highplanesdrifters

Thanks for ride. Big fun following along! Safe journey home.

Exactly, your TA should solve. Or get a new TA. Silversea once said our charter flight was not included even though the documents said it was. Battle ensued. Silversea admitted they were wrong.

So sorry to hear. Hopefully something better replaces it.

Vansittart Bay, Kimberly Australia Captian did a quick reposition of the ship across the bay. A spot of lunch and off for the afternoon adventure, a walk to a WWII plane wreck. I was iffy on going but very glad I went even though it was a rather toasty afternoon. The USAAF AirTransport Command C-53 Skytrooper a variant of the DC 3 crash landed because they were running out of gas. No navigational officer on board the wrong coordinates were entered flying from Perth to Broome. Ooops. The pilot found a salt pan and safely landed. A earlier version of Sully. They were rescued 4 days later. As I mentioned a toasty walk across the Salt pan. Lots of rocks to dodge on landing. Eerie sight. A little nature Mudskipper, can you find it? Termite mound Fiddler crab claw, bigger than its body. They wave it to attract the female. Hmmmm. A really toasty walk back.

Vansittart Bay, Jar Island Kimberly. Australia Gwion Gwion Rock art. A rather special stop even if Indigenous Rock art isn't your thing. I'm surprised we are allowed to visit. We landed on a spectacular beach but again told to rush away from Zodiacs as there is a rather large Croc who lives there called George. Swimming denied. Very big sad face. Short walk over interesting rock to the two art locations. A bit up and down but not bad for those with issues. Gwion Gwion art is at least 17,500 years old, dated by radio carbon on the fossilized wasp nests which are on top of the paintings. New technology may provide a better answer soon. Depending on which tribe is asked the art is derived from the dream world or painted by a bird with a bloody beak. You choose. The crazy head dresses depicted reminded me of so many we saw on our leg through PNG. Don't you want to take a dip in that bay? No sign of George. Short walk to the art with minimal rock scrambling. Guides around to lend a hand. Will our guide did a top job of explaining. He lived in a local village previously and his depth of knowledge went beyond the textbook. Check out the gecko on the right. 😃 The dark lines above the figure are termite trails. Fish A tight fit and we are asked not to touch the rocks. Glad I skipped dessert last night. Rocks 😃 Fossilized termite nest.

Shish K BOB Who is BOB? And why does he shish? Aloo Gobi

@RetiredandTravel Menus - at your service. Thanks for great report on the 10 year and market. Being a very small ship menu is limited. But they are more than happy to accommodate any wishes beyond. There has been a lot of grumbling on the SS and Seabourn boards about quality of steaks. I have to say they have been top knotch on this trip. I've eaten more red meat on than in the last year. The Grill menu You probably know this by heart.

CC Intelligentsia, rise up and demand more emojis! What do we want? More Emojis! When do we want them? NOW!

@RetiredandTravel Most excellent report. Thanks! Food and wine coming up.

UP NEXT Vansittart Bay, Jar Island Kimberly's Australia Vansittart Bay is located near the northern tip of Western Australia. The bay was named by Phillip Parker King during one of his four surveys of Northern Australia during the early 19th century.Interesting parts of the bay include Jar Island and the opportunity to view Bradshaw (Gwion Gwion) and Wandjina styles of rock art. For these two different rock art styles there are two sites in close proximity.An area with an example of a more recent history is the Anjo Peninsula. A beach landing and a short hike across a lagoon or -depending on tides- a walk around the lagoon will lead to a World War II site. An almost intact wreck of an old airplane, a C-53, can be seen there.

@Stumblefoot As good as it looks! Smoked salmon with Q Tip Falafel - yum Shish K Bob

Good story. It begs the question...where is Captian Mike now?🤣 Our zodiac drivers had been warned about an area with sand bars. We had the worst driver of the expedition team. I was a bit nervous.🫣

@Port Power wowza you saw some cool stuff. I'm going to have to come back to go on that tour. Love the bats!

King George River Falls, Kimberly. Australia We were given two zodiac cruise options today. Early, 7:30, 3 1/2 hour slow option. OR, the sleep in wussy 9 a.m. fast 2 hour trip. Sleep in wussy that I am, 2 hours it is. Perhaps @FauxNomcan report on the early trip. 😁 Another wet and bumpy ride to the river entrance. No one cared. Flanked by the soaring 300 foot red sandstone cliffs for the entire ride we were mesmerized. Here's the eye candy. Stunning day. This was called the guillotine. Geologist do not know how the webbing is formed. I'm going with Alien carved grafitti. Twin Falls Look what was hiding around the corner for us. Silverseas drive through bottle shop. YAY! On the way back we found this bad boy. A few in our zodiac got to see a Djougong, similar to a manatee.

King George River Falls Gobsmacked, report to follow. 20230526_101248.mp4

@Stumblefoot Champagne and a rice ball to tide you over.🤣

@Port Power. It's official, you need to do more reporting. Great stuff. Fyi, our bus driver kept yapping. We saw the tree he planted 50 years ago and the one that fell down in last years storm. Also learned about passing lanes. 🤯

Wow, what a story. Thanks so much for posting. I just read about the Camel Stations that opened up the interior. Fascinating history.

Anyone? What's going on with the 10yr? Debt ceiling stuff, bank risk/credit spreads. I thought Fed was talking June pause. Trying to play on the other side of the world and not enough time to figure it out.

For my fellow rock geeks. The Kimberly wasn't always part of the Australian continent. Plate tectonic movement slammed it in over hundreds of thousands of years. That is why we get such interesting rock formations so different than much of Australia. Here's the technical stuff. The area formed in a slow tectonic plate collision during the Paleoproterozoic. The Kimberley Craton, which was moving south-eastwards, smashed into the North Australia Craton. The resulting series of deformations created the Hooper Complex and Lamboo Complex, which can be seen today along the southern margin of the Kimberley Craton.[2] During the Proterozoic to Early Phanerozoic, the region had phases of mountain building (orogeny), faulting and sedimentary basin formation. Finally, the two cratons sutured, becoming one craton.

Depending on weather and distance from the port, YES, it will be like your Alaska trip. That is one of the reasons is why it's called and Expedition.

Thanks @TLCOhio, @Newtoem And @Daveywavey70 Hope its as perfect for you. Should be another fab day. Already looking spectacular.

UP NEXT Koolama Bay & Zodiac up the Hunter River Koolama Bay is found at the mouth of the King George River. Named after the ship that had been beached here after a Japanese aerial attack during World War II, Koolama Bay is the starting point for a Zodiac cruise to reach the King George Falls, one of the Kimberley’s most magnificent natural wonders. At 260 feet (80 m), the twin cascades are among the highest in Australia. Koolama Bay and the river weaving through an amazing landscape of near vertical red rock formations will offer a parade of wildlife —saltwater crocodiles and amazing birdlife, including giant raptors and the Brahminy Kite.

Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park. Australia A most excellent day. To experience this vast empty expanse and stunning landscape by air was a treat. The scale is still hard to fathom. The tour must have been run by a Swiss organization. Everything ran like clockwork. No milling about or confusion. We were split into 2 groups. First group, which we were part of, headed to Wyndham Airport for their flight. Second group bussed to Kununurra for lunch. We switched places there and each did the reverse. Our sweet ride, a Cesna 208 Caravan. Seats were a 2-1 configuration. We were assigned seats for weight distribution. I got a window, yay. Wing support did block the view a bit. Ord River. Can't wait to hear how the cruise went. looks spectacular from above. Heard lots of crocs were spotted. Perhaps we can get @Port Power to report. Argyle Reservoir. Home to some 30,000 crocodiles, 80% female. The temperature of the eggs determines sex. Swim anyone? And now we head into the Bungle Bungles. Sedimentary formations 350 million years old. Being a rock hound this was a highlight of the trip. Canyons galore. Argyle Diamond Mine. Sadly closed, no more pinks.😪 The Ord River near Kununurra Lunch at The Kimberly Grand was pretty good, albeit a bit weird. The weird part. The pier. Wyndham was once quite the industrial town and train tracks ran right up to the boats. Another fabulous sunset.

Brilliant Bungle Bungles Quick video post before the internet gets jammed. Report to come. 20230525_110401.mp4