Blogs from Derby, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

Got away from Willare Bridge Roadhouse around 10am and limped along to Derby getting in about 10.45 and fortunately our site was vacant so got setup nice and early. We were told along the way that Derby wasn't much but after a few days here and you kind of pick the scab off, its an interesting sort of place, except for the daytime black mozzies who are rampant, are quick, bite lots but we have slathered ourselves once again with the Good Riddance and it keeps them at bay. We found it friendly and quite an historic town perched at the edge of the King Sound near the mouth of the mighty Fitzroy River. The beautiful quirky Boab trees we learn that the seed has floated across the ocean from Madagascar which is very interesting that ... read more

DAY ONE We arrived in Broome a day early for our tour and stayed at the Mercure hotel.We had a relaxing afternoon and visited Matso‘s brewery which was just across the road. Woke up the next morning to find a huge puddle of water on the floor. Our air conditioner had malfunctioned and leaked. Later in the morning we were collected by the Outback Spirit tour guide and driver Paul. Our first site of the bus that we would be travelling on for 2 weeks. We then went to the airport to collect the other passengers. Our group comes from far and wide including 4 from Switzerland, 2 from South Africa, 2 from New Zealand and the rest from Australia. One couple missed their flight so would be going us at a later point in the ... read more

Having left Broome feeling very upbeat and being most impressed with this slice of paradise in the Kimberley, we eagerly awaited our next adventure. Well, Derby was quite a contrast and then with the first real rainfall for the whole wet season pouring down I guess our spirits were slightly dampened. Yes we experienced nearly 30ms of rain overnight and of course the atmosphere was heavy and quite humid. The famous mudflats were muddier than usual and the town looked quite sad and tired. However, Derby is the gateway to many wonderful Kimberley adventures from flying over the Archipelago and viewing the unusual horizontal falls to taking a cruise through areas quite remote but very beautiful. Our choice was a little different. We did go watch the tide rise and fall at the Derby jetty and ... read more

Sunday 9th August An early start as we have a 53K drive this morning on a dirt road into the park to see the Bungle Bungles. Luckily the road had just been scraped and is in much better condition than usual. Nevertheless it's a challenging off road drive with 5 river crossings. Two are quite wide and deep! We arrive at the Visitors centre around 10.30 and book in for 3 nights camping in the bush. The site has a long drop toilet and a tap, that's it! We then drive another 19K out to see Echidna Chasm. We walk the 2K return trail into it. It's at huge steep sided sedimentary rock gorge with curved sides where the water has rushed through over the millions of years. It's between 1600 and 1800 million years old ... read more

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. ... read more