What an amazing trip we had to The Kimberley.
On 10th August Noel, Ian (Noel's brother) and I flew to Broome
where we were picked up by Paula (Ian's daughter) and Jazzlyn,
one of the girls from the Kandiwal Aboriginal Community.
It's taken me a while but I finally got my
photos uploaded onto the computer.
We had a couple of days in Broome getting supplies
and having a quick look around.
We stayed at the Broome Bird Observatory
about 40 minutes out of Broome.
This is the first time I have ever seen Sturt Dessert Peas in the wild.
How cute is this hotel in the bathroom facility!
The frogs were everywhere.
You had to make sure you put the toilet lid down
otherwise they were in there too.
Then off we headed to make our way to Mitchell Plateau.
It is about a 15 hour drive on the roughest,
bumpiest, dustiest roads! Some of them,
like the Gibb River Road are only open in the dry season
which was coming to an end when we were there.
We had a couple of nights stops on the way.
First stop was the APT Bell Gorge Wilderness Lodge
where we went "glamping" (glamorous camping)!
Paula organised our stay here and it was wonderful.
The tents were so comfy and the meals delicious.
There was a lovely swimming hole there too.
Enjoying a drink after our meal while chatting to the other guests.
We stopped at a couple of different watering holes along the way.
Jazzlyn did most of the driving as she
knew the road like the back of her hand.
As we crossed into Ngauwudu land,
we came across these three brolgas.
Ngauwudu (pronounced Nar-woo-doo)
is the Aboriginal name for the Mitchell Plateau
The Kandiwal mob believe this is Wilfred and his brothers.
Wilfred was the great grandfather of the children
at the school who walked his family back to country
in the 70's after fighting the Government to
get their land back. The brolgas appear whenever
something special is happening.
We like to think that they were there to welcome us.
Have a look at this video. It is the story about Wilfred.
The song by Al Mac tells the story of Wilfred
bringing his family back to country. All those you see
in the beginning of the film are the mob we spent time with.
I will tell you about them in another post.
The second night we camped at King Edward River
Campground at Munurru. Not quite as glamorous
as the night before. During the night, Jazzlyn chased off a dingo
who was trying to steal a shopping bag containing supplies!
Enjoying a dinner cooked on the camp fire.
Overlooking Mitchell Plateau.
We finally made it to the Kandiwal Community.
More adventures to come!
6 comments:
Those flowers are gorgeous and I do miss the green tree frogs we had in France - although they didn't invade our bathroom thank goodness. xx
I cant wait to see more of your adventures. It sounds very exciting and interesting
Wow! What an amazing adventure! Nice to have so many photos to remind you of all the wonderful things you saw! Hugs Christine xx
What an amazing trip!
Interesting to read about the green tree frogs! The glamping certainly looked up market! I think I would prefer the first night camping to the second!! How special to see the brolgas.
Don't cope with frogs but it's a beautiful part of the world up north........
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