FriendlyBrooks

The Kimberley….. beautiful by road, perfect by coast

Lance Brooks, loving the Kimberly again, September 2026

Aflter a month in the US it was time for our next adventure – an 11 night  cruise through the Kimberley with Lance’s mother, Yvonne. This was part of her 90th birthday celebration(s).

We flew out of Sydney on Virgin on 9th September. I had a bit of trouble checking in online and had to call them which is lucky because our flight was moved forward by an hour to 6am! Thanks to Yvonne’s assisted passage we sailed through the airport and were happily ensconced on the plane nice and early.

We landed in Broome and checked into the Mangrove Hotel. It was very nice and had 2 great pools. After unpacking and relaxing by the pool we dressed for dinner and went to Cable Beach House. The sunset was spectacular of course as was the food and company.

We had a leisurely breakfast and checked our luggage in for the cruise by 10am. We then had a few hours to kill before boarding. We went for a drive up to the port, to Point Gantheaume and a few other beaches. Then we went to Chinatown where I had booked an important appointment with the beautician for a leg wax.  Lance and Yvonne wandered around the shops and then we had lunch. Yvonne and I went back to the hotel while Lance took the car back to the airport. What should have been a 15 minute exercise took him nearly an hour as he had to walk back in the heat as taxis are only available to meet the planes, and there were no planes landing for several hours. We hurried to the cruise meeting point meeting, arriving just on time.

Before we knew it we had boarded the Coral Discoverer where we were greeted with drinks, snacks and an opportunity to meet some of our fellow passengers. It turned out there were only 41 passengers for this cruise instead of the maximum 72. We checked into our cabins, with Yvonne deciding that an upgrade to A deck was in order. The ship has 4 decks with the dining room on C deck, which was where our cabin was. A deck had balconies and the lecture room was there. That’s where Yvonne’s room was  once we were settled into our rooms we  then all met on deck for our safety briefing and sunset drinks before our first night where we sat with a nice couple from Victoria. We were also introduced to the Kimberly Newsletter where we would find out each day’s agenda

We awoke to our first day on the boat and we were far away from shore heading for the Lacepede Islands. The dawn was stunning.

Our itinerary for today was printed for us:

After breakfast we boarded the Xpolrer, the ship’s runabout boat that could hold all of us and was used for most of our sightseeing.

We motored through a gap between two islands and around to a lagoon which is the world’s largest breeding ground for brown boobies. We were lucky enough to see a number of young chicks amongst the literally thousands of birds. Apart from boobies we also saw pelicans, terns, and frigate birds. We transferred to zodiacs to get even closer to the wildlife and saw hundreds of  green sea turtles and lots of rays in the bright blue water.

We returned safely to the ship it was time for lunch. After lunch we had one of our first lectures from our expert guides. The lecture from Steve was the first in what would be many informative talks. We had Captain’s welcome drinks on the deck and then dinner. After dinner we watched the first episode of the Kimberly documentary hosted by Mark Coles Smith.

The next morning we arrived at Talbot Bay. Lance got up early to do his morning yoga and i managed to catch the sunrise.

Our itinerary for the day was printed for us

After breakfast we boarded the Xplorer for a cruise around Talbot Bay. We first cruised over the horizontal falls which were quiet as it was low tide. Then we cruised up Talbot Bay, past the seaplane take off, the seaplane overnight camp and up into the far reaches, spotting wildlife such as rock wallabies, frogs, crabs and even a sea eagle pair. We also saw beautiful cliff views and plants including the Kimberly rose. As we returned to the ship we were treated to a display of dolphins.

We had lunch on board and then took part in our first session of weaving with Dikul. She gave us a talk on weaving practices and how they tell the story of their culture, in her case from Elco Island in East Arnhem Land.  Dikul has a PhD and coordinates the 51 languages in the Top End. She is also a master weaver and has produced pieces on commission for many public spaces. Needless to say my weaving skills are akin to my crochet skills. Apparently all that was required was to weave threads of pandanus leaves up down across but no matter what my weave did not come out like Dikul’s. I was not alone though and the whole session created much merriment among the group and also aided in the formation of some real bonds amongst the weavers.

After the weaving session, we boarded the zodiacs to go through the horizontal falls as the tide rose.  Lance and I chose to go in the fast boat, while Yvonne went in the slow boat. It was an experience that I had been looking forward to and it was fun, but not as terrifying nor exhilarating as I had imagined. Whilst sitting in the zodiac we watched an eagle hover high above and Lance got a beautiful photo.

We had yet another beautiful sunset spot and dinner. We watched the second episode of The Kimberly. As we went to bed we were given our next day’s agenda

We were greeted by perfect weather and perfect tides for a very special day. We boarded the Xplorer early so we could be at Montgomery Reef for absolute low tide. Our trip was perfectly timed to enjoy the biggest tidal range possible – more than 10 metres from high to low. Montgomery Reef makes itself visible at very low tide. Because of its distance from shore it is only accessible by some boats that are small enough to be able to travel through the reefs channels. The Xplorer is made for this type of adventure.

We first drove over to a sand island which is only above water at extremely low tide, which we were experiencing. We got out and walked around a little. Lance and I walked right across the island (only 5 minutes away). We were out of sight of the group which could have been a concern but the crew did triple checks of all their passengers movements after an unfortunate incident the company had a couple of years ago. 

We viewed this reef with its coral and rock gorges, waterfalls created by the tide and an abundance of sea creatures from the zodiacs so we could see right on to the rock pools.

We went back to the mother ship for lunch as we motored around to Raft Point. We first traveled through the mangroves, while the tide was high in the Xplorer finding bat colonies along the way. We then traveled around the magnificent cliffs, also  viewing the aptly named Steep Island and landed on a beautiful remote beach. We walked along the beach and over the rocks for an hour or so.

We reboarded the Coral Discover where we took in the sunset with the backdrop of magnificent cliffs and islands. At dinner that evening we experienced a real treat as one of our waitresses, Albina,  turned out to be a magnificent young opera singer. Her voice was incredible and we were reminded just how lucky we were to be on this cruise.

After dinner we played Celebrity Heads. I had Mickey Mouse which I guessed quite easily due to my recent sojourn with the grandchildren. Our itinerary for the next day was waiting in our cabin when we went to bed.

After breakfast there was a briefing for our Mitchell Falls helicopter flight that Yvonne, Lance and I were going to do. After the briefing we did another weaving session. It was a much smaller group as the first session had put off some people. But not this committed weaver! Thankfully Dikul made the session much easier and we made 2 different bracelets.

After the successful weaving session we had lunch before heading off in the Xplorer to Prince Regent River. The Prince Regent river is unique in that it flows for 100kms in a completely straight direction. As it happens Lance and I had flown over this river when we did our flight from Drysdale station nearly 2 months earlier. King Cascade is a key feature in this river. It is at the back of a semicircular cove and is a permanent waterfall. The crew parked the boat up under the waterfall enabling us to have a “Kimberly shower”. This was our only opportunity to ‘swim’ on the whole cruise. The scenery was magnificent and the shower was exhilarating. While we cruised around the cove we spotted a crocodile and heard the story of actress Ginger Meadows who decided to swim back to the boat and was taken by a crocodile. This was a warning to all!!

After our shower the crew took us on a very special trip up the Prince Regent River and through the mangroves that can only be accessed during extreme high tides, which we had. Craig, the Xplorer captain did a marvelous job with the help of his crew navigating his way through the overhanging branches. Some of the passengers were concerned that we wouldn’t make it through but we did! We arrived at a magnificent secluded waterfall where we were completely alone with the elements.

After dinner we watched the final episode of The Kimberly, which we had all thoroughly enjoyed. We were again presented with the following day’s itinerary upon retiring to bed.

This day was an exciting one for Yvonne, Lance and me as we caught a helicopter up to Mitchell Falls. Lance and I were finally going to get our chance to see the falls first hand. As there were only 10 people doing the helicopter trip the rest of the passengers went on a trip to a different beach. We were to travel up to Mitchell Falls in small groups. Lance, Yvonne and I waited to be transferred to the zodiac which would take us to the beach where the helicopter picked us up. Yvonne sat up front while Lance in the air, we had a magnificent view of the rivers and plateaux and within minutes we were at the top of Mitchell Falls and being met by Jasmine, one of our lovely expedition leaders. She was wonderful walking Yvonne to the lookout. It was incredible watching how well this nearly 90 year old woman managed walking over the uneven rocky terrain. Lance and I walked on to the next lookout whilst Yvonne rested with Jasmine and the view. On our way back Lance and I swam in the pool at the top of the falls. It was quite shallow but still nice to get wet in fresh water. The chopper picked us up and before we knew it we were back onboard the Discoverer with the rest of the group.

After lunch we had a very special excursion to view some rock art. We traveled to a small island and climbed up to a cave that apparently few people usually visit. Here we visited some galleries of paintings depicting Wandjina, animals and people. It was an incredible.experience. When we returned to the beach we found Dikul sitting under a tree. She had picked some fruit from the tree. She called the fruit smelly cheese fruit and encouraged us to try it. Guess what it tasted like?  Yep smelly cheese. Apparently its very good for you especially settling tostomach ills. We’ll take her word for it.

The special day continued with sunset drinks on the beach. Apart from the beautiful views it was also a great chance to socialize with the other passengers.. On the way back to the Duscoverer we enjoyed a sing-along – Sweet Caroline never sounded so goo, so 😊. After dinner we were treated to star gazing sessions run by the chief expedition officer, Mark, who had a wealth of knowledge.

We went to bed reading our next day itinerary. I don’t have a copy but I know that we visited Jar Island in the morning to view a different style of rock art and then we went to see a plane that had crashed in world war 2.

Jar Island is a small, remote island located in Vansittart Bay. The island is famous for the Gwion Gwion style art which depict elongated human figures in ceremonial attire. Estimates for the age of these paintings range from roughly 12,000 to over 40,000 years old. The island was named Jar Island by explorer Phillip Parker King after he discovered broken earthenware pottery shards left behind by Macassan fishermen from Indonesia who sailed to the northern Australian coast for centuries to harvest trepang (sea cucumbers) and trade with local Aboriginal people. There are 4 styles of Gwion Gwion art all based around the peg figures. Bradshaw, who first “discovered” this art named the four styles.

It was quite a warm day and some of the art required a bit of a scramble to see it so we were split into 3 groups. The more agile group scrambled up the path, squeezing through rocks and climbing rocky steps. There we found ourselves in a large gallery. There were two other galleries to explore on the island. This was yet another special excursion.

After lunch we were dropped at a beach where we walked across a swamp at low tide to see the wreck of a plane shot down in World War 2. Steve talked about the crew who survived for about 10 days before being rescued.while we were there Dikul collected some pandanas leaves, which looked like a lot of hard work. We also had a lesson on how to create the threads for weaving. Apparently there’s a knack to it but I didn’t learn the technique very well.

We went back to the ship for dinner and watched another film before bed. We were also presented our next day’s itinerary.

Another corker of a day! We left in the Xplorer quite early to explore the quite magnificent King George River. When you pull into the bay the river is hidden and all you can really see is a sandy spit. This is the reason the early European navigators could not see the river. As we headed further up the river the cliffs were more and more dramatic and culminated in  twin waterfalls . On the way in we had a very special encounter with a rock wallaby. Craig waa able to get the Unfortunately the water flow was quite low so there was no Kimberley shower this time, however we were able to have a little splash. After the waterfall we got into the zodiacs so we could get even closer to the cliffs. On our way back to the Discoverer we stopped to view a “floating handbag” up close.

After lunch we visited Tranquil Bay, which turned out to be not quite as tranquil as we might have thought. It was quite a rough landing on the beach, yet again testing the skills of our crew who got us all to shore safely. We wandered along the beach and to the lagoon at the back, being mindful of potential crocodiles. We saw some (old) footprints but no actual croc. The beach and lagoon were beautiful.

When we arrived back at the boat we had a tour of the  ships engine room before our final weaving session. We were encouraged to tell our stories of how we came to make our project. My story was scant but I did speak of the wonderful connection made through the process of weaving. Many others had brought along other artworks they had created on the ship, including video art and water colours as well as some clever weaving. We then joined  Captain Ricardo for drinks on the upper deck where we were treated to another opera session from waitress Albina.

Our itinerary for our whole day at sea was given to us before bed.

I have to say I was a little worried about having a day at sea with no excursions. I couldn’t imagine how we would fill the time, but as always we were kept busy from sunup until sundown. I particularly enjoyed the tour of the bridge and also felt a great sense of achievement completing my wall hanging (small as it is). The lecture from Steve on Philip Parker King, who was a great navigator was very informative and interesting. Lance and I joined Judith and her sister and Lauren for the Trivia competition and we came equal first, losing on a count back. We also enjoyed watching Bran Nue Day before bed.

We were presented with our itinerary for our exciting day in the Tiwi Islands

After traveling across the Timor Sea with a bit of rocking we arrived at Melville Island on a bright calm day. We were greeted by the local community who performed a smoking ceremony and local dances. Our group was encouraged to join in the dancing. We then visited the art gallery where there were lots of magnificent pieces. Lance and I bought two bark paintings. The artists were very happy and gave us lots of hugs.

Dikuls talk on culture was very interesting, especially learning that barramundi is the least preferred delicacy whilst the worms are the most. We sailed on in the sunset, enjoying the last night on board the Discoverer and packed our bags ready for disembarkation the next morning.

We said our farewells to our friends and crew and disembarked on Sunday morning in Darwin and checked into the Adina at the waterfront. Lance, Yvonne and I spent a pleasant afternoon eating a delicious lunch at The Salted Egg and lazing by the wave pool at the waterfront. We then went to mass at the cathedral before visiting the Mindl Beach markets and watching the sunset on the beach.

Yvonne had to leave for Sydney on the Monday so she could attend the funeral of a long time dear friend. We dropped her at the airport and waited for her to board the plane. Lance and I then went to the NT Art Gallery and Museum where we saw the Telstra Awards entrants. It was a wonderful exhibition of contemporary indigenous art. Following that we had a drink at the nearby ski club (water ski). We then went to Nightcliff for a sunset walk on the beach and dinner . Lance even had a swim in the ocean, despite the threat if crocodiles.

On our final day in Darwin we wandered around Smith Street mall doing some shopping and eating a àaaaaàpLaksa at the award winning Choks Place. We also dropped the van back at Big Boys Toys for its storage over the next week. In the evening we went to the Deckchair Cinema and watched a fabulous film callod Cycling for Love. At 11pm we drove to the airport ready for our overnight flight flight back to Sydney, where we were attending Conor and Caitlin s wedding.