The Magical Kimberley Coast Part 2 - A visit to a plane wreck and an island

Goodness, time has flown and it is almost Christmas Day! The lead-up to Christmas is always a busy time, but this time around so much has had to be done on top of all the usual shopping, gift-wrapping, posting cards and gifts, and celebrating this happy season and birthdays and so on with different sets of friends and family. I have not had time to write my annual Christmas epistle that I usually send out to family and friends, but have been involved in writing a long newsletter for my cohort at the school I attended as teenager, which is just going out today, and in writing two international chemistry competition papers. I am submitting one paper for production today; the other is still not finished, but hopefully will be finished within the next two weeks.

Anyhow, back to my story about the cruise along the Kimberley coast. . . 

After we left the King George river and sailed further along the coast, we first visited the Anjo Peninsula and then made a couple of landings on Jar Island, one of the many small uninhabited islands along the coastline. Again we travelled on the Xplorer so that we could land right on the beaches and scurry up the golden sands in case there were any saltwater crocodiles lurking in the seawater near their shores.  

On the Anjo Peninsula, the wreck of an old World War 2 plane on the salt pan generated a lot of interest. Some passengers climbed inside it and waved to the rest of us from the cockpit. I tell a little of the story behind the wreck in the next post. 

On jar Island we saw some very interesting rock formations, and signs of the island having been inhabited by Aboriginal people tens of thousands of years ago. We saw a midden, which is a site that was once occupied by Aboriginal people where they left the remains of their meals. It usually looks like a round dome of shells. These can be several metres deep, depending on how many generations of the same group (or ‘mob’) used the site.  We also saw Aboriginal rock art inside caves and hollows. That experience has very powerful effect on you, knowing that very few people have been privileged to see them, and imagining the people from so long ago telling their story, their beliefs, in the only way they could, with materials they found nearby. 

And at the end of the day we were treated to a spectacular sunset. 

Arriving on the first island.

Mangroves. Notice their 'breathing tubes'. 

Our first siting of Aboriginal rock art.

At the rock art site.

Extraordinary rock formations.

The WW2 plane wreck. 

A magnificent sunset seen from the ship after our day on the first island.

And a magnificent sunrise seen on the way to the second island.

Arriving on the second island.

More amazing rock formations.

This 'dome' of tiny shells is an Aboriginal midden. No doubt the Aboriginal people sheltered under the natural rocky shelf whilst eating. 

Close to the midden.

More of the rocks around the midden.

Along the beach. I suspect this sandy mound was built by small crabs. It was covered in 'air holes'.  

View along the shoreline of the island. 

Our ship, the Oceanic Discoverer.

Along the walk around the second island.

An incredible bit of what I think was coral washed up on shore. 

A very different style of Aboriginal rock art. 

We often saw outlines of hands painted in ancient times along our journey. 

Relaxing back on the top deck of the ship at sunset. 

The sun going down. 

The richest variety of colours were seen just after the sun had set.