Gantheaume Point, Broome
One of the places on our list to visit in Broome was Gantheaume Point because there are dinosaur footprints in the rocks near the shore. How exciting! You can only see them at very low tides so we tried to time our visit with one of the lower tides during the week. I had no idea what awaited us other than I knew there were some fake dinosaur footprint casts so that there would be something to see even if you visited when the tide was too high. But I had no idea what a beautiful spot this was! Look at this red dirt with the blue sea and white sand beach in the distance. What a view! 
The rock formations were just incredible. You can guess from the name that the land comes to a point, the scenery was amazing in both directions. 
We easily found the fake dinosaur footprints on a large rock. 
Then we wandered around to see what else we could find. There were signs noting the cliffs could make for dangerous climbing. I’d read there was a well-worn path to the dinosaur prints but whoever wrote that must have had better eyesight than me! We had great fun climbing over rocks and taking in the view. 
I think this is what’s left of Anastasia’s Pool. It was damaged in a storm within the last couple of years. The pool was created by a couple who lived in the lighthouse keeper’s cottage, the wife suffered from arthritis. I suppose the tide must have come in far enough to fill the pool where she could soak and take in the view. 
The kids are always thrilled to find a large crab, alive or dead. 
Have you noticed the hair yet? Both SkeeterBug (11) and JitterBug (8) had their hair cut very, very short while we were in Broome. It was way overdue. 
This is the third lighthouse that has been built here! This one is a stainless steel tower with an electric light. It’s all automatic and requires no keeper. It’s certainly not the prettiest or fanciest lighthouse we’ve seen, but it did have a really cool feature. 
A huge bird’s nest. Can you see it? We could see and hear birds flying around the lighthouse which is what drew our attention to the nest. Fancy having to do the maintenance on this tower, you’d be dive-bombed by birds the whole time! 
We have no idea if we saw any real dinosaur footprints that day. We certainly didn’t see any that look like the casts and I’ve read there are some that look just like them. We saw some big shapes that might have been footprints, but we weren’t sure. I think the tide was not low enough for us to see most of them.
More Birthdays in the Caravan!
So we’ve had one set of birthdays in the caravan, it’s time for the other set! We’ve been in the caravan long enough now that each of us has celebrated a birthday while we’ve been living in it. LadyBug turned six while we were in Kununurra! That lovely purple camping chair was one of her presents. She had long outgrown the little kiddie-sized one she’d had until now. Her hair was wet because she’d gone for a swim while I wrapped her presents and decorated the van. 
Like many 6yo girls she is a Frozen fan and had been asking for a nightgown for awhile. (Nice photobomb, JitterBug! He looks deep in thought, he must be contemplating why boys don’t get to wear nightgowns.) 
LadyBug had great fun making her birthday cake. Pink icing and sprinkles galore. She already had all the little ponies, we only had to add some colourful candles. 
It was much less stressful for me, too. She did the icing and then I helped her with the bits of cake that weren’t covered. Then I turned her loose with the sprinkles. She decided where to place all the ponies and candles. She loved decorating it, and I loved that she loved it! 
Somehow we started this cupcake tradition this year. It started with JitterBug’s minion cupcakes which I’d done just in case his cake hadn’t turned out. Since everything has to be perfectly fair among siblings that meant making cupcakes for all of them. LadyBug shared hers with some new friends and was thrilled when they sang happy birthday to her. 
Can’t believe my girl is six! 
A few days later it was SkeeterBug’s turn. He turned eleven while we were in Kununurra. We stayed a couple of days longer so that we wouldn’t be travelling on his birthday. 
He only had a couple of presents because one was a big one (in a small package). 
He got to do the make-your-own-cake thing too. Kit-kats and m&m’s galore! I had to hold myself back from trying to make it look perfect and just let him have fun with it. He did enjoy making it and I’m glad he had such fun, who wouldn’t with all that chocolate! He had cupcakes too, I can’t find any pictures of them. 
Can’t believe my kiddo is eleven! I think that’s officially pre-teen, isn’t it? Ack! 
After all these birthdays it was time to move on from hot, hot Kununurra and head toward the coast again. We were very much looking forward to some ocean breezes.
A Few Stops Around Kununurra
Have I mentioned the boab trees lately? They are everywhere across northern WA. Some of them are huge! The caravan park we stayed at in Kununurra had a large one that was estimated to be 2,000 years old! It’s so interesting to see them as we are driving along, the young ones are much harder to pick out because they are so skinny. They all seem to be in different stages of bloom, some have leaves, some have huge seeds (nuts) right now. 
We spent one day looking around in Kununurra. One of the places we visited was Ivanhoe Crossing. The crossing itself is closed, I’m not sure if it’s open for part of the year or not. There’s a big boulder in the road so that no one can take their chances at it. 
When we visited there were several people fishing. Not with poles, just lines they’d throw out in the water and reel back in by hand. 
We didn’t venture too far out as the water was rushing quite fast out there. 
I tried to surreptitiously get this picture of the rock blocking the road but of course right as I snapped the pic I was caught. 🙂 
Then we went into town to have a look at some of the pink diamonds that are mined nearby at Lake Argyle. I wasn’t sure if they’d appreciate a family coming in for look when we weren’t intending to buy any diamonds, but they could not have been nicer. One of the ladies gave us all kinds of interesting information about the diamonds and showed us several. They were so friendly and happy to educate us, it was a real treat. They gave the kids some little fake gems and told us take all the brochures we wanted. There was a toy basket near the counter which kept TurboBug occupied. The mine near Kununurra is the only diamond producing mine in Australia. I think they said 90% of the world’s pink diamonds are mined here, but pink diamonds make up only .01% of the world’s diamonds. Of all the diamonds mined in a year, there are only enough pink ones to fill a champagne glass, and only a few of those are the dusky rose colour which makes them very valuable. She had a champagne glass filled with fake pink gems to illustrate the point. She said the white diamonds mined worldwide in one year would fill a small bedroom. She showed us the various colours of diamonds, blue, green, brown, etc. She even showed us a pink diamond valued at $800k! 
We also visited the Sandalwood Factory. 
We watched a short video to educated us a bit about sandalwood. It’s a new industry in Australia, the first trees were only planted in 1999. Kununurra was the first and is still the biggest plantation. It’s also grown in the NT and QLD. 
After the video the lady in the shop told us they grow 420 trees per hectare, valued at about $1.6 million per hectare. Wow. It’s mostly exported to drug companies, they use it for all kinds of treatments which I don’t remember other than she mentioned eczema. 
We had a browse around the shop, the oil is used to make all kinds of toiletries and other smelly items. 🙂 
They had some pieces that were like sculptures, so gorgeous. 
Sandalwood trees need host trees so driving by you’ll see a mixture of trees with the sandalwood. 
We were going to stop into the mini Bungle-Bungles (I can’t remember the real name), a local national park in Kununurra but it was too hot to do any walks by then so we skipped it. The rock formations are gorgeous and really are reminiscent of the Bungle Bungles further south. 
Our stay in Kununurra will be memorable in that it was just so hot there, at least 40 degrees every day we were there. It was the end of the dry season but not yet the wet season. They call it the build-up to the wet season. Locals told stories of getting a metre of rain in one night during the wet season. It was so hot, we were so thankful for the air conditioning in the van and the pool nearby. We visited church while we were there (and discovered the sales lady from the diamond store was one of the singers up front!) and it was very casual. Everyone was in shorts and flip-flops because how could anyone bother dressing up in that heat? 🙂
The Grotto Rock Pool
There was one place we knew we’d have to visit while we were in Kununurra. The Grotto, about 70km north of town. We stopped in on our way back from Wyndham. 
The creek was looking pretty dry so we weren’t sure what we’d find at the waterhole. 
See those big boulders? Thank goodness they are there or you might drive right over the edge! I really think it would be more accurate to call it a pit than a grotto. 
Had to have a picture with the sign. 🙂 
There are a gazillion steps that wind their way down into the pit/grotto. From above it looks quite intimidating but the steps are quite large and level. 
It’s just that those steps wind around and around and look quite steep from above, especially if you are a parent watching your children go down them. Not so bad when you’re actually on them yourself. 
We got down to the waterhole and were a bit disappointed. The water did not look clear enough for a swim. It was pretty stagnant, we couldn’t see where any water was flowing out or in. I know that looks like a waterfall at the back but that was just markings on the rock where the water must flow after a rain. If we’d been a bit earlier in the season maybe the creek would have been flowing but it was all dried up at this point. We were there late in the tourist season but not late enough for the rains to have started. 
Unfortunately us parents were lagging behind and one of the kids had jumped in before we could tell them all not to. We were glad that child didn’t end up with any illness from the water, we’ve had that happen before with one of the other kids who fell in to some stagnant water last year. We didn’t stay long, just watched some of the birds for a little while and then climbed all those steps back to the top. 
See the yuck floating on the water? Not too inviting. I’ve read it is great after a rain, and those rope swings probably get a work out. The water is supposed to be very deep, estimated at 100m if I remember correctly. 
It was hot. So, so hot. One of those days where the sun feels scorching on your skin. After climbing those steps we were very glad to get back in our air-conditioned car to cool off. One of the kids started feeling sick and had a headache, fortunately some slow sips of water took care of it before it turned into anything more serious. Then it was back to the caravan park for a swim in a proper pool!
Five Rivers & a Huge Croc in Wyndham
Wyndham is the northernmost town in Western Australia. It’s about 100km north of Kununurra. After we visited Emma Gorge we made the drive up to Wyndham to have a look at the Five Rivers Lookout. It’s a place where five rivers empty into one before heading out to sea. 
We had a look for all the rivers and gazed around at the view a bit. Honestly the kids could not have cared less. It was hot and windy up at the lookout and they weren’t all that impressed. Still it was a unique spot and we thought it would be worth seeing. Where else can you see the mouths of five rivers from one lookout? I imagine sunset here would be quite the view. Driving through town was interesting also as it was a bit…unkempt. 
We could see remnants of the iron ore port facilities, I’m not sure if any of it is at all operational now. 
These old barges tell the story of the days when the port was in full swing. LadyBug (6) was wondering if that was a swimming pool down there! 
This sign had me wondering what it says behind that ‘All Clear’. What else can they change it to? Do people really look at the sign when a cyclone is on the way? 
One more thing we had to see in Wyndham, the giant crocodile. If I remember right it is 20m long. 
We’d already been to Emma Gorge this day, we had one more stop to make on our way back to Kununurra…The Grotto!
Emma Gorge, Best Waterhole Ever
Emma Gorge has to be one of my favourite spots on this entire trip. The hike was beautiful and the waterhole was breathtakingly gorgeous. This time of year you have to get there early as they close the gates by 10am. It’s just too hot to hike in there after that. The walk takes about an hour, though I think that for once it took us less as we were motivated to get there quickly so we could get back out before midday. There were numbers along the trail that were meant to point out various things along the way. They also kept the kids going, looking for the next number. There were also blue markings along the trail which were very helpful as sometimes it was hard to see which way the trail went. 
TurboBug(2) wanted to walk but the trail was a bit tricky and we needed to move quickly. So we gave him a stick (or two) to hold and somehow started having him touch each of the numbers with the stick. He was very happy to have this job to do. 
Like I said, the trail was a bit tricky! We were clambering over rocks and hopping across streams. 
Finally we saw the first pool. This is a small swimming hole that you can stop at if you don’t want to do the last and hardest section of the trail. We didn’t swim here but marvelled at how clear and inviting the water looked. 
Finally number 11, the last number on the trail. Time for a swim! 
The waterhole is unbelievably gorgeous. You are surrounded by cliffs with mossy plants growing all over them and water trickling over the sides. 
Behind these rocks was a warm spring. The difference in the temperature had to be felt to be believed. There was a nice little spot to sit in before venturing back into the cold of the waterhole. 
The water wasn’t freezing, more like a cold swimming pool. You only had to brace yourself slightly before jumping in. I’m a wimp when it comes to cold water but even I managed a swim. There were several places around where you could find a rock to stand on, including under this ledge. It was incredible under there, with warm drops of water raining on us from the rocks above. But the thought of all that rock above had me moving out of there before too long! 
Unfortunately we couldn’t stay forever so after a good swim we headed off again. 
Not all of the water was good for swimming in. Yuck! 
Somebody fell asleep toward the end of the walk. It was so hot that his shirt was soaked when we pulled him out of that carrier. We were all very hot and thankful for a rest after our walk. 
On our way out Dad hopped out to close the gate behind us and happened to find an American dime on the ground. How strange is that? 
Because of the drive involved we had a couple more stops to make that day, more to come.