Day 54 - Kimberleys, Geiki Gorge and Derby

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May 31st 2015

Published: May 31st 2015

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Rob and Lynns Bago bash

Fitzroy river

This is a massive river in the wet season

Well whilst most folk have been snuggling under blankets and in their rain coats at the footy, we have had our brains fried today! We've agreed that today was probably the hottest day we've experienced so far!

We started out from the lovely Wendy at Larrawa station this morning passing a number of cyclists that are riding from Adelaide to Adelaide! Don't know how long that will take them but its an amazing effort!

Its was a pretty plain 230 k drive to Fitzroy Crossing. Not much happening in this town, but the Fitzroy river look magnificent, though, this time of year fairly minimal water. We decided to take a detour and try to find Geiki Gorge. Things aren't advertised or sign posted really well, but nonetheless, we found it, 19 k's north of the highway. The fabulous thing about this Gorge is you can go bushwalking through the national park and walk along the edge of the gorge. Thats pretty unusual, most of these national parks and gorges are only accesable by boat tours. We had discovered that 5 k's in Northern territory feels like 50k's and seems the same in WA! It was a hard slog,especially as

Geiki Gorge

At the start of the walk, feeling refreshed!

it was really hot. You mostly walk along the very sandy redish brown soil. But OMG the gorge is absolutley amazing!!! We were just was in awe of the scenery, the colours in the limestone, the water, it was just breathtaking. I spent most of the time(aside from slugging down water), just gob smacked! It was stunning!

By the time we got back to the Bago we were pretty exhausted. And we had managed to have heaps of 'wait awhiles' attach themselves to us. They are very sharp and nasty little pricky things. Don't step on one in your bare feet, thats a tip! After picking them off our shoes and clothes we tiredly headed off.

Not too far down the road Rob had to pull over for a power nap. It was super hot and we were really worn out! We decided to head to Derby today rather than Broome. We weren't sure what was there anyway and it saved a bit of driving time. Derby is known for the highest tides in Australia. Unfortunatley when we pulled in the tide was at its almost lowest so you cannot see any water at all! The town is

Geiki Gorge

Marvel at the way things grow out of these limestone rocks

the entrance to Kings Sound, top left corner of the continent. Its also known for its Boab trees. OMG some of them are just incredible, the size! Some have got to be 20 feet around! On the way out tomorrow we will visit the prison Boab, said to be 1500 years old! It's hollowed out and was used to house prisoners temporarily back in the day.

We've had a nice rest this afternoon and will head into Broome tomorrow, refreshed. Its only 220k's away, and these days thats a drop in the bucket! We are planning to stay a little while in Broome to feel a little grounded and settled. Hoping to do a tour to Cape Levique and maybe even the Horizontal falls! Then there's Cable beach and the camels! Some incredible nature to be seen in the Kimberleys! So catch you next blog entry. Stay warm!

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