After a somewhat truncated end to our adventures on the Gibb River Road, and a treaty night in a 2 bedroom unit in a resort with a pool, bar, a dine-in dinner option, personal laundry and a buffet breakfast, every one of which we took advantage of, it was time to return to our true existence of caravan parks. But before we checked in it was (more than) time to give Frankie and Vi/Vivi a bath.
We then checked into a lovely caravan park on the shore of Roebuck Bay. Which I only realised was Roebuck Bay and NOT the Indian Ocean when the sun set in the opposite direction to the water. I'm not going to lie, it confounded me for quite a while, until I finally checked a map and worked it out! Not long after this example of my brilliance, we headed out to dinner at Matso's Brewery, where I had a truly delightful cocktail and the band played the greatest hits of the 90's.
The next morning we headed to Cable Beach to do a walking tour with Mabu Buru tours along the famous shoreline. Our guide was a Yawuru, Karrajarri, Nyul Nyul and Bardi man, Johani, who was unbelievably generous and gracious in sharing cultural knowledge with us. Firstly he showed us the dinosaur tracks from 130 million years ago that were embedded in the rocks that had been exposed by the low tide. There are 2 main types of prints - big round ones from really large plant eating dinos and smaller three-toed ones from more regular sized meat-eaters.
A really cool thing that Johani told us was that the traditional owners of this area are some of the only people on earth to incorporate dinosaur tracks such as these ones into their own creation stories, explaining that the 3 toed prints are part of their story about Marella, the Emu Man. Marella was a creator spirit who travelled along the coast forming particular parts of the landscape and teaching the people culture and lore. The 50 km long track of prints still found in the reef today are the marks left behind by Marella's time on the earth, and once he was finished he returned to the spirit world and can now be seen in the night sky as the dark emu, the dark space created by the Milky Way, watching over the people to ensure they are still living by the lore he left behind.
When in the laundry block at the caravan park doing one of my many loads of washing I was tickled pink to see a poster for a weekly visit from a food truck specialising in our family's favourite dinner option - CREPES!! So that evening we excitedly walked to the other end of the park to find the food truck and enjoy our first crepes of the trip. They weren't exactly overrun, so I was able to have a chat with the lovely young women behind the counter. We ended up seeing her several more times during our stay in Broome at markets and such, and in the end were quite sad to say goodbye on our final day... we do love our crepes!
The next day we had booked a big exciting adventure, a flight out to see Garaan-ngaddim, or the Horizontal Falls. It began with a VERY early start for us, with a 5:10 am pick up at the front of the caravan park. We were only 5 minutes late, and in our defense the lock on the front door of the caravan was playing up so Bob couldn't get it to lock closed 😬.
We headed to the airport, which was right next to the Woolies and close enough to the main street of town that one day when Nora and I were crossing the road we literally flinched from the plane overhead that was so low I could almost tough the wheels!
We got on our seaplane (Josie is getting to experience all of the fanciest of air transport options as her first few times flying) and headed off into the sunrise.
The flight up took the direct overland path, so there wasn't a whole lot to see, until we reach the coastline and started flying over the Buccaneer Archipelago to the east of the Dampier Peninsula.
Our seaplane landed and pull up to the pontoon where we hopped off to start our adventure. The tour company was on a tight run-sheet to make sure we could fit as much into our half day tour as possible, starting with jumping into a 'marine viewing platform', or a little shallow pool in the bay with a wire fence at one end, so we could get up close with some of the local marine life!
Then we got to once again test the bounds of propriety at a buffet breakfast on the top floor of the pontoon, where I continued to try to teach the children to get a small amount and go back for more if they are still hungry. From Josie's plate piled up with 6 pieces of banana bread I could tell I still had a ways go to in getting that particular message across!!
Then it was time for the main event, a boat ride to the Garaan-ngaddim. This spectacular geomorphological phenomenon is caused by the interaction between the HUGE tides experienced in the area (second only to the Bay of Fundy in eastern Canada), and the particular formation of 2 narrow and short gorges in Ganbadba (Talbot Bay) both of which have very small gaps through which a huge amount of water is pushed through twice a day every day at the turning of the tide.
Initially I thought the the top of the black rock must have been from wet-season flooding, but then I realised it is actually the level of the high water mark from the tide. And it wasn't even at the lowest point of low tide - that was several hours away! There is just SO MUCH water going in and out of the bays every day - it's truly astounding!
We were very lucky to have visited on a day of high tide, and so got to see Garaan-ngaddim at its peak. The gap into the first gorge is slightly bigger, so the water has a bit more room to move which means it is safe enough for the boat to get through (although it does require a powerful boat and a skilled skipper!). Even this slightly wider of the two gaps, and therefore the less powerful version, is still an absolute wonder to behold, with solid walls of moving water and huge whirlpools.
Going back and forth through the first gap few times in the speedy boat was breathtaking, and a rough enough ride that we were pleased to have handles to hold onto (and I wished I'd had the forethought to braid Josie's hair - these knots took FOREVER to get out!)
We then headed for the second, narrower gap where the water being sucked out by the departing tide created an even more powerful effect, so much so that it is not safe to travel through it. So we took a few passes in front of the second gap, just looking in awe at the water rushing through, creating standing waves, huge whirlpools and amazing amounts of white water.
After a bit more speediness back through the first gap, we came to a stop in a quite spot to talk about the cultural significance of the area. While the tour company is not Aboriginal, the area is subject to exclusive native title held by Dambimangari people, and they engage in 2 year leases to a small number of tour companies to bring visitors into the area. The Dambimangari have also passed on important stories for the tour guides to share with visitors, so our tour guide Callum shared how there are caves in these ranges with burial sites and rock art depicting the same creator spirits that we've learnt about across the Kimberly, the Wandjina. He also explained the Dreamtime story about how Garaan-ngaddim and the surrounding land formations were created by the writhing of the spiritual snake, the Woongudd woman. In particular, the second, smaller gap was the final resting place of Woongudd's head, and as such it is especially sacred. As a result, not only is it not safe to travel through the second gap, it is also not culturally appropriate.
We then headed back to see a bit more of the area, including a small bay known as 'Cyclone Bay' because it is so sheltered that the tour companies can leave major infrastructure in the off season and it will be safe from even the worst of the wet-season's weather.
And then it was time to get back in the seaplane with our pilot Yindi, for our more scenic trip back to Broome over the Buccaneer Archipelago. This time Nora got to be the co-pilot!
As we flew over the thousands of islands that make up the archipelago we could see the evidence of the tide as it was still receding.
We obviously had a restful afternoon, then headed out to the market at Town Beach for dinner, where some of us had our second crepe meal for the week 😝.
