Across the Kimberley - not the end of the world (but close)

If you are going to cross the Kimberley, you really should go along the Gibb River Road, according to most travellers. That's where all the interesting scenery and adventure is to be found. Trouble is - it's all dirt and not suitable for caravans, Ford Territories or softies like me who hate the constant drone of the corrugations and lack of facilities. So (much to Andrew's disappointment) we took the "low road" from Kununurra to Derby - via Hall's Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. I can't say that this was a particularly interesting part of the journey - in fact there was absolutely nothing along the road between the major towns - not even a cow or a boab tree for hundreds of kilometres. A friend said that Hall's Creek is not at the end of the world, but that you can see it from there. This is unkind but not entirely unfair. Anyway, we passed the journey happily enough listening to "The secret garden" (rather a change from the Paul Jennings!) and made the most of our stopover in Hall's Creek byTown Lodge" but which enabled us to have a quiet site with a campfire. It was set in the ruins of the old Hall's Creek (the town was moved in the 1950s because it was in a really bad spot for the main road) and Kendall and I enjoyed reading the amazing story of the drover who (in 1917) was operated on by the postmaster on the counter of the post office with a penknife, and the doctor from Perth who issued directions by morse code to the postmaster, and then travelled to Hall's Creek by boat, car, horse and foot - taking nine days to arrive and then finding the patient had died the previous day - having survived the operation but not the subsequent malaria and infection.

Needless to say - we did not hang around in HC but pushed on to Fitzroy Crossing, where we were told there is only one place to stay and they don't take bookings. This turned out to be the Fitzroy Crossing Lodge - an oasis of green grass and flash facilities in a very grotty town. As you reach it before you get to the main street, it gives you quite a false impression of the rest of the place - where the supermarket is "temporarily" housed in a basketball stadium and there isn't a single cafe, park or anything interesting to visit. Despite this, we liked the caravan park so much we stayed an extra night and explored the extraordinary nearby Devonian reef (an exposed rock formation that was once an underwater reef, formed over 350 million years ago). On our first day we took a guided tour of "Mimbi caves" - where you can walk into caves within the reef system - with an Aboriginal guide called Ronnie, who played country music on the guitar to entertain us during morning tea, and had the girls enraptured. On the second day we travelled out to Tunnel Creek - a two hour run mostly on dirt - which is a famous tunnel that runs right through another section of the reef, and you walk/wade/clamber through it in complete darkness apart from your own torches (we had head torches - thanks Heather!). This was a very thrilling and memorable experience. 100 years ago the tunnel was a hide-out for three years for an Aboriginal freedom fighter called Jandawarra, who was eventually killed outside the entrance.

On the third day we explored Geikie Gorge, the nearest accessible part of the reef to FX and rather tame compared with Tunnel Creek and Mimbi caves. Still - we had fun exploring a couple of walking trails and risking a paddle in crocodile-infested waters (yes, really - but they were only freshies) and finished with a lovely cruise along the gorge, again with a very knowledgeable and entertaining Aboriginal guide. NB This gorge was named after a British geologist who never even visited the place, but whoever named it obviously wanted to earn some brownie points there. The local Aboriginals are in the process of having their name for it officially adopted - as has happened with Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) and Uluru/Kata Tjuta. (Sorry I can't remember what it was!)

Another important activity in FX was the (early) celebration of Tahlia's birthday, with dinner on the deck of the rather posh restaurant. Oh these lovely warm nights!

From FX we drove to Derby and checked into the only caravan park, which for no good reason completely gave me the creeps. I still shiver to think about it! There wasn't much to do in Derby, but watching the sun set on the jetty (with a few drinks and some hot chips) was pretty good - and the local swimming pool was a real bonus. Andrew and I even did some laps. Our big adventure was to go to Windjana Gorge (also part of the Devonian reef system), which required a short stint on the Gibb River Road and reminded me why we hadn't attempted the whole 600km. If you have a look at a map, you'll see we were completely daft to go to Tunnel Creek from FX and then Windjana Gorge from Derby - each round trips of around 300km - when they are only 35km apart. But that's just how it worked out, and doing both in one day would have been a massive effort, as it is VERY HOT up here in the daytime! There was a walk through the gorge, which was hot and very dusty and not all that interesting beyond the first kilometre or so, which was the most scenic and had bats and crocodiles to look at. The number of crocodiles was mind-blowing - all just lying around in the pools of the mostly dry river bed. Freshies again, of course (or no-one would be allowed in there) but none the less impressive - especially to get so close to them "in the wild".

From Derby it was just a short hop to Broome, where we had five days of beaches and general "chilling out" to look forward to. Woo hoo!

Captions for pictures

- Very inviting entrance to the Hall's Creek "Old Town Lodge"

- Burning off in Tunnel Creek national park - quite spectacular

- Windjana Gorge

- Flying fox posing (WG)

- Freshwater crocodile (about two feet away from me) - also at WG

- Prepared for the walk through Tunnel Creek

- More Devonian reef at Geikie Gorge

- Interesting gap in caves at Mimbi

- Sunset on Derby jetty (how sweet!)