It is time for an update on the latest adventures of Dog and Dragon. This post will focus on Dragon’s latest experiences working and exploring on her first visit to Australia. While Dragon Expedition: NW Australia began in Australia’s Northern Territory, it quickly moved into the region of Western Australia known as the Kimberley. Dragon joined the Seabourn Pursuit in Darwin before spending three weeks discovering the wonders of the Kimberley’s amazingly diverse and dangerous sub-tropical environment. Click here if you need to catch up on what’s new with Dog & Dragon.
Expedition Ship
Dragon’s current assignment aboard the Seabourn Pursuit is a unique experience in and of itself. The Pursuit is a beautiful luxury cruise ship designed and engineered specifically to facilitate the ability to explore some of the Earth’s most remote locations. In addition to having the capability to sail into these hard to reach regions of Australia, it will also venture into some of the most remote regions of Southeast Asia, the numerous islands of the South Pacific, the fjords of Chile, and the icy cold waters of Antarctica. Equipped with 24 Zodiac boats, 8 double sea kayaks, and 2 custom built submarines, the Pursuit is truly an expedition machine. Follow this link for more information on the Seabourn Pursuit.
Understandably, the focus of an expedition class cruise ship is of course the expeditions. Part of the experience for the guests is having the medical team as a resource for their safety if needed. What does that mean? That means a member of the medical team is required to accompany the expedition teams on their outings for the safety of the guests and crew. As a result, Dragon has had the opportunity to see some of the Kimberley’s amazing sights first hand. According to Australia’s North West tourism site the Kimberley region has fewer people per square km than almost any place on Earth. Let’s talk about some of the fantastic locations Dragon was able to experience over her three weeks in Western Australia.
King George Falls
Dragon’s first Zodiac experience was a 10 nautical mile trip up the King George River. Despite it being the Australian winter, the weather was down right hot with constant sunshine. The Zodiac trip up the river showed off the many bird species that live in this rugged sandstone landscape. I’m not sure I need to state it, but swimming is a hard no in most of the locations she visited during this stretch. The water is home to salt water crocodiles and venomous snakes. The highlight of the King George River journey were the dual King George Falls. The 250 ft high twin falls were breathtaking and completely worth the journey.
Vansittart Bay
Vansittart Bay is on a small, remote island featuring a picturesque beach. The area is famous for more than just beautiful beaches though. It was an airbase during WWII and contains crashed airplane wreckage. The highlight of Dragon’s visit was observing an area of aboriginal rock art called the Gwion Gwion. For more information on the rock art of the Kimberley, visit the Bradshaw Foundation website.
Ashmore Reef
Ashmore Reef is a marine park sanctuary that is home to hundreds of thousands of birds, coral reef, and countless aquatic sea life. Dragon was responsible for travelling with the expedition teams, but was required to stay onboard the Zodiac during the snorkeling opportunities. We were able to see some amazing pictures from the expedition photographers, but all the pictures we have to post may be slightly less exciting as they are above water. Enjoy!
Hunter River
Journeying up the Hunter River in Western Australia was an amazing representation of the wildness of the region. The terrain shifted from severe rust colored sandstone cliffs to fabulous blue green water running into twisted mangroves. Crocodiles, river snakes, birds, and mudskippers all inhabited this dramatic landscape.
Kuri Bay
A trip to Kuri Bay offered an opportunity unique to anything Dragon had done before. Kuri Bay is renowned for its pearls. The expedition visited a pearl farm and learned some of the areas history as a famous piece of the pearl farming industry. Dragon was able to see and hold some of the pearls collected from Kuri Bay. She also marveled at the curious baobab trees growing around the bay.
Montgomery Reef
Dragon’s outing to Montgomery Reef gave her an opportunity to witness a truly amazing natural feature of the ocean in this part of the world. Montgomery Reef or Yowjab, is a 300 sq km section of the Lalang-gaddam Marine Park. While the Lalang-gaddam is known for its humpback whales, Montgomery Reef is known for its incredible tidal phenomenon. When the tide recedes vast sections of reef are exposed resulting in the water creating cascading waterfalls off of up to four meter height of exposed reef.
Talbot Bay
The Pursuit spent multiple days exploring locations in and around Talbot Bay. One of those outings took Dragon to witness a geological formation known as Horizontal Falls. The falls don’t actually fall. Horizontal Falls is formed by gaps in a huge layer of sandstone that results in the water being squeezed out at low tide as waters on the inland side of the sandstone rock formation are pinched through the gaps faster than the width of the space allows them to normally recede. The result is the churning, swirling appearance of what is known as the Horizontal Falls. If you need a better image and explanation, try this page at NW Australia or this local tour site.
Kimberley Exceeds Expectations
Dragon Expedition: NW Australia was a phenomenal experience. The entire adventure included more than I have covered here with explorations to Lacepede Island, Freshwater Cove, Cyclone Creek, and Nares Island. Conveying Dragon’s experiences to you in the third person doesn’t quite do justice to what it was like experiencing all of these places first hand. For an intriguing and captivating first hand account of the Seabourn Pursuit experience I suggest this recent article by Janice Wald Henderson in Travel & Leisure. Suffice to say Dragon is having an experience of a lifetime while working aboard one of the great expedition cruises of our time.
