Lesgold?s Road Trip

[Lesgold]

Hi Phillip,

Crocodiles are a regular occurrence in the northern areas of Australia and restrict swimming activities in those hotter areas. Croc numbers will increase as we travel north. Jellyfish are seasonal and are more of an issue in the hotter months of the year. Sharks occur in all areas around our coast. In reality, there is only a handful of attacks each year. Most popular beaches have life guards that patrol these areas and watch for potential problems from marine animals and dangerous rips etc. My wife and I will probably confine our swimming to safe fresh water locations as we move north.

[Occam]

You probably have more deaths or problems with dangerous rip tides than animal life if I had my guess

[The15thMember]

Crocodiles are a regular occurrence in the northern areas of Australia and restrict swimming activities in those hotter areas. Croc numbers will increase as we travel north.

Oh I'm really dumb.  I just now realized that northern Australia would be warmer than southern Australia. 

[Lesgold]

Hi Occam,

You are correct in your assumption. There would be a huge number of lives lost to drowning in the surf compared to animal related deaths every year.

[Lesgold]

Our last day in Broome. My wife had to have a ride on a camel before we hit the pavement again. Cable Beach is a pretty place in the late afternoon.

[Lesgold]

Heading north again. We are up the top of the Dampier Peninsula for a night before heading out on an overnight trip. Here is a couple of pics from the pearl farm that we are staying at. As usual, the water looks great. On the way up, we encountered a lot of wattle flowering. Not sure the name of it but I?m assume my it will flower all winter. Wattles or acacias produce pollen but no nectar for the he bees.

[The15thMember]

Heading north again. We are up the top of the Dampier Peninsula for a night before heading out on an overnight trip. Here is a couple of pics from the pearl farm that we are staying at. As usual, the water looks great.

So that is the ocean, correct?  Interesting how there is vegetation growing in the salt water.  We have mangrove forest that does that in Florida, but I've never seen plants like that in the ocean. 

[Lesgold]

Hi Reagan,

Yes, that is mangrove. It grows in salt water in most states in Australia. That particular area has a tidal range of almost 13m. The edge of the water will be 200m away from the mangroves on low tide.

[Lesgold]

The next part of the trip was to be a special time. We caught a sea plane, flew over the Buccaneer Archipelago and landed along side a series of linked house boats for an overnight stay. The view of the islands was spectacular. Not long after landing we watched the sharks being fed. People who wanted to watch this could swim in a cage next to them.

[The15thMember]

We caught a sea plane, flew over the Buccaneer Archipelago

Did you look for any pirate gold?     Sorry, I couldn't resist the low-hanging fruit there. 

Not long after landing we watched the sharks being fed. People who wanted to watch this could swim in a cage next to them.

Oh my sister would be all over that!  What kind of sharks did you see?

[Lesgold]

The shark in the picture is a tawny nurse shark. We also saw a bull shark and a bunch of reef sharks of a nighttime swimming in the light of the house boats. We took a trip on a boat fitted with 4x 300HP Yamaha outboards up Cyclone creek and finally through the Vertical Falls. The huge tides in this area means that the water flow is impeded by two narrow entrances and a water height difference is established. Running the boat through the wider of the entrances was a real buzz. A few from the plane on the way out helps to explain part of this natural phenomenon.

[Ben Framed]

Noting but "Thumbs Up"!   Thank you Les!!!

Phillip

[BeeMaster2]

Les,
I?m enjoying your trip. Keep the pictures and information coming. 😊
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

We have been staying on a cattle station close to the town of Derby for the last couple of days. While in the Kimberly area, an unusual tree called the Boab has been encountered. This tree is very similar to the Boabab tree of Africa and Madigasca. Scientists can not agree on how the trees are connected. Some say that when the continents were connected millions of years ago, vegetation was shared. Others say that seeds were introduced many thousands of years ago. What ever the reason, they are a spectacular and unusual tree. The first photo is of what locals call the prison tree. Apparently aboriginal prisoners were held here well over a hundred years ago on their journey to Derby goal. This tree has a circumference of about 14 metres. It is estimated that the tree is over 1500 years old. The second tree was at a roadside stop on our journey north.

[Ben Framed]

Looks like the type tree one might see in some of those African educational movies; With a leopard somewhere on the limbs, storing or eating its prey.

[Kathyp]

are those the trees you can go inside?  seems I remember stories of people living in some kind of tree and I don't even remember where. 

[BeeMaster2]

Kathy,
I think you are referring to the Baobab that Les referred to. They are are in Africa. I remember hearing the same stories.
Jim Altmiller

[Lesgold]

Some of the bigger trees (like the prison tree) are hollow inside. I didn?t look into the tree as it was fenced off to protect it from vandalism. It appeared as though there was a lot of room inside.

[Lesgold]

Our next point of interest was to visit Tunnel Creek on the Gibb River Road. A creek runs through a limestone cave for a distance of 750 metres. We were able to walk and swim through the entire cave and come out at the other end. The tunnel was not obvious when we arrived at the site but a bit of climbing over rocks revealed the entrance. Head torches and swimmers were required with phones being wrapped in plastic bags to keep them dry. A short swim of about 20m had us deep into the cave. By this rage it was pitch black.

[Lesgold]

Once inside the cave our head torches revealed the presence of bats and one small crocodile. Some of the limestone features were quite interesting. About halfway though the cave a natural opening appeared and gave us some light for a short period of time. We eventually made it though the cave and explored the overhangs on the other side looking at some incredible rock art. We had to eventually turn around and repeat the walk again to get back to the truck. It was a really good day out and was worth the long drive to get there.