It was an uneventful ride back home from our holiday camp site at Ballina. We have stayed in cabins before and to my way of thinking it makes a lot of sense to book a cabin for a couple of nights than to go to the expense of owning, outfitting and towing a caravan and then have to find some place to stow the van in the months that it is not used. We have stayed in a few different caravan park cabins and were only unhappy about one - and that was because of all the cockroaches that came out when the lights went out - we ended up keeping the lights on all night! Ugh!
We had a great "welcome home" and almost immediately my son arrived and he and Colin started to put up the camper trailer in the back yard - teenage granddaughter and friends were going to have a birthday camp-out.

This event had been planned for her birthday in May but it happened to rain and spoil the fun. So today is not really Taylah's birthday but she and eight other girls are going to have a sleepless night tonight safe in our back yard!

Pizza and lollies and a cheesecake have been devoured and I am sure they are all hyped up with coca-cola too! They have had a camp fire - which has now burned down to a little glow and they are all cosy inside the big tent - we put a sealed electric/oil radiator in with them because the nights are so cold (and because this sort of heater cannot cause a fire).

Here Colin and Taylah's little sister are helping to get the trailer ready for the night.
It will be interesting in the morning to see how tired the girls are! I wonder how many ghost stories will be told!
AJ

A holiday for Colin

I'm on the move again! This time my trip is to a caravan park only a half day's drive from home. I felt so guilty about having a trip without my husband that I organised a week where we could holiday together. The trouble is, I enjoy going away and seeing and doing new things but hubby would far rather stay home and “potter”!

So we are at South Balina but before we picked up the key to our “superior cabin” we called in to the town of Ballina and walked along a path beside the sea.

At this stage Colin looked happy – he had spotted whales spouting way out to sea and the sun was warm on this mid winter day.

New concrete boulders had been added to the sea wall – we learned this when Colin stopped a local and asked about the white things that we could see out there.

I was busy taking photos of the banksia flowers, the blossoms are at their best at this time of the year, A noisy miner was enjoying the nectar from one of the heads of flowers (each of those thin whiskers is an individual flower) so I just had to include his picture!

We had seen a sign post to the lighthouse and our beach-side walk took us right to it. What a little lighthouse! With all the trees on the beach front and around the lawns of the lighthouse, it s a wonder that the light can be seen by any ships! My photo shows the only clear view of the sea that the lighthouse has.

To reach the place where we are staying tonight and for the next few days, we could either drive a long way before we could reach a bridge over the Richmond River or we could put the car on the ferry. Since I was the driver, I chose the ferry!

Here it is coming in to the Ballina side of the river.

And here is my smart little red road racer, enjoying a cruise on the river!

Once we had unpacked the car and boiled the kettle for a “cuppa” Colin was ready to sit down and relax – but I wanted to go for a walk. That worked! I took my camera and off I went!

I wont bore you with the pictures I took – I like them but they are just plants and trees and river and trawlers sailing out at sunset and that sort of thing. But I will show you This one.

I spotted these tiny flowers and they seemed to have little faces on them. They even look as if they two of them are blowing bubbles!

I was hoping that I would be treated to a spectacular sunset and sat myself down on the river bank and waited – but the clouds fizzled out and it was becoming very evident that all that would happen would be a glow. Realising that I might end up having to walk back along a gravel road in the dark I gave up waiting for the sunset and headed back towards the caravan park. Passing a boat ramp I was thrilled to realise I would get my photograph after all. This is what I captured.

Colin was just beginning to be concerned about my whereabouts when I walked through the door. Then it was time to prepare the evening meal – and the time when I realised that I had forgotten to bring a few essential things that we really needed for cooking! Sigh! Looks like we go shopping tomorrow before we go exploring – or maybe we can do it the other way around!

A Sweep of Broome

The town in which we were staying yesterday (Sorry I was far too tired to write about the day last night), grew around the harvesting of pearl shell. When I showed the picture of the Prison Tree I told of the blackbirding of Aborigines to dive for pearl, well here is the place it all happened. Broome. To begin with the shell was found close to the shore in a few feet of water and diving was done simply by holding breath. No diving equipment was needed. Never the less hundreds of aborigines would have drowned as a result of being made to spend so much time beneath the surface. Then divers came from Japan – maybe they had done a similar job before they came here? Anyway, the shell was by this time in deeper water and the Japanese divers had to go much further down and so they had to endure the problems associated with deep diving. Hundreds of Japanese died (men, women and even children) and their sad resting place in the Japanese Cemetery is a lasting reminder of those dangerous times

There is no such reminder of the hundreds of aborigines that perished. In those early (bad) times, the native people were not valued very highly. Just outside the Japanese Cemetery we watched a trail of caterpillars marching along and maybe the little creatures are all the reminder we need.

There are some very scenic places close to Broome and Gantheaume Point is one of them. The rock formations are shaped by the weather and are a perfect subject for a camera. Our little group did not spend too long there but they managed to take enough photographs to fill a photo album!

My own camera was working over time too. When you are there each turn of the head give a new and entiving image of thes rocks and the aqua sea behind them. However when clicking through the photos to see what I had collected, so many of them looked identical! I will be hiding many of them!

You cannot come to Broome and not learn something about the pearling industry. Our next group activity was to attend what is known as “pearling tour” which was in truth, a lecture on the story of the pearling industry while we all sat on wooden church pews in a little tin and timber shed. It wasn't oyster pearls that was harvested but mother of pearl fot buttons.

After the second world war the market had about dried up for pearl shell because of the cheaper option, plastic buttons. So the pearling direction was changed to seeding the pearl shells and growing pearls for jewelry.

This is still done today and the magnificen Paspaley Pearls come from Broome.

In the afternoon, along with seven others from our group of 17, I clambered aboard a little 'plane and flew up the coast to see the wonderful phenomenum known as the “Horizontal Waterfalls” and then on to Cape Leveque where we were given afternoon tea and time to walk around the sand dunes.

But I want to show you a photograph (only one!) of the wonderful waterfall that happens each time the tide changes and the water levels on either side of a promontory of land try to equalise. The small plane - I was in one that carried five passengers – circled the falls several times, going first clockwise and then anti-clockwise so we all had a chance to see the falls and take photographs.

Sunday, Firie (my son and our coach driver) and I spent the entire day driving from Broome to Kunanurra – 1060 kilometers. We are at this moment relaxing in readiness for another big drive from here to Darwin – 830klm - where we shall board a 'plane after midnight that will take us to Brisbane. The trains will be running when we arrive so we shall then travel by train the one and half hours to Nerang where hopefully we shall be met and driven home! The end of a fabulous holiday.

AJ

Outback riders

The day started at Fitzroy Crossing where we had breakfast and a walk to the bridge over the river before our next adventures began. I am not sure if the bridge is actually the “Fitzroy Crossing”but I couldn't resist taking a shot of it!

It was a fairly long drive before our first stop so I was able to make good use of my 7” tablet, feading an ebook and playing games to pass the time. The scenery was pretty much the same for two hours of driving, so looking out of the window would have put me to sleep! When we did pull over it was to see something quite amazing. A tree!

Mind you there is something really special about this tree! It has a very unpleasant history of inhumanity. Fortuately the behaviour that happened is well in the past and certainly belongs there. Aboriginal men and boys were kidnapped and put in chains and walked to the coast where they were forced to be divers in the pearling industry. On their way to the coast the men were stopped at this tree and the chains were attached to it to prevent these helpless black captives from escaping. Aboriginal people were treated like animals in the early days of Australia. Something we are not proud of.

Only a very short distance from the Boab that is known as “The Prison Tree” is the most incredible water trough I have ever seen, It was used in the days of droving when cattle were moved to the sale yards under their own steam (leg power) driven by stockmen on horseback over huge distances. We were told that this was the largest water trough in the world at 120 meters.

Daffy, the little bear who travels for all sick people who are too unwell to leave home, posed prettily on the trough for a photograph. My second picture of the trough shows our intrepid coach driver and guide, Firie, and our super chariot which has taken us from one magic location to another.

I just can't keep this little bear from showing off! He climbed a termite nest to show how large it was!

Lunch as a little different today. We made our way to Derby where we stopped right on the edge of the water and bought fish and chips to eat under a shelter on the sea side! It was fun!

Our final destination for today was Broome. Before we went to our hotel accommodation we were taken to the beach where two thirds of thegroup took a chance with a beast of burden that has become a pest in the outback. We had fun taking a camel ride!

So here we are, happy, fed and sleepy after another fabulous day. We may not be able to stand upright or walk tomorrow but we shall all laugh about our aches!

AJ

Are diamonds a girl's best friend?

Today out tour group was treated to a very special conducted tour around the Kimberley's famous “Argyle Diamond Mine” from where the most precious of all diamonds come; that diamond being the pink diamond. Although we were travelling in our coach with a guide from the mine, we still had to go through all the security procedures that every visitor to the mine has to do. We were told that on no account were we to pick up anything from the ground, if we dropped anything we were to ask our guide to retrieve it. If we picked anything up from the ground we would have to undergo a search to ensure that we had not picked up a diamond as well as the object we had dropped.

Our tour started in the gallery where diamonds of different sizes were on display as well as illustrated descriptions that told how diamonds came to be formed and how the mine had changed from being open cut to an underground mine.

This first photograph shows the two largest diamonds ever found at the Argyle mine. They are still in the raw – uncut – state so they are not glittery and light reflective as are facetted diamonds.

This next photograph is of a display that showed the different graded sizes and the variety of colours that are found. Most of the diamonds are industrial grade diamonds that are used on saws and sandpapers. Only a small percentage are flawless and top gem quality but these are the ones that bring in the most money, of course.

Included in the price of the mine tour was lunch at the Agyle Village. The Argyle Village is where the people who work in the mine, live while they are here. The huge dining room was set out with tables and there was a beautiful cold, buffet lunch set out for us to help ourselves.

There was no one but our group in the dining room for lunch – the mine workers have their lunch over in a canteen at the mine and only use this dining room for breakfast and for the evening dinner.

It was a delicious lunch and the coffee was so good!

Once we had eaten we were then taken out to the open cut mine where the whole diamond mining operation first started. The pit was huge – but standing on the edge and looking over it made the hole look so much smaller than it really was. There were no vehicles moving around in it to give scale. Operations in the open cut area had to stop because the sides of the mine became so unstable that it was dangerous. There are a few very visible landslips where the contouring has collapsed. You may be able to see a couple of the large slips on the left hand side of this photograph.

We were taken (in the coach) under the equipment that crushes and separates the diamonds from the host rock, there were conveyor belts and huge tumblers and pipes that made us feel like midgets! It was all very impressive and very interesting. However! Although the pink diamond is the most expensive diamond and although there are several other colours of diamonds I personally feel that a diamond is identifiable as a diamond when it is white! I would confuse a “champagne” diamond with a citrine and a pale blue with a blue topaz! That shows my ignorance!

There was much chatter in the coach after our mine visit but we had something else to think about when we stopped at a road house to have a drink and an opportunity to stretch our legs. All around the perimeter of the parking area there were large stones, many of which had interesting paintings on them. These ones are easily recognizable as Australian animals, crocodile, wallaby and emu.

This second picture is not so obvious – unless, like us, you had taken a ride in a small plane to look down on the strange striped mounds that are calle the Bungle Bungles.

This evening we are staying at Halls Creek but we shall be packing our bags into the coach after we have eaten breakfast so we will not be staying here for very long. This has been another wonderful day! Certainly had no time to be bored!

AJ

Over the Bungles

Today was a very special day. We started by watching as the light first started to hit the night sky while we waited to board the coach at 5.15am.

Out in front of our very smart hotel is a row of very dramatic Boab trees and they were perfect for my early morning photo! After checking in at the little Slingair terminal and subjecting ourselves to being weighed we trouped out to the planes we had been allocated to.

According to the weight of each passenger we were arranged inside the plane and off we went. This was a trip that has been oh-so-high on my “bucket list” that I was almost trembling with excitement! I heard about the flight over the Bungle Bungles many years ago and never thought that I would ever get the chance to do it myself and yet here I was, along with ten others in this little plane, actually flying over the Kimberley outback. The Bungle Bungles are a long way (even by air) from Kununnurra so our flight took us over some glorious scenery. The pilot gave an excellent description of the places we flew over and I learned a lot about Lake Argyle and how the irrigation was managed and I also managed to take dozens of photographs (200 +) as well as video. Of course the absolute highlight was when we eventually reached the Bungle Bungles and I could see them for myself. I can hardly wait to put the video together properly!

Before the flight finished we flew over the impressive Argyle Diamond Mine in which the best pink diamonds in the world are found. Of course from where we were the hole in the ground did not look to be very large!

The flight over we had a look through a couple of Argyle diamond selling jewellery shops and drooled over the beauty of the stones and gasped at the price tags. Then hopped back into the coach to see a much humbler rock which is also found here in the Kimberleys. Zebra Rock.

The price tag is much less than the price tag on the diamonds but Zebra rock is actually quite rare and it only found in one small area on the edge of Lake Argyle and then only when the water level is really low!

Down in the waters of the river at the place where we viewed the Zebra Rock was a jetty from which to feed the fish. What fun! The cat fish were HUGE and they certainly were keen on bread. That was great to watch, the fish almost climbed over each other to be the ones to get the bread!

Our final visit was to Wyndham where the coach first climbed up to the top of a rise to a lookout from where we could see the five Rivers and the port of Wyndham. The trucks moving iron ore down below looked like tiny toys. We drove down from our perch and visited Wyndham which is only a small town – but it had a unique attraction. I believe it is the largest crocodile in the world!

Apparently it was made by students at Halls Creek TAFE college from mesh and concrete. It is really impressive!

AJ

Crossing Borders

Cases were packed and rooms checked to see that nothing was left behind and our happy band of coach travellers left the city of Katherine to head West to where the sun sets. Our base for the next three nights will be Kununurra which is in the Kimberley Region.

Our first morning stop was Victoria River, just a service station where we could take a short break and grab a cold drink. I found it so beautiful that I declared that I wanted to come back – and other voices in the group agreed with me. The scenery is just stunning.

This shot was taken of our coach parked at the service station.

Boab trees are found up here and try as I might I could not get a decent shot of one as we were whizzing along the highway so it was with some relief that I found a rather puny one when we were parked! I must try and take a shot of a decent sized one!

When we reached the border between the Northern Territory and Western Australia we pulled up so that we could all take a photo of the sign!

Firie, our driver, told us that he expected his passengers to push the bus over the border 'cos it was a tradition. He was only teasing! Only a few metres from the Border sign was an inspection bay were we had to pull over and declare any fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and honey.

The best part of the day (every bit of the day was the best part!!) Was what followed. After driving over the dam wall of the Argyle Dam we descended to the banks of the Ord River.

The coach pulled up right at the edge of the bank and our high speed motor boat transport pulled in alongside.

Sometimes we flew like the wind and at other times crept silently on the current but ever second of our four hour trip was exciting. We learned all about the uses and control of the waters from the Argyle Dam, we spotted fresh water crocs, unusual birds that tiptoed on tiny water weeds, a large Jabiru (black and white stork) and the most glorious scenery I have ever seen before.

I complained to one of the other passengers as we were leaving the cruise that my camera was twice as heavy after taking so many photographs! The trip ended after sunset so we drifted along as the sky changed colour and magic happened on the rippling water.

Absolutely exhausted from our wonderful experience we were a quiet bunch of people as we were shuttled to our very posh hotel. A hot shower revived us and we all managed to enjoy a fabulous feast in the large restaurant. We are so lucky – we are staying in the Pinctada Kimberley Grande, what a super place for a coach tour! We feel like royalty!

AJ