In the south east of Napier Broome Bay, there is the remains of a mission that was built at the start of the 20th century. After 30 years or so, water supply issues caused the mission to move. Many of the buildings were demolished and rebuilt at the new location which remains today the township of Kalumburu.
We approached this location by coming over the white sand bank at high tide, and finding a track that leads to the mission ruins and on to Kalumburu. The area near the water is littered with hundreds of old fuel drums which were left behind by armed forced during WWII. We had to choose which of the many tracks to follow to take us in the right direction. The area is criss-crossed with tracks, as many 4×4 vehicles travel in this area to visit a campground at nearby Honeymoon Bay.
We were lucky to be here at this moment, the area has been recently burned. While back in the King George River a couple of weeks ago, we had noticed a thunderstorm out in this direction, and this burned grassland has now bloomed green and is covered in tiny flowers as a result of this renewal. This burning and then rain has left the area around the ruins looking like parkland, and giving us a better impression of how it must have once appeared when it was populated. The spring fed wells were full of water almost to ground level, and the creek, while not running was still full of water. Mostly all that remains are the flat stones slabs that were mortared together to form floors, and the old oven that would have once baked breads.
The bay outside was a bit exposed to the north-west sea breeze we are getting now in the late dry season, but we tucked in on the eastern side where fish were plentiful and rock art was to be found.
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