Broome

It’s hot here. In fact, the first night we were here Broome broke some record for the highest minimum temperature on that date. We had a restless night under our fan operating at its maximum but still not quite powerful enough to provide much respite from the 35 degrees. But we were compensated by the smell of jasmine that truly hung heavy in the air.

Broome was established in the late 1800s as the site of a substantial and lucrative pearling industry. Yesterday we had an hour long tour through a small pearling museum and learned the history of the trade and the techniques for gathering up the tons and tons of oyster shells that came from this region. The main product was Mother of Pearl which was in high demand for buttons and other fashion accessories. The pearls themselves were rare and highly sought after. There was much about the story that reminded me of the boom days of whaling on Herschel Island and the Klondike gold rush. The museum was full of old copper diving helmets and the other pieces of gear required to sink an inflated suit to the bottom of the ocean. Each boot alone weighed 22 pounds. The development of plastic buttons, World War 2 that saw all the Japanese divers interned, and the establishment of the cultured pearl industry lead to the decline of the trade and its eventual end in the 1970s. But the town still revolves around pearls in the same way Dawson and Skagway still prosper on gold. The streets are full of shops selling pearl jewellery of every description, supplied by the area’s many oyster farms that have replaced the luggers and divers.

Tonight we went to a movie at the “World’s Oldest Operating Picture Garden”. Ninety years of outdoor cinema. Sitting under the stars we watched geckos crawl across the 20 by 40 foot screen adding wriggling black blotches to the actors’ faces. It was hilarious.

Tomorrow morning we pick up our rental Toyota 4WD Land Cruiser. It’s a diesel and comes with some camping gear and snorkel attached to the engine’s air intake in case we have to cross any flooded rivers. We’ve been warned not to wade across the rivers first in order to check out the depth due to possibility of lurking crocodiles. We will be heading east along the Northern Highway as far as Kununurra. This is the paved road that goes all the way to Darwin. At Kununurra we turn around and head back to Broome along the Gibb River Road. The Gibb is an unpaved 4 wheel-drive track that cuts through the centre of the Kimberleys. We’ve rented our vehicle for 12 days and plan to camp in national parks and at some of the huge cattle stations that welcome visitors.

We’ll be back in Broome on May 5. Not sure what the internet connections will be like until then but I’ll try to report back as we travel along if I can.

Photos from Broome

Broome

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Tropical Queensland- it hits you as soon as you step outside the airplane. Lush sticky heat. Dense green.

Our hostel was called Travellers Oasis and it was fabulous. Our room had a balcony overlooking a quiet residential street. Sitting out there at the end of the day, we were able to watch the flying foxes begin their evening forays for food. These bats have a wing span of over 2 feet so were very dramatic to track against the sunset. We’ve always preferred hostels over hotels because we can prepare meals; eating out regularly soon loses its charm and is far too expensive, especially in Australia. In addition, wandering the aisles of foreign grocery stores is inevitably an intriguing and curious cross-cultural experience.

We were here in 1997 when we spent 10 weeks in Australia with the kids. The Great Barrier Reef was a highlight of that trip so we decided to return to the site of some of our best snorkelling ever. We booked two one-day snorkelling/ diving tours to the outer reef – one out of Cairns and one further to the north out of Port Douglas. Both of the boats we were on were very fast catamarans that still took an hour and a half to reach the first dive site, 35 km off shore. The further out you go the clearer the water and the bigger the fish. On both days we stopped for an hour to an hour and a half at each of three different reefs.

Our snorkelling experiences were fabulous. We had to wear full lycra body suits to protect against the small blue bottle jellyfish that were in abundance. I did wind up getting a nasty sting on the back of my arm from another type of jelly fish that left me with welts for two days. It would have been much worse without the suit. The water was wonderfully warm at 28 Celsius. But the sea was very rough and we were tossed around quite a bit. The water is shallow over the reef so snorkelers can get up close to the diverse and abundant species of fish, coral and other marine life. We rented an underwater camera for our second trip out and had lots of fun trying to photograph everything in sight.

I decided to do an introductory dive on the first day. (Barney can’t dive because of his asthma. It’s very mild but it’s still a no go.) I had done one dive over 20 years ago. My nervousness was a real challenge then and proved to be again. I don’t know what there is to be nervous about. I’m a good swimmer and not afraid of sea creatures, but still the idea of being underwater has always made me squirm. But the exhaustive pre-dive briefing and surface training I received made me confident that I was in good hands. The three other beginner divers in my group were 20-somethings from China who spoke marginal English but thankfully did well with the underwater hand signals. The dive lasted over half an hour and we went to a depth of 9 metres. I was childishly thrilled when my instructor told me I did very well. I also knew Brodie (currently in Honduras doing her Master Divers certification) would be delighted that I had succeeded.

Four nights in Cairns and we were sadly but excitedly off again. Changing planes in Darwin we heard several announcements for Air North flights. We’re now in Broome in the northern part of Western Australia getting ready for our 12-day trip into the outback of the Kimberleys.

Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef

Barney, Bryan and Vince go fishing

Two days of fishing off Hinchinbrook Island (south of Cairns) with a fishing guide in a small boat on the ocean and among the mangroves. They caught:

Golden grunter (Javelin fish)
Fingermark (Spotted scale sea perch)
Barramundi
Threadfin salmon
Forktail catfish
Banded sea snake
Shovelnose shark
Hammerhead shark
Wirra (Rock cod)
Bull shark

All sharks and the sea snake were carefully released unharmed! All the rest were flash frozen and returned to Sydney for some later feasting. They were VERY HAPPY fishermen.

Click through the pictures...

Barney's fishing trip

A few more days in Sydney

The day after we got back from Point Plomer was Doug’s 14th birthday, so we all piled into the car again for the hour’s drive to southern Sydney where Bryan’s parents live. Bryan’s sister Leslie and her family were also there for the celebrations. The drive takes us past Botany Bay, its historic name flashing past on a road sign identifying the surrounding suburb. Vince (Bryan’s Dad) had lamb roasting on the back yard grill which we added to a healthy heap of prawns and a chocolate birthday cake for lunch.

We had a full day at the zoo with Emily and Jacquie on Monday. The place was packed due to school holidays but in the spacious tropical layout it never felt overly crowded. The zoo was recently surprised by the arrival of a baby Asian elephant which arrived a day after the zoo’s vets had pronounced it dead in the womb. The baby is now three weeks old and a major attraction. It is awfully cute. Other major attractions for me were the pygmy hippos, the snow leopards, the koalas and all the unusual nocturnal Australian animals.

A lot of the following days were filled with deliberate semi-activity as Jacquie and I continued to talk non-stop. Barney and Bryan left on the Wednesday for their fishing trip in Queensland accompanied by Bryan’s Dad. Jacquie and I were able to escape one day on our own to The Rocks – the oldest part of Sydney and the site of the original settlement – by leaving her kids with her sister-in-law. We had lunch, went to the Sydney Contemporary Art Gallery and to the Rocks Museum.

Jacquie drove me to the airport on Saturday so that I could fly up to Cairns to meet Barney once his fishing trip was over. We have 4 nights in Cairns and then move on to Broome in the NW. We’ll be back in Sydney in 3 weeks for a further 3 days before heading to Malaysia. I’m so glad we’re returning. I’m not ready to say good-bye to my little sister.

Point Plomer

Our camping trip to Point Plomer was lovely. The 7 hour drive went quickly with Jacquie and I having the opportunity to talk uninterrupted the whole trip.

When we arrived at the campsite we were all a little disappointed by how crowded it was. It was the end of Easter weekend plus school holidays. There were no designated sites just campers, tents and boats packed together randomly over about 3 acres of grass adjacent to the beach. Barney found a narrow strip of grass at the far end of the campsite that we all inspected with some concern. It wasn’t long till Barney and Bryan, being the eternal optimists, gleefully proposed how we could set up the camper trailer on the small patch of sloping land. Jacquie and I grimaced sceptically. But we really didn’t have much choice in the location so we set about constructing our camp. Just before dark, the small day parking area between us and the beach cleared of cars and we suddenly realised that we had the best campsite in the place. An unobstructed view of the 2 km tawny-coloured beach lay just beyond our camp fire.

The next 5 days were filled with body surfing, swimming, sand castles, dolphins, bird watching, fishing, beach walking, sunset gin and tonics, card games, cooking on an open fire, and reading (yes !!!).

The weather was great except for one day of stormy winds that almost collapsed our entire camp.

Bryan got a permit to drive along a nearby beach so we headed off to explore it on the day it was a bit stormy. We were the only people on the entire 5 km beach. We stopped for a break about half way along so that Barney and Bryan could try some beach fishing. Casting into crashing surf seems an odd way to catch a fish but we’re told it is possible.

One night we headed out onto the beach after dark with high powered flashlights to find ghost crabs. These 2 inch long white crabs burrow under the sand and come out at night when you can spot them if you are really quick. We would locate one in the beam of the flashlight. Then everyone tries to catch it as it scuttles like a rocket randomly over the beach, accompanied by squeals of delight, giggles and the crashing of the waves in the black beyond.

Pictures - Point Plomer

Point Plomer, NSW

Pictures - Sydney

Sydney 1

click on the picture above to view the album

Where and when – our itinerary

This is where our travels will be taking us till mid-Aug:

Australia (NSW, Queensland and Western Australia) till May 10

May 10 to Malaysia – mostly Borneo, till June 4, followed by 4 day visit with Dena in Bangkok.

June 8 – fly from Bangkok to Tashkent (over the Himalayas!!!)

June 10 – start of our 30-day tour of Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Western China) http://www.peregrineadventures.com/China-and-Central-Asia/Trip/Overview.html?trip=Secrets%20of%20Central%20Asia&tripid=3441&bhcp=1

July 9 to 18 – lost in the heart of Asia

July 18 to Aug 5 –Mongolia camping trip http://www.imaginative-traveller.com/trips/aamw

Aug 7 – Beijing

Aug 10 – fly to Vancouver

Settling in

Neighbourhood friends of Jacquie have offered us the use of an apartment on the ground floor of their house, only a short walk down the road. It has been a perfect place to recover from our jet lag and retreat from the bustle of Jacquie's house. It's quite a big place with a lovely patio that backs onto a bird sanctuary. The squawks, screeches, caws, tweets and whistles at sun rise are wonderful to wake up to. The continuous calls of the kookaburras always remind me of Tarzan movies.

The day after we arrived (Easter Friday) we went to Dee Why Beach about a 15 minute drive from Jacquie's house. We just stayed for an hour which was enough for our pathetically pale legs and feet.

On Saturday Jacquie, Ben (12), Emily (9) and I went to the Sydney Easter Show. It's the Australian equivalent of the CNE/ PNE combined with the Royal Winter Fair. Of course, the place was packed. Easily twice as many people as in Whitehorse. We saw the 'world's tallest horse' that measures 20 hands 2 inches – that's 82 inches – to his back. Definitely a very big horse. It was fun to be with kids who experienced the whole outing with much excitement and enthusiasm. We survived a full 6 hours of games and agricultural displays before heading home. As a group we agreed that the day's highlight was petting the alpacas. I only saw one Aborigine all day.

Bryan, Barney and Doug spent the day preparing for our camping trip that starts on Monday. We have had a change of plans. Instead of heading west, we are now going north. It's a little less demanding and the forecast is better for the coast than the interior. Bryan has rented a tent trailer to tow behind his land cruiser. We will follow along in Jacquie's car. We'll only be away from Sydney for 5 nights dividing our time between Point Plomer and Crowdy Bay National Park.

We are going to Bryan's parent's house for Easter Sunday dinner. We first met Vince and Gwyn when they came to Canada for Bryan and Jacquie's' wedding in 1993. They visited us in the Yukon several years ago. Gwyn is a Canadian, married to an Australian – just like Jacquie. Bryan's sister and family will be there as well.

We head out at 6AM tomorrow (Easter Monday). I'll report back next weekend.

No March 31

As a consultant, March 31 is the most stress-inducing date of my work year. It is the fiscal year end for all the government agencies that I usually work for so everything is due all at once. But this year things are a bit different. Not only did I have to get all my work finished up 'early' to be ready for our departure, our flight to Australia took us across the International Date Line so we lost a day. Depart Vancouver March 30 – arrive Sydney April 1. No March 31 for me this year!

The flight to Sydney was smooth and surprisingly quick – considering it was 15 ½ hours. Eat, movie, sleep, movie, eat, arrive. Simple. My sister Jacquie and niece Emily met us at the airport. The drive through the city took us over the Sydney Bridge, past the Opera House and multiple small harbours full of neatly positioned sail boats. Sydney is much like Vancouver – a city build up around an extensive network of coves and inlets – only tropical.

Bryan, Ben and Douglas waited for our arrival. (Family take note -Doug is now taller that Bryan). Sitting on the deck at Jacquie's house we watched sulphur-crested cockatoos and lorikeets circle the neighbourhood. A warm night in a lush a garden with a few bottles of Australian wine.