Robert La Bua visits remote wonders of WA while pampered on the Orion
Western Australia is home to a surprising number of beautiful sights, not all of them lurking in the dark corridors of the clubs of Northbridge. While an overland trip to the very macho Kimberley may seem appealing yet daunting, there is a solution for gaysbian travellers who want to visit the wilds of the state without soiling their Bruno Magli loafers… Go by ship.
Australia’s most luxurious cruise company, Orion Expeditions, welcomes travellers of every orientation with equal warmth and consideration. In fact, gay and lesbian travellers seem to be crew favourites; who else brings wry humour on board by the trunkload?
MV Orion is a small ship with only fifty luxurious cabins; it takes passengers into small coves and inlets unreachable by those monstrosities carrying two or three thousand of your closest friends. While a trip on Orion is rather expensive, it is not overpriced; you get a lot for your money. Not surprisingly, Orion expeditions are very popular – and who wouldn’t love to be coddled by a crew of young things all alone on the high seas? Onboard cuisine is superb; presentations about places visited are delivered by expert expedition leaders with genuine enthusiasm for the destinations; and the excitement of a semi-private charter itself is wonderfully calming to the nervous system. Accommodation on board ranges from comfortable staterooms to Owner’s Suites with a full bathtub and picture window. The Balcony Suites have fl oor-to-ceiling glass doors, not that one spends much time in the room. Orion’s cruises are not lazy by any means, and every day brings another shore excursion to a primeval Kimberley setting (after which it’s oh so nice to return to the comforts of the ship).
The Kimberley, a region of Western Australia most easily accessible by sea from Darwin, is one of the world’s most pristine natural areas, untainted by the damage of modern-day human living. Sheer red-orange cliffs drop dramatically into the sky-blue sea; even to the artists amongst us, the varied colours are striking in their depth and clarity. An amazing phenomenon, Montgomery Reef is covered by water at high tide but exposed at low tide when the immense volume of water running off it creates cascading waterfalls in the middle of the sea. Impressive Aboriginal art sites with fascinating cave paintings are found in Vansittart Bay, Bigge Island, and Raft Point. While philistines may dismiss rock painting as simplistic, full appreciation of the artistic expression and communion with the land and sea comes to those who go to the art rather than have the art come to them in an artifi cial urban environment. Riding a Zodiac to an uninhabited island hundreds of kilometres from the nearest corner shop, climbing pathless cliffs to reach cool caves sheltered from the midday heat, and rediscovering the evocative art within these caves brings flagrant pleasure to those who get this far. If it all seems too demanding, the flutes of champagne await back on deck.
The turnaround point for Orion’s Kimberley expedition is Broome, one of Western Australia’s tourism gems. And if it is a gem, it must be a pearl, for it was the pearling industry that put Broome on the map, attracting a sizable community of Asian pearl divers in the 19th century and now buried in the town’s Japanese and Chinese cemeteries. The pearling industry is still big business in this part of the state to this day.
Broome offers several unusual experiences not to be missed. The famous camel sunset rides may sound a bit kitsch to The Jaded Ones, but the animals, sky, and Cable Beach itself are picture perfect. Red Sun Camels offers the best option for a sunset ride. Early risers may prefer the morning rides, though it’s not unheard of for visitors enchanted by threemetre beasts to ride both morning and evening to see the beach in different lights. Broome Hovercraft offers the only hovercraft rides in the Southern Hemisphere. Try one out and go see the dinosaur footprints revealed at Roebuck Bay’s low tide.
Orion’s Kimberley expedition season in 2007 runs until the end of August. Go sooner rather than later; some of the Aboriginal art locations are slated for enclosure to keep people out, restricting viewing from outside which would greatly diminish the experience. Get inside the crevices while you can.
