Western Australia
Perth:
Broome:
- multi-racial town of 15,000 pop. owning dusty 4WDs
- ~2400km north of Perth
- blood red pindan soils edge pure white beaches which dissolve into the
purest green-blue waters - try a kayak tour to explore this (see Broome
Adventure Company)
- now a rare combination of top-end sophistication and genuine wilderness.
- winter holiday resort lying 18degS of equator where weather is warm, mod.
humid but generally clear skies for weeks
- peak season June-August when population surges to 40,000 with all
accommodation booked out months in advance.
- NB. mid-Oct to mid-April it is the big wet - hot, humid, cyclonic,
with lots of lightning and poisonous jellyfish in the sea
- famous Cable Beach:
- named as it was the terminus for the Australia-Asia
telegraph cable
- one can get close to the dolphins on dazzling 23km
long beaches which can be explored via 1hr camel rides which start at the
clothing optional end of the beach
- helicopter scenic ride along the 23km of beach, then over the port,
Gantheaume Point & the old town
- pearling & oil industries
- the best pearls in the world
- natural pearls only occur in one oyster in 20,000
- Linney's
- Willie Creek Pearl Farm 30km north of Broome, at the northern end of
the beach.
- an irritant has to be inserted into the oyster's gonads to produce
a pearl to produce a cultured pearl and divers turn the oysters over
each day to produce flawless pearls.
- Pearl Luggers - historical display
- dinosaur prints:
- 120 million year old dinosaur prints on beach at low tide at Gantheaume
Point (6.5km out of town) which also is beautiful with its red sandstone
rocks framing the green-blue sea
- "stairway to the moon":
- full moon at Roebuck Bay creates the "stairway to the moon"
optical effect at high tide as the moon rises, the ripples on the mudflats
give the appearance of illuminated steps leading to heaven.
- Horizontal Falls:
- extreme tidal currents rushing through two openings (6m and 24m wide)
to a remote gorge as a result of 8-9m tidal range which can be up to 13m
in summer king tides.
- located in Talbot Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago north of Derby on
the Kimberley coastline.
- this area has the 3rd highest tidal range in the world after
north-east Canada and the Bristol Channel in Britain.
- scenic flights from Derby or Broome (book early in high season)
- cruise around the coast from Broome to Wyndham or vice versa.
- Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Wildlife (crocodile) Park 16km north of town.
- Sun Pictures Theatre - world's oldest operating outdoor cinema (opened
1916).
- art galleries
- Broome Museum
- getting there:
- flights via Sydney or Melbourne (Qantas) or Adelaide (Virgin Blue)
- accommodation:
Kimberleys:
- northern-most region of WA adjacent to the Northern Territory
and lies:
- to the north of the Great Sandy Desert bounded by the Fitzroy River
region (Fitzroy River feeds into King Sound just south of Derby)
- to the north of the Tanami Desert bounded by the Ord River region (the
Ord River feeds into Lake Argyle)
- east of the coastal towns of Broome & Derby (the main port of the
rich grain, ore & diamond hinterland)
- Fitzroy Crossing
- 400km east of Broome
- Geiki Gorge National Park on the Fitzroy River just NE of Fitzroy
Crossing
- check out this car in a tree from the 1968 flood: see here
- Hall's Creek
- some 580km east of Broome
- Wolf Creek meteor crater
- one of the largest meteor craters in the world - 850m diameter and 50m
deep
- very remote region south of Hall's Creek and 100km north of Balgo
- Bungle Bungles (Purnululu National Park)
- Kununurra:
- at the far NE of WA near the Northern Territory
border
- Lake Argyle
- artificial lake created for the Ord Development River Scheme for
agricultural project centred around the town of Kununurra
- Hidden Valley National Park (Mirima)
- Wyndham:
- accommodation:
- El Questro:
- 100km west of Kununurra's airstrip and south of Wyndham;
- 80km property running into the Kimberleys from the east
- 4 different styles of accommodation
- tennis court, swimming pool, spa, barramundi fishing, 4WD tours,
helicopter tours, river cruising, horseriding, bushwalking
-
Pilbara:
- Australia's iron ore region south-east of Dampier and Port Hedland where
few tourists bother getting to.
- the huge iron ore deposits are 2700 million years old, while the oldest
rocks in the region are 3600 million years old.
- the region holds the oldest fossils in the world - stromatolites, as well
as the world's oldest evidence for a meteorite impact.
- Port Hedland:
- 600km south-west of Broome
- 872km north-east of Carnarvon
- 1650km north of Perth via Newman (1774km north of Perth via the coast)
- the main port for iron ore exports from the region
- Dampier:
- 260km almost due west of Port Hedland
- more than a million examples of ancient rock art (petroglyphs) at
nearby Burrup Peninsula under threat by Woodside Petroleum's mining
activities including its acidic pollution of the region.
- Dampier Archipelago islands home to more rock art and to sea turtles
in beautiful turquoise waters along with migratory whales, and the many
sharks and curious sea snakes.
- Millsteam-Chichester National Park:
- 100km SE of Dampier
- springs from an aquifer fill a series of large pools and form an oasis
of paperbark trees and palms at the base of the Chichester Range.
- Mt Tom Price and Newman iron ore mining
- Wittenoom:
- old blue asbestos mine at the ghost town of Wittenoom - beware
asbestos dust causes lung cancer!
- the road to Yampire Gorge where most of the asbestos was mined has
been closed.
- Karijini National Park:
- 200km NW of Newman
- deep and dramatic gorges with ancient dark red rocks contrasting with
golden spinifex, blue sky and white gum trees.
- Karijini Eco Retreat
- cluster of over 100 safari tents to use as a base to explore the
nearby Joffre Gorge, Weano Gorge, and Hancock Gorge.
- Collier Range National Park