Day 107: Wednesday Indee Station

We left Derby and travelled to Barn Hill Station where we caught up with Jim & Gail.  This station has a large ocean frontage which they have turned part of it into a caravan & camping ground albeit primitive which adds to the charm.  After setting up and having lunch we decided to have a swim, it was refreshing but unfortunately there were things in the water that were biting (not very nice). We had a walk along the beach to investigate the rock formations, they looked like crumbling castles from a distance, as the tide was going out the beach was covered with red jellyfish. 

the rocks look like they were carved, this could easilly be an eagle

the remains of an old castle

this could be an ancient pirate ship with a flag on the top mast

how many faces can you see in this one, it's a bit like Mt Rushmore in America

this rock was about 1 metre square and in high tide is under waterwhich has eroded some really nice patterns on it, it would make a great garden sculpture

The colours were amazing in the sunset @ Barn Hill station

Going

                                                 
                                                                                 Going

Gone

Mating time @ Sandfire Road House

and she's not interested

We took another 2 days to arrive at Indee Station which is where Lois & Graham spent 3 months helping out on the station when they travelled a few years back.

Colin & Betty are great hosts, very friendly. There is not a lot at Indee Station but they do have Red Rock Pools and aboriginal engravings which were great to see.

This is all around the homestead, they have dongas which are accomodation blocks, sheds and lots of vehicles (working and not)

These are whats left of the dongas they had after the cyclone in 2007 that hit Indee with one fatality

We had to walk up this hill the other day to finish an important phone call as signal drops out about 7.15 am and doesn't return until after 9.00pm. It was worth the walk up as the view was spectacular.

this chair is about half way up the hill

we made it

A close up of the damage

Nev contemplating the serenity

The geese enjoying a bath

This is how they dry off

This is the second time I have tried to do this weeks blog, after spending 2 hours putting it together in

Port Headland yesterday (Wednesday) the contrary system didn't post or save it so I had to start again today, it's 10.00 pm and I've only had internet signal for the last 1/2 hour so I hope this goes through.

Itlooks like we may be here 'til the end of October as Betty is having trouble getting someone to help out so we've decided to stay on and save some money.

That's all for tonight as I'm getting tired so until we talk again stay well.

Day 102: Derby

We have now spent a week in Derby and though there is not a lot to do in town we are enjoying the peace and relaxing.  We have had a look at the Prison Tree, Frosty’s Pool and the incoming tide from the pier. Sunday we took the tour to the Horizontal falls. They are amazing, although it was a bit hazy the flight in the seaplane was great (Nev wasn’t real impressed though) the landscape changed so much, hope the photos give a little of what it was like. As soon as we landed  we were given safety instructions for the fast boat and it was off to the falls before the tide came in too much, the photos don’t do it justice, it’s something I would recommend to everyone to do once. After several runs through the falls we went back to the bigger boats for lunch, a swim with the sharks and feeding the sharks.  When lunch finished Adrian told us he had a surprise for us so it was back into the boat for a cruise around Talbot Bay and a look at his shack in Cyclone Creek. His surprise wasn’t his shack which was very interesting but the fact that he can hand feed the moon fish out of the water, this was mind blowing.  There is no trick photography. On completion of the tour around Talbot Bay where we saw the raw Kimberley Rose and some mangroves it was back to the bigger boat to await the seaplane for our return journey and more of the amazing scenery.

 Mud flats out of Derby

 The Horizontal Falls

 This is the pontoon where the seaplane disembarked

 Feeding the sharks

 Adrian's shack

 Adrian with his pet fish

 Kimberley Rose

Tuesday was a tour to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek, this was money well spent as it not only saved on wear and tear on our car but it gave us the history behind the area and showed us things in the tunnel like aboriginal rock art, the story about the entrance to the tunnel, our guide Menashe even pointed out 3 different types of bats, they were horseshoe bat, fruit bat and ghost bat which I’m sure we would not have seen had it not been for Menashe. Menashe is from Israel and has been in Australia 4 years and only as a guide up here this season but he has more knowledge and passion than the locals do, he spent a few weeks when he first arrived in Derby with the aboriginals from Windjana/Tunnel Creek where he learnt the local history and the story of Jandammara who is a hero to the aboriginal people. (You may have watched Jandammara’s War on the ABC a little while back).

 A boab tree on the way to Windjana Gorge 

 

 Windjana Gorge

 An ancient fossil on the wall @ Windjana Gorge

 A marble rock @ the mouth of Tunnel Creek

 A black headed python on the side of the road

 The Jandammara Story

 Sunset through a boab tree

Wednesday we drove to Broome to pick up a script I had redirected from Kununurra and have a look at Broome again. My how it’s grown nothing was the same except it was still nice and quiet as it’s at the end of the season now, it was really quite nice having lunch under a palm at Cable Beach.

Tomorrow we head off, not sure where so I can’t say when I’ll be able to catch you up on our travels so stay well until we talk again.