Racing the tides of King Sound

 Racing the tides of King Sound

The highlight of our Kimberley Wild trip to Cape Leveque was the tide race we saw from One Arm Point.  Tour leader James Weeding took us to a cliff-top viewpoint to show us the rising tide swirling round the reefs and islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago, and making trains of white water southward.  We could hear the noise of the racing sea.  As the tide range in King Sound is about 9 metres a huge quantity of sea water must flow in from the Indian Ocean and back out again twice daily.  At high tide off One Arm Point the current weakens, and then reverses, so that during the ebb there is an equally strong outflow northward, with white water bubbling past the reefs and islands in that direction.James told us that in 1822 Captain Philip Parker King sailed past Cape Leveque on the brig Bathurst, and found himself swept southward by these strong tidal currents.  He navigated his ship between the islands and reefs, and came ashore on a headland that he named Point Cunningham, after the famous botanist Allan Cunningham, who was on board.  Subsequently Captain John Lort Stokes named King Sound after the captain of the Bathurst.

- Richard Wilson travelled on Kimberley Wild’s 1 Day Cape Leveque Adventure

 

 

The Saltwater People

Experience the land of the Bardi – the saltwater people

My guide, Debbie Sibosado, fell silent as a flock of red-tailed, black cockatoos flew overhead. She became agitated, shuffled on her feet and kept her head down. I silently waited, admiring the birds, looking at the rugged bush land around me, and the red soil beneath my feet. The midday sun was beating down as the uncomfortable interlude passed. Soon enough Debbie revived and as cool as a cucumber, while I sweated profusely in my descent into sweltering mess, continued our bushtucker walk through her native Djugaragyn back yard.

Debbie is an Indigenous guide, one of the Bardi ’saltwater people’ whose traditional homeland is the remote Dampier Peninsula in northwest Australia. After a long legal battle, the Bardi people finally won recognition of their native land rights to the Peninsula as recently as 2005. Today, the region is slowly becoming known beyond the Kimberleys, as one of the most unique, pristine, coastal environments in Australia. Home to rust red pindan soil, blinding white sandy beaches by iridescent ocean, unspoilt native scrubland and many Indigenous communities, the Dampier Peninsula, or Dampierland, offers some of the most authentic and rewarding Australian experiences.
 
I had left Broome at dawn, bumped my way up the 4WD Cape Leveque Road, and reached Djugaragyn by 11am. Joining Debbie for an insightful exploratory into Dampierland history, culture and flora, we discovered atmospheric old timber stockyards, from the land’s past life as a cattle station, tried local bushtucker, learnt about untouchable ‘law trees’  and revealed a traditional medicine for headaches – one for my next hangover hopefully. Some time later, as we were enjoying a plate of hot damper, fresh from the fire, Debbie explained her earlier discomfort. Red-tailed, black cockatoos are her inlaws and according to Bardi law, when she encounters them she must show respect and neither look nor not speak until they have passed. I wondered for while who my secret inlaws could be. While I am speechless when I see a dreaded huntsman spider, I soon decided phobic fear and ancient law were far from the same thing.