Winter News Update From
Kimberley Coastal Camp

As we near the end of the 2001 season at KCC, we have been reflecting on some of the highlights of this year. It has been the best ever!

The fishing in the first half of the season, when the dedicated fisher-folk come to take advantage of the run-off after the Wet, was exceptional; we have explored new areas and found new art sites; the weather has been great and so has the company.

We are often asked if we have had bad experiences with our guests, and the truthful answer is a resounding NO. I think that the kinds of people who are interested in coming to stay here are 'our kind of people'. Mostly they have 'been there and done that' as far as travel is concerned. They are looking for something different - not just another resort where they are one of a multitude, but somewhere they can relax, be themselves and maybe learn a little about this astounding part of the world we are fortunate enough to call KCC.

I doesn't seem to matter whether the focus is catching that elusive barramundi, finding a Bradshaw painting over 23,000 years old, or just cruising the islands and cooking lunch on a boab fringed beach - we have fun with everyone. And our attitude is that if we are enjoying ourselves, then our guests probably are too! This is borne out of the very high number of repeat and referral bookings we have - at last count around 80%.

One of our personal highlights this year has been the relationship we have developed with the Unambul people who are the traditional landowners for the area. We leave the Land Claim 'politicking' to the lawyers and bureaucrats and get on with having a good time with our neighbours. Wilfred Goonak is the Elder: a very powerful law, medicine and magic man. A great storyteller with a wicked sense of humour, he has been telling us about his traditional youth in the area and teaching us many of the Unambul words for animals and places. It is a 3-hour drive over very rough roads and then a half hour boat trip for him to visit us - unless we can arrange helicopter flights - so his visits are limited, but he is always willing to pay us a visit, have a laugh and eat an oyster or mud crab.

On a visit last month, we took Wilfred and Co up the Lawley River by boat so he could see some of his old fishing spots. A fairly large crocodile inhabits the upper reaches of the tidal part of the river and has learnt that there are often fish to be taken from fishing lines. In order to avoid the poor croc taking not just fish, but lure as well, we sometimes give him one free on the understanding that he leaves the lures alone. As the croc approached the boat, Wilfred stood and shouted at it in 'language' and to our amazement, said croc did a u-turn and spent the rest of our time up there sulking in the mangroves. We asked him what he had said to the croc, but an explanation wasn't forthcoming. Secret Stuff.

He is a very old man now (in his late 80s) and is aware that his time is limited. His grandson Johnno is the 'heir apparent' and is being taught all the traditional knowledge that will enable him to take over. The Kandiwal Community on the Mitchell Plateau is a small but strong community, committed to preserving its culture in the area and also helping others learn about it.

Johnno's mother runs the small school with the help of School of the Air radio and materials, and the children also spend a lot of time 'out bush' learning traditional hunting and gathering techniques. Some of the adults are becoming involved in tourism and take guided walking tours to the Mitchell Falls and various art sites along the way.

A number of this year's rebounds (guests on their second or even seventh stay at KCC) have turned into explorers extraordinaire. Not content with easy walks, we have bush-bashed our way over some of the most rugged country in the Kimberley and have been rewarded with skinned knees, fantastic views, blistered feet, cooling billabongs, art sites never seen before by a white fella and a humbling sense of being a very small being in a very big and remote place.

Others of course choose to explore further afield in what we refer to as the ultimate off road vehicle - or in pigeon English, Mixmaster b'long Jesus. A helicopter. We often charter a chopper for the day and go to places that are otherwise inaccessible, unless you have a month to spare and very long legs.The Kimberley is teeming with fantastic landforms, secret waterfalls, billabongs and beaches ideal for a picnic and a swim.

Contrary to the belief that Rocky and I run the show, Sara and Gav really are the backbone of the place and we can't imagine how we ever survived before they arrived for 'a couple of weeks' in early 2000. Sara is the kind of manager that anyone with a small business would happily commit murder for. She takes care of all those things that our guests only notice if they are NOT done - and always with a smile. Gav changes hats numerous times every day; one minute he is coaching a keen angler with a big fish on the line, the next minute he is fixing an recalcitrant bit of machinery and then in the evenings he is in the kitchen creating one of the meals he is famous for - even if he refuses to wear his chef's hat.

Of course I may be biased as Sara is our daughter and Gav is her 'husband to be'. Their wedding will be the first at KCC and is going to happen on 21 September. A logistical nightmare indeed, but it is going to be the biggest party Admiralty Gulf has ever seen - cool breezes, live music, mountains of mud crabs, oysters and prawns and precious little sleep.

Our normal occupancy is only 4 staff and 8 guests, but the wedding will swell the camp to over 60 people for more than a week. Guests are coming from all parts of the globe including England, Ireland, NZ, the Middle East, and a contingent of aboriginal people from Kandiwal. A corroboree is being composed especially for the occasion and they are promising some bush tucker as well.

A matter of days after the wedding we have another item on the agenda. Our intrepid well diggers are coming back for #3 attempt at getting through the hardest rock in the universe and finding some underground water. With occupancy rates increasing every year, we are only just getting by with the storage tank that used to see us through a dry season with heaps to spare.

This will be the last go at the well, with big compressors, rock drills and a frightening amount of explosive being driven up to Walsh Point on the Plateau and then floated across the Gulf to KCC. If we are unsuccessful then we will just have to barge in another (bigger) water tank for next season.

The spot where we are digging has been divined by two experts (independently of each other), in exactly the same place. We are prepared to have a go on the strength of this. Opinion from the experts - most of them geologists - is evenly divided: some say it looks like a good spot and others say we haven't a hope in hell. Cross all your fingers and toes and watch this space for developments!

As you can well imagine, we will be in need of a break once all the end of season stuff has happened. Sara and Gav are taking off for points east and doing a bit more of the around Australia trip they started in late 1999, before returning to KCC for 2002. Thank you both for agreeing to be slaves for yet another season.

We look forward to seeing you soon at KCC and sharing our piece of paradise with you!

Safe travels,
Liz & Rocky