Vansittart Bay: Kimberley day 4 - rockart, shells, wildflowers, WWII DC3 wreck and a freshwater swim

 23 June 2026

Hatpin

We awoke in Vansittart Bay, and after a continental breakfast the morning excursions commenced. I chose to visit the rock art on Jar Island.

Fabulous rocks on the approach to the beach

As we approached the beach to commence our walk to the art, there were some fabulous rocks with an occupied osprey nest on top. 

With an inhabited osprey nest on top (Jasmine's photo, mine was blurred)
































It was a very special experience:  actually seeing some very little visited rock art and the landscape through which we walked was also interesting with its boulders and mangrove swamps. It was a low tide visit because it would have been much more difficult at high tide. 

Rock art

The fishing trip, chosen by some, had not been successful. 

A tenuous hold on the rock

Lovely view on the return walk to the beach

Our patient from yesterday. Madeline was looking considerably better this morning. 

Back at the boat. We relocated and once again boarded the tenders, this time to visit a World War II plane which hadn't actually crashed but had done an emergency landing when it ran out of fuel. To access that, we walked across the sand dunes across the salt pan and through a bit of bush.   I was more interested in the flowers than the plane. However, the story Jasmine told us about the plane was interesting - of course in the early 1940's you would take off in a plane without a navigator!!
One slightly damaged DC10

One slightly damaged DC10

The beach on which we landed offered many interesting shells but as we are 'on country' removing shells is frowned upon and it was suggested we restrict ourselves to just one or two. I would have liked to spend some time searching and photographing to potentially identify later as I suspect there are many here that have not been formally identified. 

A small conch of some variety, I think

We also saw some gorgeous wild flowers as we walked through the bush including some sundews with lovely blue flowers and some fringed lilies, which are really pretty.

Sundew flower

Fringe Lily

Baobab Tree

Back on the boat and it was time for lunch and the chef had made a special version of laska for me - which had an inordinately large quantity of chicken - far more than I could eat. 

Waiting to get back on the boat

After lunch the boat moved once again and around about 2:00 we were again getting into the tenders. This time heading for a couple of little freshwater rock pools where we were able to have a dip. 

Freshwater pools

The further pool which I opted to go to had a lovely little cascade into it which provided a very nice massage.  The delights of a freshwater dip include the feeling of one's skin afterwards - positively silky!

Enjoying the dip - photo courtesy of Jasmine

Yesterday's patient, Madeline had come with us to the first pool which was a very short distance from where the boats landed but decided not to risk slippery rocks but she did come in the tender and get out of the tender onto rocks and do the little walk to sit in the shade and watch the others swim. 

As good as a massage - photo courtesy of Jasmine

After a shower and change of clothes, I proceeded up to the top rear deck and in conversation with Desilee, we discovered a common interest in textiles and dressmaking. Much to the disgust of her husband who accused me of being a bad influence on her. 

In due course I went downstairs and procured some soda water with a slice of lime to which I added a dash of the Bright Night gin I had put into my suitcase. 

Watching the sunset - the sun caught the tops of the waves

Taking this back up I proceeded to find a good spot to watch the sunset. As the sun sank towards the horizon, the red of the sunset caught the tops of the waves in a rather beautiful manner. The colours were lovely and continually changing as the sun went down and I did see the green flash as it dipped below the horizon. 

Watching the sunset 

I sat for some time after, with Gary who had joined me just before sunset, The rays of the hidden sun projected up to the atmosphere and darkness crept across the sky. Venus and then Jupiter made their appearance. 

Sunset afterglow

As the stars started to come out, it was time to go below and be ready for dinner. 

The very loud Peter, AKA Wally, was even louder, probably due to the influence of a continual intake of cans of beer, which had commenced when we returned from swimming around about 3:30. 

After Jasmine's briefing for the next day, most people retired for the night and the dining room was pretty well empty by 8:00 p.m. 

And given that the first fishing party tomorrow is 5:45, that is fairly understandable.















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flying, Friends and Fire alarms

Image
Sunset over Darwin The journey to Darwin was relatively uneventful as all good flights ought to be.  The Uber was outside and waiting before the appointed time, the flights left relatively on time. I had booked and paid for the comfort of extra legroom and I had the bonus of no one reclining their seat in my face, no oversized person in the seat next to me trying to share my seat as well, and no obnoxious children behind me. I emailed sushi X from Melbourne with my order for dinner and pick up time and then rang them to make sure the email hadn't disappeared into junk.  The Jetstar seats were not exactly luxurious. I'm not sure who designed them, but they must have a very strangely shaped back.  As we passed over outback New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland and into the Territory I noted just how brown everything is, but also how sculpted it was with water courses.  Landing in Darwin, I saw the extensive array of military aircraft; I hadn't rea...
Read more

King George River: Kimberley Day 3

Image
22 June 2026 Approaching Twin Falls in the King George River After a much better night's sleep we were underway around 7am and although breakfast was put out for 7:30 the staff chose to delay it. After the debacle with yesterday's lunch, the staff chose to hold all the dishes in place as we crossed the bar. Tinny holds the breakfast dishes in place as we cross the bar We headed for the King George River and it is, of course, another lovely sunny day.  A lovely sunny day as we approach the King George River As we travelled along the coast, I retired to the upper rear deck again with my book which I finished mid-morning and handed it on to another to read. The top deck One passenger, a man called Peter, a rather loud character who initially reminded me of a potential character for Middle Class Bogan, a series of which I've never actually watched a single full episode, has been christened 'Wally' by another passenger, and the resemblance is strongly that of the charact...
Read more

Dinosaurs and their Descendants

Image
4 July 2026 therapod track As Dawn breaks, I am under my outside shower looking up at the coconuts Palms and watching the sky change colour.  I am ready for my morning tour pickup at 6:45 a.m.. Broome clearly works on a completely different time frame to the rest of the world, but I will concede that this one is tide dependant. Dinosaur footprints are found in Broome Sandstone, approximately 140 million years old, when it is exposed along about 70 km of the coast. Footprints are known a trace fossils - they are traces of where the animals have been, rather than remains of them. Dianne, our guide,  explained how the footprints fossilised and that sometimes they were found as casts - the solidified sediments that filled the footprint impression. Sauropod footprint Sauropod cast back and front  Sometimes a series of footprints showed where a dinosaur walked - a dinosaur trackway.  Broome has the longest known dinosaur footway in the world. Walking beside these fossilise...
Read more