Gorge-ous Pictures

Tuesday 16th September - At last it appears we have a functioning internet connection - so here come a plethora of pictures:

A Boab tree at the Kununurra campsite, allegedly over 1000 years old:

The Ord River dam has a clay core, flexible enough to cope with earth movements:

Such a small dam to hold back enough water to flood Wales to a depth sufficient to be slightly inconvenient:

The Ord River tamed, all the water at this point has gone through the hydro-electric scheme which provides the power for the town:

The power source for the 700HP air conditioning Dan? said was provided through the front of the boat:

A freshie:

A pelican:

Travelling at up to 70kph:

Sunset over the lake at Kununurra, flying foxes due soon:

Echidna Chasm in Purnululu National Park:

Camp fire at sunset, singing not encouraged:

The lights attracted some large insects, including this praying mantis:

Jason spent 5 minutes collecting some cane toads, for euthanasia by freezer:

Cathedral Gorge, for scale purposes the small white dot is Nick:

I'm Mandy, fly me - she may have heard that before:

The view down from my seat:

... and out the other side - white knuckles provided by Louise:

The views were pretty spectacular:

It was a very small helicopter - note lack of doors (it's not me in the front, I took the picture):

Scaling Emma Gorge, the route included a lot of clambering over rocks even bigger than the ones in front of Louise:

A view inside the bus, Sonya and Joachim in the (best) seats they occupied for the whole trip:

Nick found the bus a bit noisy, fortunately there was a Cyberman supply shop in Kununurra:

Pausing having forded Pentecost River, named after a Mr Pentecost:

How to cross Pentecost River if it's not your own suspension:

Collecting firewood:

The result:

Nick and Paul discussing the relative merits of South Australia and Queensland, Kathy not impressed by Nick's argument:

There were some beautiful pools in the gorges - heat about 35 degrees, so not cool:

Inspecting some indigineous art, Nick manoeuvering for a good shot:

The snake I noticed about a metre from Nick's head - a brown tree snake, only mildly venomous:

A water monitor about a metre long:

There were some beautiful water lilies:

Another monitor, a bit larger than the previous one:

The pool at the top of Manning Falls that Louise and I swam in:

Fossil in Winjana Gorge:

A freshie says hello, and keeps his brain cool:

Louise says "hi" to one of his mates:

An olive python about 2.5m long, body about 100mm thick:

Entering Tunnel Creek:

The Boab tree near Derby (pronounced Duhrbee) which was used as a prison by "blackbirders" - you could get over a dozen people inside if you don't care that they all have to stand up all night. Blackbirders kidnapped indigenous people and carried them off to their pearling schooners. When they were at sea they were given the option of diving for pearl shell or being thrown overboard. Women and girls were preferred because they could stay underwater for longer:

It's not easy to take a picture of Staircase to the Moon - we bought a postcard the next day:

Louise enjoying sampling five different beers produced by Matsos Brewery in Broome. You get them free if you have lunch and present a $10 all day bus ticket, otherwise they cost $12.50 - bargain! Also the lunch was very good, reasonably priced, and we made full use of the bus tickets. She actually liked the ginger beer, and thought the mango beer was ok. Note for connoisseurs (Nigel) - the one on the left was a wheat beer which hadn't finished clearing but tasted fine, and they had a very nice dark lager:

Yes we went to Cable Beach. No camels were present, but we did see some walking past the caravan park. Note the Stinger warning, only mild, and the sea temperature 33 degrees:

A cooperative lizard in Karijini National Park:

One of his mates. They think that as they are the same colour as their surroundings, and they stay still, they'll be OK. Probably works with kites, but not with Brits with Canons: