Wary Bay, Bigge Island
11 September 2011
One again we were up early at the turn of the tide to make the most of the SW current on the flood tide down the coast. The wind was a good breeze from the SE initially before it died out and we were back to motorsailing again. There was a very subtle seabreeze much later in the day so the sea was calm but the motor worked hard. Thankfully it appears that Chris has finally been the victor in seeking the source of our oil leak and which we are truly grateful for. It only took half a tube of gasket gue and nearly every gasket on or near the timing cap but it has finally stopped or at the least reduced to a drop/ day which will make do until we can replace the gaskets properly. However, I don’t think this will stop Chris from sticking his head in the engine room and checking on it. We seem to be doing a lot of motoring through the Kimberlies. After a fairly uneventful passage, apart from the occasional whale or so, we made Wary Bay at Bigge Island just on lunchtime and were keen to go ashore and explore the Aboriginal cave paintings. Expecting a short hike involved we packed our backpack with a few supplies and were pleased to find that the nice cool caves were just on the beach and not far from where we left the dinghy. The paintings were of the Wandjina figures, turtles, historical sailing ships and men with pipes. This was a real highlight of the trip to witness these ancient paintings. Also in the caves we found what appeared to be an open burial rock ledge so we treated the area with great respect and left quietly in awe of what we have been privileged to have had the opportunity to visit this special place.