Aira and Kit's Kimberley Adventures

 Today was a lazy day where I stayed in the boat while Kit went fishing again, and some others went crabbing. The day has been so still, beautiful reflection on the water. This BFC ( big friendly crocodile) stalked us and stared at us for ages. Apparently about 10 ft long.  Then we had a visit from the albino tiger shark, who was also very curious. Maybe the bait from the fishing boats enticed it and it was hoping for something more substantial. I don’t normally post photos of food, but lunch was special - the snapper that we caught yesterday!! Some of the people put down crab nets and they caught a few large ones. It was oppressively hot and still all day,with a troubling haze that reminded us of bushfires. Anyway, all this was happening in Prince Regent Bay, and just before we left this afternoon, we went for a quick look for some Aboriginal rock paintings on some cliffs. Our able driver Bengineer took us on Homer and we finally found them. Quite impressive. And a seabird ju...

 We were taken on Homer, the runabout attached to Odyssey, out into Hanover Bay to spend a couple of hours fishing. We only used hand lines and pics are of all the fish we caught - snapper of varying sizes. Apparently we will eat En in the afternoon we cruised up the Prince Regent River to a couple of different- wait for it - waterfalls! First one was some cascades, then some people were dropped off to go on a walk to other waterfalls, but Kit and I didn’t go due to knees. We cruised down river in Homer instead and went to Cathedral Falls, in a small sort of amphitheater. The people were heading up the cliff face for the other walk. We went on to Cathedral Falls. And a crocodile. Baby one, Kit spotted it on the bank. You can just see it behind the small mangrove trunk.

 To say it’s spectacular doesn’t do it justice! We got there as the tide was going out and at first you just see a sort of ridge poking up out of the sea. As we got closer you could see runnels of water coming off in cascades, which continue all through low tide. The reef is dead flat and can only be seen at low tide. It is made of coral and no one is allowed to land on it to protect it. There were some interesting birds on it, best photo is of a beach stone curlew! Then we moved over to a sandbank that was uncovered by the tide. In the afternoon we went up a creek from Deception Bay to the Butterfly Gorge. Little challenging walking along, but Kit got to swim and go across to the cliffs on the other side where there were some Aboriginal rock paintings. And then the tree with butterflies all over it. And a crocodile.

 This was the day to go to the Horizontal Falls. I just took photos of the entrance because I didn’t want to get the camera wet, but should have taken it anyway  - we didn’t get wet. Had to transfer to their special boat - like a jetboat but bigger and he didn’t quite do 360s.  I was wondering why Kimberleys had 9 metre tides. It has to do with the extent of the continental shelf around the north of Australia. On our east coast the shelf is only small, but up north it extends for 400 kms, so as the tide rises it has all those kms to increase in height before it hits land. New fact for me! So the Horizontal Falls occur because the tide comes in through very narrow cliff walls and a bank of water builds up and can’t go through the gap all at once. We went through the smaller falls, but no one is allowed to go through the big ones anymore-it’s only a 7 metre gap and the boat is 4 metres wide and clipped the edge one time. Besides which the Aboriginal people have claimed scar...

 We had gone around Cape Leveque and into the Buccaneer Archipelago during the night. First stop was Crocodile Creek in Yampi Sound, where we got to a pool but. Couldn’t swim there due to crocodiles, so we went up past the waterfall to a second creek which was great. To get to the top pool we had to go across the rocks to the right and around till we got to the waterfall, then clamber up the side of the waterfall and across it to the pool. Easy they said. Well yes, but knees did not help. Then coming back those rocks were pretty much covered because the tide was coming in. One thing that’s been common with both tours is that they don’t actually tell you how far or how hard the walks are. The walk might only be 500 metres long, but involves heavy clambering up steep slopes. So it’s a’short’ walk.  After Croc Creek we went to Silver Gull Creek, where there had been an old codger who had set up a pretty good campsite, with some ‘glamping’ type structures. His name was Phil, an en...

 So we were delayed by more than 2 hours, because of high winds which made it unsafe to board from the beach. In the interim, we got to have a pearl presentation which was very interesting.  Then this is the sight that greeted us as we embarked on the trip: Unfortunately Kit and I were both seasickness the first night. The boat had to go out into the open ocean that first night and it was rolling! Took travel sickness tabs too late, went to bed, slept like a log and woke in the morning feeling heaps more human and the seas were kinder because we were sort of sheltered by islands. Whew!

 Our departure on the cruise has been delayed by 2 hours because it was choppy in the harbour. We had already taken our seasickness tablets, so I hope it all settles down by the time we leave. Just some random pics while we’re waiting. A classic boab tree on the road opposite our bnb, a huge pink and white ‘abomination’, actually quite beautiful but a pest, and the driveway towards our bnb for the last few nights. (in the opposite order!)