerygone. Then off to Nimilaica, Barred Creek and back up the Derby Road to Taylor’s lagoon. A great day, some great birds but …

Dawn of day two and we were back in the mangroves, swatting the mozzies, ignoring the White-breasted Whistler, the Broad-billed Flycatchers, Yellow White-eyes, Mangrove Grey Fantails, Sacred Kingfishers, Brahminy Kites and the rest, reputation is at stake, I have never dipped on the gerygone, ever.

The Dusky Gerygone is found only in the mangroves from about Broome, south west along the WA coast to about Shark Bay. Gerygones are little birds, often grey or brown or greyish-brown, distinguished by subtleties of eyebrow or tail tip, and amongst all these the Dusky is distinguished by its lack of distinction, no contrasting tail tip, the subtlest of eyebrows. The clinching detail is the pale iris! You need a good look.

My colleague slapped another mozzie, I distinctly heard him muttering about trusting me instead of trying Streeter’s Jetty. Everybody gets them at Streeter’s Jetty.

A Yellow White-eye peeked out …

Dime a dozen. Mangrove Golden Whistlers are much harder to find, I doubt that one has ever been dismissed as lightly as this one …

More muttering, then …

Reputation rescued.

Geological diversions …

After leaving the Bungles our first stop was the frontier town of Halls Creek where we bought some light beer and groceries.

Then it was off to China Wall which is about 6km away via the Duncan Highway.

The more resistant quartz has weathered out of the softer surrounding rock to produce a miniature version of the Great Wall of China. It snakes through the country for several kilometres.

Maintaining the geological theme we then headed 150 km down the Tanamai to the Wolfe Creek Crater.

Some time in the Pleistocene 50,000 tonnes worth of meteorite came to visit. It’s about 875 metres in diameter and 60 metres from the present crater floor to the rim.

As fascinating as these landforms are our motives were not entirely geological. The creek at China Wall is a known drinking spot for Painted Finch, which sadly we did not see, and one of our number had not seen Grey-fronted Honeyeater which we hoped to find on the Tanamai, and in that we were successful.

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The Bungle Bungles …

After leaving Home Valley it wasn’t long before our wheels hit the bitumen. I’m sure all four of them were very relieved but for the us on board it signalled a hiatus in the adventure. Straight ahead would have taken us to Kununurra but that held no attraction for us. We turned right onto the Great Northern Highway. The scenery is impressive but the country is drier than along the Gibb River Road. A couple of hours later we turned left to head for the Bungle Bungles in Purnululu National Park.

The park is open between April and December 15 provided the weather permits. The road in is moderately rugged. There are a few river crossings along its 50 km. It is not suitable for two wheel drive vehicles or caravans.The longtitudinal chassis members on this camper had fractured …

Had they made it in they would have had two camping areas to choose from, the one to the south (Walardi) is closer to the more spectacular beehive formations, the larger northern site (Kurrajong) is handy for the Echidna Chasm. The distance between the camps is not great. Either could serve as a base for both areas.

The Bungles are not only hard on camper vans, this is a place where you could easily wear out your camera …

The distinctive beehive-shaped towers of the Bungle Bungles are made up of sandstones and conglomerates that were deposited into the Ord Basin 375 to 350 million years ago. Uplift and erosion in more recent times (the last 20 million years) have produced what we see today. The horizontal bands are alternating layers that are more and less porous. Where the water penetrates algae can grow and produce a dark colour, the red bands are due to a covering of iron and manganese oxides.

There are short walks but for the more active let me recommend Whipsnake Gorge in the south and Echidna Chasm in the north. The light is best early and late, go extra early and beat the crowds. Carry water.

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Home Valley …

From Miner’s Pool we headed east again to Home Valley. This is one of two stations near the Wyndham end of the Gibb River Road, the other one being El Questro which is perhaps a bit more famous. Both have developed the tourist side of their operations.

On the way the road crosses a ridge and the impressive Cockburn Range is laid out in front of you. The Pentecost River runs at its foot and discharges into the West Arm of Cambridge Gulf.

Sadly, this is where Joseph Schwab, the Kimberley Killer, shot three of his five victims in 1987.

Once again we had an easy choice of camp site, the fully featured site at the homestead, with kids playground, pool, restaurant, shop and bar or bush camp on the river bank, please camp away from the water’s edge to reduce the risk of crocodile attack. We chose the crocs over the kids. And this was our reward …

We had watched a large Estuarine Crocodile slide into the water just before the photo was taken. We survived the night. The following morning we hiked one of the trails near the homestead and enjoyed a further reward in the form of a flock of Gouldian Finch.

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River crossing …

This is the King Edward River, the river that might have stopped us getting to the Mitchell Plateau.

It hadn’t rained for over a week by the time we got to see it. Nonetheless, the driver of this vehicle had a good look and walked the track his wheels would take before he went across.

In the 4WD videos river crossings are undertaken with a splash and a big surge of water. That’s the way to get a good spectacle. If you’re running on diesel with no snorkel your air intake is no higher than your headlight, water in the engine equals immediate failure, a time and money eating retrieval and expensive repairs. If you’re running on petrol your electrics are vulnerable. Especially when the bank is steep, go in nice and slowly, just as the vehicle starts to climb you smoothly increase the revs and ask it to lift you out.

If you are towing a camper trailer the change in angle is too much to ask of a simple ball hitch, especially when there is a rock or two that can have the car leaning one way and the trailer leaning the other. There are a number of devices that allow for extensive rotation in all three planes. I have used a Treg hitch without problems. It’s also worth having a look at the Hitchmaster.

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Flight …

We stayed a second night at Miner’s Pool in order to take an early morning flight over the Mitchell Plateau that we were originally intending to drive to.

Slingair operate flights from Drysdale River Station that follow a triangular path out to the mouth of the Prince Regent River then up the coast, over the Mitchell Falls and back over more of the million square acres of the station to the starting point. The plane they use is the Gippsland Airvan, made in Victoria, it is terrific for sight-seeing because of the high wing, large windows and seat arrangement. Well worth the cost …

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Drysdale …

Our original Kimberley itinerary provided for a visit to both the well-known sites for Black Grasswren, Bachsten Gorge and the Mitchell Plateau. We were a day late arriving at Bachsten, we were having so much fun there that we stayed a day longer than intended and we decided that the journey out should be taken at a more sedate pace than originally intended. We decided that the Mitchell Plateau would have to wait for another trip.

Our next stop was Drysdale River Station. There is a full facility camp site at the homestead, full of people. We camped two nights at Miner’s Pool, less than 5km away, where we had to share with just a couple of other parties.

It’s a beautiful spot, and we were pleased to find a couple of spectacular birds there, the Purple-crowned Fairywren and the Black-necked Stork. The Fairywren lives in waterside pandanus and the females are just as beautiful as the males, in their own understated way. The Storks are not particularly rare in tropical Australia but always great to see.

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Kimberley rock art …

If we share the stories of our country with gudia (whitefella), then they will have our country in their hearts as we do, and they will understand and love it, and never damage it.

David Bungal Mowaljarlai OAM (c.1926–1997).

Before leaving Bachsten Gorge we took the time to explore some of the sandstone outcrops and natural shelters. We followed in the footsteps of many people over many thousands of years. We were fortunate enough to find some paintings on the shelter walls. Just as Mr Mowaljarlai suspected we would, we admired and respected what we saw. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, a few examples …

And lastly a photo taken from within a rock shelter …

If you are interested in this art there is an excellent webpage <HERE>.

To continue the journey <HERE>.

Bachsten Falls …

With the Black Grasswren ticked our thoughts turned to the other attractions the neighbourhood had to offer.

In the Kimberley, sandstone plus water usually adds up to a gorge and in this instance an impressive waterfall. We first hiked down to the falls and had a look off, then climbed up to a vantage point from where we had a great view of the falls and pools from above. The great advantage of getting there early in the dry was that the scene was at its best.

And beauty, not only on the grand scale, but at every scale …

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Celebration …

The McGee Australian birdlist now stands at 715. It calls for a drink.

Buying take away alcohol poses a few problems for the traveller in the Northern two thirds of Australia. This is because some of the residents of this region have a major alcohol problem. If you are interested in the topic <THIS ARTICLE> is a good starting point. Just to complicate matters three different states have different rules and there are numerous local variations. So in Alice Springs, NT, you will not be able to buy take away alcohol before 2 pm, and you will have to ask for methylated spirits in the camping store, it ain’t on the shelves. In Mount Isa, Qld, your take out must go in your car, pedestrians may not buy alcohol to go. In Halls Creek, WA, the strongest you can buy is light beer. You cannot buy take away alcohol along the Gibb river Road full stop.

Having stocked up on just enough to see you through your journey you may reach the boundary of an area where alcohol is banned completely. Penalties for breaching the rules vary from state to state but are severe, fines of $30,000+, seizure of vehicle or boat and prison are all on the cards.

Fortunately McGee was well provided for. Indeed, earlier at Mt. Barnett whilst buying diesel, there had been a few cans and a bottle of wine in plain sight on the back seat. A rather attractive lady asked me, “Would you trade alcohol for sex?”

Even though I had sufficient I couldn’t resist asking, “What sort of alcohol are you offering?”

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