The Kimberleys - Kununurra to Derby

The long, long road to Derby.

The drive across the Kimberleys towards the Indian Ocean is long, dry and very hot. It had been our plan to free camp along this route, as there are some great spots, however we have decided that because it is so hot, we can't do without our air conditioning, so we need power, which means caravan parks, and there aren't a lot of choices. It is actually quite boring, as the country is very similar, often recently fire ravaged, and there is hardly any traffic. Everyone waves to each other as you pass! Must be bored as well!

Leaving Kununurra, the first place we come to is Doon Doon. It is just a Roadhouse and we don't even slow down. Next is Warmun (Turkey Creek). As Native Title is handed out to traditional lands, there are some name changes to towns, and places. Turkey Creek is one such place. Everyone knows it as Turkey Creek! They say Warmun is who you married to! This is a base for some helicopter joy flights over the Bungle Bungles, but most are closed down for the season. There are quite a number of new corrugated steel homes, which we assume are for miners, as the Argyle Diamond Mine is nearby. We keep going, as coffee seems a forlorn hope, and cake is out of the question. We head on towards Halls Creek, stopping at a nice roadside stop for some of Carolyn's yummy Orange & Poppy Seed cake, and ice cold water. If the locals can't provide, we will!!

Halls  Creek is a disappointment. It is a rough Aboriginal town. It is dirty and unkempt, with everything barred up. There are a lot of young people hooning around in cars.

Terry White Pharmacy it ain't!!

Butcher with a sense of humour.

Like most of these towns, the Government has provided every conceivable service, with a swimming centre, sports centre, entertainment centre, all looking quite new, but covered in graffiti. We find the Caravan Park, which resembles a piece of the desert with a fence around it. The lovely lady in the office tells us we can chose any site we want, but to make sure we lock everything away. About another dozen hardy souls were in the caravan park. We walked into town, passed the most amazing collection of run down homes. We called into the Visitor Information Centre, to find out that the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater is around 100kms away. It is quite famous, and from the air looks like a perfect circle, but we decide a look at a photo will

One way to cover up the junk!

do. We went into all the shops, which more resemble barns than shops. Very few windows, just lots of steel bars and padlocks. The local butcher has a real sense of humour, as evidenced by his sign out front. One shop was unbelievable. It was a nursery out front, but when you went inside, it was manchester, electrical goods, toys, furniture, sporting goods, housewares, hardware, outdoor furniture, bedding, and at the front counter were 5 large amplifiers! There were about ten staff, and I think most of them were security! We went to sleep with the sounds of loud voices, and woke early. Having seen Halls Creek, we hit the road at 8.00am, last to leave the caravan park!!

Taking a look at Mary Pool
Campground

Fitzroy Crossing Lodge all to
ourselves!

The long hot road continued all the way to Fitzroy Crossing. We did drive into the Free Camp spot at Mary Pool, which we had heard was really nice, and it was. You crossed the river on a causeway, to a large well serviced campground. There was no one there. The same applied a little further down the road at Ngumpan, another great free camp high on a hill, just off the highway. We checked in at The Fitzroy Crossing Lodge. It is a huge caravan park, campground and resort, and is almost empty. When we arrived on Friday we became the 5th caravan in the park. On Sunday, we were the only caravan! There were a few people staying at the Lodge, but mostly we had the place, and the pool, to ourselves. 

Beautiful Red Wing parrot
at the Caravan Park.

There has been a lot of construction going on at Fitzroy Crossing of late. Hang onto your Bluescope Steel shares! They have a new hospital, high school, lots of Government buildings, a huge undercover sporting complex, and dozens of new houses. God knows what they all do. There is also a new IGA supermarket, which is very nice, but so expensive! Avocado were $9.50 each!! Thankfully we didn't need much. It was Local Government election day on Saturday, so not much was open, not even the Visitor Information Centre, but thankfully, we know what we want to see.

The Old Fitzroy River Crossing.         

Fitzroy River at the new crossing.

The old crossing at Fitzroy River has long gone, replaced by a single lane high level bridge, but to Carolyn's joy, the old crossing still exists and is in operation. It is one of the very few things that she remembers as unchanged from her trip 40 years ago! Then she was egged on by a crowd as she plunged the VW onto the crossing which had two feet of water over it, and then raised a cheer from the crowd when she made it to the other side! This time it was all dry and the only cheers were from the local Black Fella hoons, who raced up behind us and yelled and tooted at us all the way to the other side!

Geike Gorge.

Limestone formations
at Geike Gorge.

The main attraction at Fitzroy Crossing is Geike Gorge, and thankfully the boat tours are still running!! We headed out early morning, as it gets really hot in the gorge from midday. We were on the water at 8.00am and it was still approaching 40 degrees. They use boats without a roof, as you are always looking up! Later that afternoon, we heard the temperature maxxed out at 52 in the gorge!! Thank God we were back at the pool! Most Aussies wouldn't know the Fitzroy River as one of Australia's major waterways, but it is in fact Australia's biggest river, by volume of water. It is only 650 kilometres long, but all you have to do is look at the width of the river bed, and the high water marks along the gorge, to understand just how much water comes down the river during the wet. We are cruising along the gorge with a sandy bank on one side and the

Richard Nixon??

high cliffs along the other. We are told that in the wet, the sand

Timid night heron.

bank is the centre of the river, and the water is 8 to 10 metres up the walls of the gorge! We just have to come and see these places in the wet! Geike is different to the other gorges we have seen. The sandstone is replaced with limestone, the remnants of a huge coral reef that existed more than 300 million years ago. The formations are more like what you'd find in limestone caves. There is a lot of bird life along the waterway, and quite a few freshwater crocodiles. There is a lot of water still in the gorge, with our boat often in 20 to 30 metres of water. The crocodiles are few and far between, as it is too hot and it is also the breeding season. Crocodiles get sunburned, so stay in the water in the heat of the day, or in the shade. This was an excellent boat trip, and if you are wondering how the name Geike (Geekee) came about, he was a famous European geologist around the time the gorge was discovered. He never even came to Australia. The local native people have applied to have their old indigenous name used to replace old Mr. Geike. This time I don't think anyone will mind.

Back at the camp, we enjoyed our last happy hour, being entertained by the huge variety of birds, and dozens of wallabies that came in every night to get a feed of fresh green grass, where the had the sprinklers running all day. 

Derby Wharf.

Morning tea at the big boab
roadside stop

Next morning it was only a short 3 hours to Derby. We were quite excited about getting back to the coast again, and seeing the blue of the ocean. Derby is famous for having the highest tide movements in Australia, up to 12 metres. What a disappointment! We drove down to the wharf and looked out over a sea of mud! At high tide it's muddy water,and low tide it's mud flats that go out for miles! We checked into The Kimberley Entrance Caravan Park, where the friendly manager explained in detail where we could watch the tidal movement. However we decided against getting up at 5.00am to watch the water roll in over the mud flats. Instead we braved the heat and had a look around town, which is very spread out, a function of finding dry ground amidst the mud flats. We found a very nice cafe called Indulgence, which did good Iced Coffee and cake, and the Visitor Information Centre provided us with a list of what was still open, which

The World's longest water trough.

wasn't a lot. There is also a Woolworths Supermarket and an

The Prison Boab Tree.

IGA, and a very nice Butcher, so we were able to top up at reasonable prices. In town, the main attractions are found out at the town common. There is the old water trough, the largest in Australia, constructed to allow 500 bullocks to drink at once, and the old Boab Prison Tree. The natural form of some of these huge ancient trees, with a hollow centre and narrow opening, meant that they could be used as a dwelling, or in this and other cases, a prison. The slavery known as "black birding" was practiced around Derby in the late 19th century, as blacks were rounded up and taken to work in the pearling industry. The old Boab Tree was used as a prison to hold the blacks.

Winjana Gorge.

Bats on the move.

The last of the big gorges we wanted to see is also best accessed from Derby. This is Winjana Gorge NP, and also includes the unique Tunnel Creek NP. This will necessitate a day trip as it is almost 200 kilometres each way, much of it dirt. We headed out early along the Gibb River Road for about 100 kms, before turning onto the Winjana Gorge Road. The road was sealed for about half the distance, and reasonably good dirt the rest of the way. Winjana Gorge is part of the same old Coral Reef that we'd seen at Geike Gorge, so the rock

Spoonbill feeding at Winjana Gorge.

formations were very similar. However as we walked down along the creek track, we found less and less water, and more and more bats. In fact we smelled the bats before we saw them. There were thousands of them, and we aren't sure whether it was the heat, or something else that had them stirred up, but they were very active, moving from tree to tree. We also found a number of different birds, and the good old freshwater crocodiles, clinging to the ever diminishing water holes. We watched for a while as two crocs slowly stalked a spoonbill, feeding along the water hole edge. I think the bird had them covered! From Winjana, we drove 34 kms up the road to Tunnel Creek NP, where we had a little picnic lunch and lots of water, before heading off to explore Tunnel Creek. 

The entrance to Tunnel Creek.

Ghost Bats .

Tunnel Creek is very unique. It is a creek that has carved a path through the range from one side to the other. You can walk through the limestone tunnel that has been formed, some times wading through water up to almost waist deep. All you need is a good torch and a sense of adventure. So off we went. A small spring feeds the creek, keeping the water fresh and clear. Inside, the temperature is cool and pleasant. About halfway along the tunnel, a light shaft lets in a lot of

Ready to explore
Tunnel Creek.

light, and a colony of Ghost Bats, which you can hear squawking away

Light at the end of the Tunnel.

as you approach. There are a few other people around as well, and there are even two freshwater crocodiles living in the waters of the cave. We found one of them sitting in the water against the tunnel wall, his eerie red eyes shining back at us in the torchlight. It was quite eerie walking around in the dark, with only the odd flash of a torch. In the deep parts of the tunnel, if you stopped and turned off your torch, you couldn't see an inch! We made it past the Ghost Bats, and then waded through the deepest water as we made our way to the tunnel end. A couple of more paddles in the cool clear water and we were at the end of the tunnel. It was amazing just how much warmer it was when we emerged from the tunnel,and into the heat. It is about one kilometre one way, so we took a drink,and then made the return journey. There really isn't one path, you just pick your way around the rocks. We emerged from the tunnel, just as a large tour group got off a bus, thankful that we had seen the Tunnel in relative peace and quiet.

The Derby Spinifex Hotel.

Cleaning out the Tunnel sand.

Heading back to Derby, we had one more little surprise in store. As we sped across the recently graded red gravel, the rear of the car started to feel a little heavy, so we pulled into a roadside parking bay, and found the back left tyre as flat as a pancake. Bugger. One of those sharp rocks had torn a 2 inch (4cm), hole right in the middle of the tread. That's a throw away! Still, guess we've been very lucky. It is our first flat tyre in almost three years of travel, and at times, on some wild roads. Changing the tyre was quite an ordeal, but we finally got it off and the spare in place.The flies came from everywhere. You can't believe how many flies there were. With me covered in sweat, dust and grass, they just stuck to me! When I stood up, I looked like an Easter Bun, I had that many black flies stuck to me. We got back to town a little late and in the dark, and decided we'd head off to the new Spinifex Hotel for dinner. We needed a drink! We had an excellent meal. Carolyn's slow cooked pork belly in chilli spiced caramel sauce was to die for, and my deboned chicken Maryland with scallops, squid and prawns, was equally delicious. The place was packed, and a very pleasant surprise for us. One of the best meals out, we've had in a long time.

Next morning I was around at Tyrepower bright and early, and again quickly realised it is better to be born lucky than brilliant, as they only had one tyre in my size in stock, and it was exactly the same as what I had!! Miracles do happen in Derby! So instead of waiting around for a few days while the tyre arrived from down south, we were packed up and off to Broome, and surely some blue ocean.