Western Wildflowers Discovery

As you may recall, we said our second tour was of the Pilbara region of Western Australia (WA).  Well the tour we are actually on is called the Western Wildflowers Discovery, as the tour touches only a small portion of the Pilbara.  Having left our Kimberley group on Thursday, we joined our new Outback Spirit group on Friday. Given the title of the tour, it should come as no surprise that we started with a tour of King’s Park and Botanical Gardens in Perth.

Saturday, we left Perth headed for Hyden and Wave Rock. On leaving Perth, we traveled through what our driver / guide Chappy called the wheat belt, and as part of the crop rotation they plant canola.

Now most Canadians know, Canola was invented in Canada, as a hybridized rape seed crop. The rape seed industry was robust during the war, because it was used in warships as a lubricant. After the war, the market fell out of the rape seed market. Looking for a new market, rape seed was selectively bred and hybridized to produce a low acid oil that would be suitable for human consumption. What I did not know and, I suspect, most people do not know is that Canola is an acronym meaning CANadian Oil Low Acid! Cool!   The Australian Canola is generally sent abroad for oil and to Europe for Biofuel. 

Now, if you remove too much of the native vegetation, which in this area was largely trees, an interesting thing happens which is somewhat counter-intuitive.   As the water table rises, you think, great, I will be able to grow crops here and have plenty of water.  The trouble is that the water table is higher in salt than the land can process. So, if you strip away all the trees, the land becomes too salty for anything to grow.  You can see an example of that below. 

In response, farmers have ensured that trees surround most grain fields to keep the water table in check.

As noted, this tour is principally about wildflowers, but there are certainly some other attractions for those of us that have a lesser interest in flowers than others. For example, along the route we stopped in York to visit the York Motor Museum. Peter Briggs and James Harwood came up with the idea to create this place in 1979. Over the years they collected well over 100 vehicles of every kind.  Sonya was particularly enamoured with this early rendition of an RV.

Thankfully our 5th wheel in Palm Springs is a little more spacious than this one!

Anyway, when the gentlemen found that the museum was more than they could manage on their own, the town created an association to manage the collection, which continues to this day.

After that it was off to Hyden to visit Wave Rock. Wave Rock is a granite cliff, 15 metres high and 110 metres long. Crystals from Hyden Rock (the actual name) date back 2.7 Billion years ago, amongst some of the oldest rock formations in Australia. Its rounded shape is caused by weathering and water erosion that has undercut the base and left a rounded overhang.

The town of Hyden is an industrious town of about 350 people. One of its claim to fame is that it is home to the second largest collection of lace in the world, second only to the collection at Buckingham Palace. It even has lace worn by Queen Victoria.

The next day we were off to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit Mine. Because we had such a long way to go, Chappy took a shortcut on an unpaved roadway called Emu Fence Road. This is a fence that runs through the entire state to keep out pests. Originally known as the Rabbit Proof Fence, it proved somewhat useless at being Rabbit proof, likely due to the fact that they did not dig down far enough to stop the burrowing rabbits. It did prove somewhat useful against, you guessed it, Emus, hence the name of the road. Now known as the State Barrier Fence, it was originally erected from 1901 to 1907 in what was a desperate bid to hold back the invading rabbits. The rabbits were originally introduced by a fellow who thought that it would be fun to hunt them on his property, so he introduced 24 rabbits. Well, rabbits do what rabbits do, and the rest is history!

When we rejoined the Great Eastern Highway on the way to Kalgoorlie, we spotted the water pipeline, known as the Golden Pipeline. Now, before we continue, a short story is in order.
Resources, East vs West Power, Politics and Pipelines

The southern part of the state, Western Australia (WA), has a history somewhat like Alberta. The resources (gold vs oil), and pipelines (water vs oil), may be different but the story runs a parallel theme.

It all began in 1893 when three down and out Irish fellas, Patrick Hannah, Tom Flanagan and Daniel Shea had to stop and re-shoe one of their horses, and they literally kicked up some dust and found 100 ounces of gold. Thus began one of Australia’s all-time big gold rushes. However, this is a harsh environment which could not support the rush. But so began the story of Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie. Today the economics of the great Super Pit Mine and others are one of the foundations to the economics of WA and Australia in general. But what was needed back then was a WATER PIPELINE. John Forrest had a vision, build a port, build a dam and a Pipeline. In so doing, he could then negotiate a much better deal for Western Australia vis-a-vis the powerful eastern states (sound familiar). Forrest found an incredible engineer in CY O’Connor who designed all the facilities, but not without at least 3 Royal Commission Enquiries (sound familiar).  As well, much controversy arose due in part to the fact that the media were very negative about the project from the start.  Public opinion was such that there was talk of referendums and separation.  (Hmmm, sound familiar??)

The Golden Pipeline was completed in 1903 and is still in use providing the lifeline of fresh water throughout the area. It is still the longest freshwater pipeline in the world - 650 km from Perth to the Goldfields, and it was the single largest order of steel in the world at that time.    Through Vision, Strategy and Perseverance a country can build for the future!

Now, here is a shot of that original pipeline, still in use today.

We arrived at Kalgoorlie and were loaded onto another bus for the proper mine tour.  The Kalgoorlie Super Pit mine was, for many years, the largest of its kind, hence the name.  You can get a sense of this here:

The mine produces, on average, 37 kilograms of gold every day.  That is about 1,200 troy ounces (the standard measure for gold). At today’s price of US$1,533, that comes to about US$1.8 Million of production per day.  Lest you think that these guys are on easy street raking in the dough, you should know that the yield of the mine is, on average, 2.5 grams per tonne.  So, in order to produce those 1,200 ounces, they must crush almost 15,000 tonnes of rock per day. The personnel and equipment needed to produce this is staggering to witness.  Here are a couple of pictures to give you a sense.

Each truck on site will use approximately $8 million of fuel and $3 million worth of tires per year. Truck tires can weigh up to five tonnes and it takes two people 45 minutes to change one.

In another Canadian factoid, the super pit is own 50:50 by Barrick Gold, a Canadian company and the largest gold mining company in the world, and Newmont Mining Corporation, a Colorado-based mining consortium.

The next day we were off to Esperance, a small coastal village located on the southern coast of Western Australia.  On the way, we stopped at a Lake LeFroy viewpoint. 

This is somewhat reminiscent of salt flats that are seen in Utah. What is different here is that they are experimenting with new gold mining techniques with test results yielding up to 10 grams per tonne, or four times the yield of the Kalgoorlie super pit. 

This is also an area of significant nickel mining and the drive was dotted with nickel mines throughout.  Nickel is a big part of the economy here - WA is the sole producer of nickel in Australia.  Remember that inventory of nickel that we showed you in our Kimberley trip.  Well, the nickel industry in WA in 2016-17 was worth $2.3 Billion!  Not exactly pocket change!

After an overnight stay in Esperance, we were on our way to Albany.  Albany is where a European settlement was first established in the Western half of Australia.

Albany was the last Whaling port in Australia, and there is a great museum that walks you through the entire whale processing day. The whaling industry was significant in Australia from 1840, and the industry was significant for Albany up to 1978.  It was the last whaling station in the western hemisphere, and from 1952 to 1978, 14,695 sperm whales were processed at the Albany facility. Here is the skeleton of one of the last sperm whales processed by the facility.

A 10-tonne sperm whale would yield some seven tonnes of oil, used in everything from cosmetics to lubricants.   The death nell for the industry was the rise in the cost of the fuel oil to run the whaling ships, compounded by a large decrease in the value of the sperm whale oil for lubricants with the advent of the popularity of synthetic oil as a lubricant.

After the whaling museum, we jumped on a catamaran to go whale watching.  While we did not see any whales, we gained an appreciation for the harbor as an economic engine for the town and the area. 

The exports from the area are mainly wheat, canola, wood chips and silica sand.  The crop from the canola fields we saw near York end up in the facility here to be shipped offshore, as does the wheat.  The wood chips come from the Blue Gum trees that are grown and harvested in this neck of the woods, and then processed into chips at the terminal facility. 

These wood chips seen above are exported to Japan to produce fine paper.  And the silica sand from this area may well be part of the screen on your smart phone that is in your pocket or purse! 

Our last stop of the day (and yes it was a busy day!) was at the National Anzac Centre.   As noted on their website, this amazing facility, “uses multimedia, interactive technology and historical artefacts to create a deeply personal connection with the past, as well as pay tribute to those who served”, particularly in the first world war. 

We followed the history of these two soldiers as we walked through the exposition. 

Why here?  From their website:

Albany is the place where the first and second convoys left for Europe and ultimately Gallipoli. For many people, this is the place where the Anzac Spirit was born.

It is also important to remember that the centre is not a museum of the First World War – it is a place of reflection on the service and sacrifice of the men and women of the Australian and New Zealand forces and particularly of those who departed from Albany in 1914 – We shall remember them.

Oh, and as for the two soldiers we followed, both survived the war and lived well into their retirement years.  Here is a link to each of their stories:

https://www.nationalanzaccentre.com.au/story/alfred-graham-foster

https://www.nationalanzaccentre.com.au/story/colin-charles-blumer

After that long (and wonderful) day, it was time to head back for a glass of wine with the gang!

On Thursday we were off to the Ancient Empire and the Valley of the Giants, near the town of Denmark amidst the Walpole Wilderness.  What the heck you say?!!  Patience, Prudence!   In 1900 there were 200 timber mills in the southwestern part of WA.  Our tour stop in this forest preserve allowed us to see what the area would have looked like before the lumber jacks took down the giants. 

The main reason these giants grow to be so large is in part due to the annual rainfall of more than one meter (39”) per year.  The Red Tingle trees are a type of Eucalyptus, and they do indeed have a lovely fragrance.
We walked amongst these giants at near tree top level.  Now, before you say I am full of it, have a look at this picture Sonya shot.

As you can see, this is a suspension bridge structure that climbs to 40 metres above the ground.  Sonya was busy making sure that everyone complied with the instructions about so many people per span and so many per landing.  Good thing that she did not know it was a suspension bridge structure until after the fact.  (She darn near had a brick when I told her!)

As I stand inside this tree:

those of you who remember can see that it is somewhat reminiscent of the Ancient Forest in Northeastern British Columbia that we visited in 2018.  The Red Tingle tree can grow to a height of 70 metres and up to 15 metres in circumference.    Check this one out:

That’s all for now.  Next we are off to Margaret River to taste some local WA wine.  Oh wait!  This is a Western Wildflowers tour  - so we need a wildflower picture!!

See you soon,

SnP

The East Kimberley ... and Back Again

Sorry for the delay in getting this installment out folks, but this is an action packed adventure in one of the most remote parts of Australia with limited internet access - all good, but it makes for a long blog!  We have traveled 3,658 kilometres in our big Mercedes Benz Bus and used 1,393 litres of diesel fuel, so grab a large version of your favourite beverage, because this will be a long one!

Every day while on the road, we would stop for morning tea (think coffee break), lunch, and afternoon tea.  Norm and I are digging out the tables for tea time. Right behind where I am standing is a large hot water urn that keeps water at just the right temperature for tea or coffee.  Outback Spirit have thought of everything!

Now, you will recall what I told you about the washboard roads.  Well, this is the Kimberley, and there are parts of the road that are better or worse than others.  This one was not all that bad in the scheme of things but is somewhat representative of parts of the journey.

We made our way to El Questro and the Emma Gorge Resort within this station.  Yes, this is a station, as in cattle station.  Well, at least it was a cattle station.  Because the terrain is inhospitable to raising cattle, the station lease changed hands many times.  In 1991, a couple recognized the potential of the area as a tourist destination and it has been such ever since.

The next morning, we set out for a cruise through the Chamberlain Gorge area.  Sonya insisted I put this photo of our river boat tour guide in - as the modern "Crocodile Dundee". In fact, he did point out a few river crocs. He also had us feeding the Archerfish, who would spit back hitting us square in the face. When you hold out the bait, the fish believe it to be an insect, and are actually shooting water at the target so it will fall to the water - but actually, they were squirting us! Imagine the surprise the first time this happened!

While on that river boat tour, our guides pointed out a rock wallaby tucked away in the rocks.  These guys are very adept at getting into tight nooks and crannies to keep clear of the raptors that are constantly searching for their next meal!

We spotted this female dingo while on one of our outings.  She is somewhat emaciated as she was likely out hunting to feed her relatively new pups. Dingos have 360 degree vision because they can swivel their heads 180 degrees making them incredible hunters.

During our stay at El Questro, this little Kookaburra graced our dining experience with his presence.  No doubt, he was looking for free handouts, which many of the tourists no doubt provide.  Jamie (our tour guide and driver) reminded us not to feed them as there would be no tourists around during the wet to provide for them, making it imperative that they maintain their natural hunting skills - something we don't think about when we innocently feed the birds.

On this trip I was the resident tech expert for the group - just like at home!

OK, time for bragging rights!  Our group is gathered here to celebrate and memorialize the fact that we all drove (well rode at least) the 660 kilometer Gibb River Road from END TO END.   YAY US!!!

One of our many stops is the  Parry Lagoons.  This nature reserve is home to a vast array of bird life and other animals.  According to Tourism West Australia, over 160 species have been recorded at the Marlgu Billabong (remember what that is?).  As you can see, this looks something akin to a traffic jam on your local freeway during rush hour.  There was certainly some honking going on as they struggled for landing and parking space.

OK, time for part one of crocodile lessons.  This is a saltie, or a saltwater crocodile.  You can tell the difference between a saltie and a freshie (a freshwater crocodile) by the size of their jaw.  As you can see, this one is quite wide compared to the narrow jaw of the freshie (more on these later).  The saltie  can grow to 6 metres (20 feet) and is quite capable of taking on a human being (and almost always winning), so you need to steer well clear of this fella.  Jamie calls the renowned croc "death roll"  a sushi roll, because the croc is just trying to break off a bite-sized (hence sushi) piece of you! He takes the bite out of you, (by which time you will have drowned) and lets the rest of you float down the river for his next compatriot croc to get a piece of sushi too!

Crocs lay their eggs in the sand near the water.  They wait until the temperature of the sand is just right, as the eggs have a very narrow incubation window.  They must incubate for approximately 80 days, and the temperature needs to be in the range of 29 to 33C.  The eggs will become female crocs unless the temperature is consistently between (approximately) 31C and 33C, which will produce male crocs.  Above 33C and below 29C temperature, the eggs are generally not viable.   The male daddy crocs eat half of the eggs almost immediately.  A further 30% of the eggs get dug up by other predators, and only 1-2% lead to full grown crocs.  Isn’t nature strange and wonderful!

Here, we are at Wyndham Port, where some of Australia’s products leave for Asia.  Both  iron ore and nickle are loaded and shipped in vast quantities and value.  At the bottom right of this photo are seven rows of nickel.  Each row is worth approximately $7 Million (AUD).  That’s a lot of inventory sitting there!

In the same port area is a cattle facility, that loads live cattle onto ships, also bound for Asia (if the animal is less than 320 kg) or elsewhere if a little hefftier. The cattle yards are on the right, and they get loaded on the jetty that is seen in the top left portion of the picture.  Only live cattle leave from here now, but in the past, there was a meat works here that was the largest in the Southern Hemisphere at the time.  From 1919 to 1985, they processed more than 2,000,000 head of cattle.  Now that’s a lotta bull!  At the time, it was a humongous crocodile pond given all the available fresh cut remains from the processing plant.

Back at El Questro, we did an afternoon walk of the beautiful Emma Gorge, as seen here.  By the time we got there, we both decided to forego the swim in the gorge for a simple soak of the feet and legs in the cool waters. 

As you would expect, curiosity got the better of us and we started exploring some of the other parts of the water hole.

Now the walk in (and walk out) of Emma Gorge is considered a grade 4 walk.  Trail Hiking Australia defines it as follows:  “Bush walking experience recommended. Tracks may be long, rough and very steep. Directional signage may be limited.”  OK, maybe we should have read that before, particularly the part about bush walking experience recommended!  Good thing that Jamie was our leader and  very aware of our capabilities.  In fact, at the start of the tour, Jamie said to Sonya, “I will never put you in harm’s way", and he was true to his word.  However, he did not say, he would not challenge us – and we are very glad of it! In this case, he did warn us this walk required some hopping across the top of boulders!

The rocks that you see across the water were part of the path in and out.  Definitely not wheelchair friendly!!

The next morning, we were off to Kununarra (say that fast three times!) and a view of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme.  No, this is not a con artist scheme, but a plan for a dam that would see one of the fastest flowing rivers during the wet season harnessed to create a large irrigation catchment, providing a fertile growing area resulting in much needed potential economic prosperity. The power of water and sunshine allows this area to grow mangoes, chia seeds, cotton, and many other water intensive crops.

While the area has huge potential, the opportunity has not been maximized - the Wyndham Port is limited to the size of ships and loading times because of the large tidal floes.  Remember that the Kimberley has the second highest tides in the world.  Rail would normally be an option, but because the "wet" floods the entire area, this is not possible.  Consequently fruit and veg go out to Perth by road train, and roads are also flooded out in the "wet".

In fact, due to the wet, mango pricing is at times insufficient to cover the transportation cost.  Jamie spoke of one poor fella who ended up with a bill for $200 to cover the loss on shipping the mangoes south.

These are the flood gates of the dam.  The dam took three years to build and was completed in 1972. It was constructed without steel or concrete. They used sand, grit and rocks from an area within 11 kilometers of the dam.  The dam has dropped only 25 centimetres since it was built.  The hydro power was added later, saving the area from its high cost of running generators.  Prior to the hydro power, the area would spend $1.4 Million per week on diesel fuel!

 Each of these gates of the dam weigh 96.5 tonnes, are 15 metres wide and 11 metres high.  They hold an immense amount of water behind them.  Lake Argyle, created by the catchment is more that 40 kilometres long.  For comparison, the water held back by the dam would fill Sydney Harbour 21 times.  That is a lot of water.

Although there is a road over the top of the dam, vehicle height is restricted.  Vehicles that are too high to cross the dam must cross over the Ivanhoe Crossing, the original road across the Ord River, seen above.  Cool – but don’t step too near the edges, as crocs (salties) are resident in the area, so swimming is not a good plan!

Speaking of crocs, this one is a freshie.   They are much smaller than salties, with males growing up to 3 metres (9.5 feet) long, and females somewhat smaller.   This one was spotted while we were boating on the Ord River.

Now who knew that we would have to sit through a school lesson while on a trip!  This was actually a bonus for us, as the guide was covering some of the basics of the irrigation system, some of which is being passed on to you as I write this blog!

And as with our driving days, we had to stop for afternoon tea. Pauline is stepping off the boat to an area on the riverbank set aside for just this purpose.  This stop was complete with scones, cream and jam.  OK, so the Aussies have a few more British traditions than we do in Canada!

On our way once again, we ran across Larry, Curly and Moe sitting in a tree.  If you are not old enough to understand this reference, simply read on!

Now doesn’t this rock wallaby look comfy?  He apparently wasn’t too worried about us.  No wonder, since he was well above our reach by several metres.

As we neared our final destination, we were treated with another beautiful Australian sunset.  By the way, can you spot the crop duster aeroplane in the picture?

The next morning after visiting a sandalwood factory, we were off to the Hoochery.  Yes, you read that correctly.  The Hoochery Distillery is a small batch rum distillery.

The distillery was founded by an American fellow from California who came to the Kimberley to develop his seed business.  As most North Americans will know, hooch is a common term for illicit or inferior alcohol, usually whiskey, but also other spirits. If you want to read more about the Hoochery,  see here:

https://www.hoochery.com.au/about/our-story

The next morning we jumped into yet another helicopter to fly over the Bungle Bungles.  These hills, described as striped beehive hills by the Australian Broadcast Corporation,  are amazing to behold and their territorial coverage is vast.  The origin of the name Bungle Bungles is unclear, but it would seem that whoever named them did in fact 'bungle' it up. While the local Aboriginals have known about this formation for eons, a filmmaker "discovered" them while doing a documentary. Since then they have captured the imagination of all visitors.

Here was one of the first views of these amazing hills. The tiger striping is the result of orange silica being interspersed with thin layers of black lichens.

The hills cover approximately 450 square kilometres (about 175 square miles).  They are incorporated into a National Park know as Purnululu.  Interestingly enough, this word was also 'bungled' as it were, because the Djaru word for the surrounding area is Bullmanlulu.

After we finished the helicopter tour, we were back on the bus to explore these beautiful structures up close.Within these beautiful hills is an equally breathtaking natural amphitheatre known as Cathedral Gorge.

Those little dots at the bottom of th picture are people taking it all in. I feel like words are not enough to describe this beautiful place.

After lunch we headed for the Echidna Chasm.   While not a grade 4 walk like Emma Gorge, there are some steep sections that were eased a bit by human intervention.

The chasm itself is very tall and quite narrow, similar to Antelope Canyon in Page Arizona.

As you can see, this is Antelope Canyon on an epic scale.

That evening, Jamie stopped on the way back to our lodgings for sunset on the Bungle Bungles.

He asked us to be patient and to take the same or very similar picture every few minutes when he directed us "shot" - military precision on the shutter releases, please!

As the sun sets, the atmosphere filters out some of the colour, leaving a different looking sky and a different hue on the hill face.

It was fascinating to watch the colours change as sunset progressed.

The next day we headed off to Geikie Gorge National Park for a cruise on the Fitzroy River.

These  limestone walls are part of the Devonian reef, formed more than 350 million years ago during, you guessed it, the Devonian period.   Jamie told us that this reef is actually larger than the Great Barrier Reef, but of course on land.  It too is a living organism, with much flora and fauna making it home ...

including this freshie, who has its mouth open to cool itself.  Being cold blooded, this is one of the few ways it can cool itself.  The other is to slip into the water.

The next morning we visited Tunnel Creek, where the river goes underground.   We walked and waded our way through the tunnel, which is only passable during the dry season, as the river runs very fast through it during the wet.

While walking through we saw several freshies along the way, including this one that was mere feet from us.  Jamie had to convince Sonya to come closer to take a picture of the croc.  It was very calm however, as it he was nice and cool in this underground oasis (at least from his perspective).

This fella was in the water with us and exited the water just ahead of us.  I said to Sonya, “Well, you can now say that you have walked with the crocs!”  Not many can say that I would imagine!

Tunnel creek was also the site of Jandamarra’s last stand.  North Americans are familiar with Custer’s Last Stand.  This would be an Australian equivalent in some sense, but more from the Aboriginal perspective.  Jandamarra was an Aboriginal warrior who rebelled against the whites when he saw much abuse against his own society and his own relatives.

We learned a great deal of Aboriginal history and lore from Jamie. I would like to write some about these stories and history, but I cannot do them justice.  Suffice it to say that I was deeply touched by the perspective that Jamie provided throughout our journey, and I am grateful for his willingness to share.

After getting back to Broome, we were treated to two nights at the Cable Beach Club Resort and Spa, coming full circle from where we started.  On our last full day we were off in a seaplane and jet boat adventure to the Horizontal Falls.

This is the view from the seaplane as we come in to land near the falls. The current you see flowing in both of those channels is the tide rushing in (at this time).  The smaller inlet you see, in the lower part of the picture, is the only inlet for the water to get to Talbot Bay.  The difference in height during the tidal change can be as much 3 meters (10 feet).

If you can play the video, you will see that the back of the boat is almost in the narrow part of the inlet.  Although hard to hear, the guide says that the boat is maintaining about 12 knots (22 kmh) to maintain its position, and not topple backwards. The rush of the water is too strong for us to safely go through the falls without potentially ending up upside down!

A little later we went through the falls and watched them reverse direction.  It does this four times a day, every day, with the changing of the tides.  In a few years (thousands or millions), the tides will erode the rock away enough that the effect will be lost.  Glad we went when we did!

After a scenic flight back to Broome, we had our farewell dinner with our travel mates.

They were a great group and were very patient explaining their version of the English language  and listening to our twangy accent!  Yes, Canadians do have an accent, at least according to our mates!

As we close out this segment of our blog, we wish to take a moment to thank Jamie, our great driver, tour guide and, most of all, leader!

Jamie, you are the consummate guide and leader - by sharing your personal stories, the land, its people, history and culture are brought to life in a way that makes the Kimberley truly an experience to remember  forever.

Thank you Red Fox Leader One!

Over and out,

SnP