Blogs from The Kimberleys, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

Saturday 30thJune 2012 We parked our camper trailers and caravan in the long term parking area of Drysdale River Station. A lot of travellers leave their towed accommodation here whilst they travel to the Mitchell River National Park. We then continued north along Kalumburu Road for 100km and then took a west road about 87km in to the Mitchell Falls campground. The Kalumburu Road continued in poor condition, and the minor road to the campground was much worse, so whilst we left the station at 8:30am we didn’t arrive at the campground until 1:30pm. Mike did a good job negotiating the rocky roads and creek crossings. We were glad we had decided not to bring the camper trailer. The fan palms (Livingstonia, I think) were dense in places along the drive, particularly near Doongan station. They ... read more

Monday 25thJune 2012 Mike, the kids and I decided to make the long drive to see Geikie Gorge. Mum, Dad, Richard and Marion didn’t want to do it at this time. We set out in the early morning chill, just before 7am, and not far from camp we saw several wallabies and two dingoes, one of which stopped on the road for a photo. We then drove past the Napier Range, with the King Leopold Range further in the distance, along some average gravel road, before reaching the main highway. We went through Fitzroy Crossing and out to Geikie Gorge. We went on the one hour boat tour along the gorge, run by DEC. The staff apologised for the cold weather but it was actually a very pleasant mild day. Geikie Gorge is also part of ... read more

Tunnel Creek & Windjana Gorge 6th June 2012 Leaving Fitzroy Crossing this morning was the start of what we hoped would be an experience that we will unlikely never forget, to travel the Kimberley region along iconic roads that followed famous old stock routes and visit some of, arguably, the most scenic isolated places in Australia. Firstly we had to travel back 43klm towards Derby to the Fairfield Leopold Downs Road. The road’s name is derived from the two Cattle Stations it passes through to reach the Gibb River road at its western end. Leopold Downs, purchased by the Bunuba people in 1991, is a dramatically beautiful piece of country and we can only imagine what it will be like when we see the famous Cockburn Range on ‘the Gibb’, Leopold Downs encompasses both the Devonian ... read more

We hit Broome and the fabled Cable Beach! We set up camp and rushed off to find the famous camels silhouetted against the sunset and the miles and miles of white pristine beach. We drove around looking for Cable Beach but we couldn’t find it. The one and only beach we could find was nice with some rocks and a lot of people, but nothing super special. Eventually the penny dropped…when we saw the camels. The 4x4s were congregating on the beach, chairs unfolded, bottles of wine opened, cameras ready. The sand was greyish and quite coarse and some flat waves tried hard to break. People were waiting everywhere for something to happen. We waited too and really tried hard to be enthused - really, we did. Oh well. Broome is modern and trendy with almost ... read more