10,700 Miles

 

That is how far away from Kansas City Lisa and I will be flying next week as we head off on yet another globe-trotters adventure. By the time we finally arrive in Perth, Australia, we will have flown more than halfway around the world since the diameter of the earth is only 7,917 miles.

This will be a VERY long series of flights which takes us to Dallas, TX, then onto Sydney, Australia, and finally into Perth itself. Perth is a large city located on the southwest coast of Australia. However, our stop in Perth is merely to allow us to catch our breath, make some adjustment to the time change, and to give us time for our bags to catch up should they be delayed. After a three-night stay, we will board a Qantas flight for roughly a 3-hour journey up and along the coast to the small town of Broome, where finally we will meet our home for the next 30 days, our expedition ship, The Silver Discoverer.

I really must admit that in truth I am not at all certain why we are traveling to this remote part of the world, and until about a year ago, I had never even heard of what is called “The Kimberly Coast.” However, during one of our cruises, the onboard expedition team was given the task of having each team member make a five-minute presentation of where on this planet they thought most amazing and a place to which they would return. A large number of the staff selected the Galapagos Islands, but all the rest chose “the Kimberly coast.” The pictures and stories they shared were nothing short of amazing, and so Lisa and I decided to search it out. What we found were very few ships made this journey, and when we looked into booking a cruise, they were all sold out. So we have waited some time to finally learn what all the fuss is about. For this initial 10-day cruise, we will be joined by our dear friends Cathy and Michele, which will make this adventure more exciting than it already is. I did find this brief description using Google:

“The Kimberley is Western Australia’s sparsely settled northern region. It’s known for large swaths of wilderness defined by rugged mountains, dramatic gorges, outback desert and isolated coastal sections. The mostly unsealed (unpaved) Gibb River Road runs 660km through the heart of the Kimberley, leading to Windjana Gorge National Park, which has towering limestone cliff walls and pools where freshwater crocodiles gather.”

I was going to attempt to describe our journey, but in the end, I felt that pasting a map would help everyone in following along.

After following the Australian coast for 10 days, the ship will begin another cruise to the north into Indonesia. Sadly, Michele and Cathy will be heading home, leaving us to sail on alone.

Our remaining days will be focused not so much on beautiful scenery, but into expeditions of some aboriginal settlements, and then as we head north to Indonesia and Papua, we will explore some very isolated cultures in what is known as the Agats region of Papua. If you are like me, then all these names and places are for the most part unheard of, so once again, I have resorted to a map of our second voyage.

Finally, for those of you who have not yet heard, poor Lisa has had her artificial right knee breakdown. She is in quite a great deal of pain, and at times the knee actually “locks up.” On the other hand, at times when the swelling is down, she is able to get around reasonably well with a cane. It all just depends on the moment. In spite of this, she has decided to make this trip realizing full well that some expeditions will simply not be an option for her. Her surgery to repair the knee is scheduled for July 8^th, and until then it would help if you would keep her in your prayers.

I will do my best to write as we go along, but as always, know that when we get to these remote regions, we do not always have a satellite signal for internet. Just to add to the fun, where I have been uploading my pictures as we go along is no longer being supported by Google, so I do not know if or how well that web page will work. We will just have to see. I promise that I will upload the photographs when we return and in fact, I am already working on a new site.

I hope everyone is well, and I do hope you enjoy the journeys.

Jim