Blogs from Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

From Derby to Wyndham is approximately 920klm so decided to take it easy over three days so that we can stop along the way. First stop was Fitzroy Crossing for fuel only and what a depressing town this is....aboriginal people sitting under trees everywhere, begging outside the roadhouse, the roadhouse itself had no windows but if they did they were boarded up, dirty toilets at roadhouse....not a nice place! We fuelled up and got the hell out of there! The 2 way road crossing of the Fitzroy River just opened again this week after being washed away AGAIN....it was all easy and had no trouble getting through. Then onto Ngumban Cliff Rest area, a free campground with toilets, rubbish facility and dump point, great spot perched up on the cliff, great for the sunset. Had happy ... read more

Wow.Here I am in Broome! I feel honoured and excited to be here. Wow again – I have been allowed to write the famous Travel blog for today. I have not mentioned to Chris that there has been some loose talk by readers that Adam’s had been more erudite! I don’t believe that I can come anywhere close to either of them – so I appreciate everybody’s patience. Riddell Beach had been recommended to visit and was surprised that we needed 4 wheel drive within the gazetted area of Broome. After a few loops of the port area I felt that my navigational expertise would be disregarded 1 hour into our first day. We made it back into town for brekky and coffee. Ian was the first to use the spade for daily ablutions. On the ... read more

We had a few quiet days at Fitzroy Crossing Lodge catching up on the blog, walking up to the hotel for early coffees and drinking beer and chatting with the locals at lunchtime. Georgi was at her artistic best taking photographs and doing some drawing. A large monitor visited our campsite too and we took some pics of his visit. It may have been a Kimberley rock monitor. The monitor decided to dig up next doors campsite in search of lunch so we had an excellent view of his activities. When someone came along the road he flattened himself on the grass and kept very still and when they were gone he would raise his head to check whether he was safe. Some of the birds became very friendly and would wander under the table picking ... read more

Fitzroy Crossing. We often think of major cities and their impact on commerce and travel. Fitzroy crossing is very small, yet in its own way has contributed to the Kimberly economy and population very significantly. The Kimberly region is criss crossed with many rivers, the Fitzroy being one of the more significant rivers, and one that has caused crossing difficulties on many occasions. The pictures we have are at the end of the dry season, but in the peak of the wet season, Fitzroy Crossing becomes Fitzroy Island. The town name comes from the obvious; this is the main crossing point of the river, and you will see the steep access once endured by travellers down to not much more than a cause way. In the rainy season you will get wet crossing here, or in ... read more

Arrived at the newly established Bungle Bungle caravan park- still very new and very much outback. We had booked and so had electricity which was great to operate the air con. From here we had a wonderful trip to the Bungle Bungles . The road in was about 53kms of corrugations and more including some ordinary river crossings- lucky we were in a 4 wheel drive bus as it took 2 hours to go the 53kms in that. We managed to do 4 walks- Picaninny Lookout, Cathedral Gorge, Echidna Chasm and The Loop. Absolutely stunning having the up close and personal look at it all. We were treated to a spontaneous performance of a flautist in Cathedral Gorge- the acoustics could not have been better as he played a number of tunes incl Waltzing Matilda, Somewhere ... read more