DERBY AND WINDJANA GORGE

Driving into Derby, from either the Victoria Highway or the Gibb River Road, is like driving through an avenue lined with gold.  Especially in the early morning light, the acacias are a glorious sight, the gold of wattles contrasting nicely with the red dirt.

Derby is a town of about 5,000 people so most services are available here.  Its main function is to serve as a port for the export of live cattle and minerals.  As it's school holidays in WA, there are lots of kids around the streets.  A favourite pastime in Derby is to watch the sunset from the jetty.  There's a restaurant strategically placed at the end of the jetty so we took the opportunity to watch the sun go down from there.

Derby tides are 5th highest in the world - up to 11 metres.

Derby mud flats

WINDJANA GORGE

The best gorge we've seen so far, ie the prettiest, perhaps because the walls and water are closer.

Freshwater crocs inhabit the gorge

We walked the length of the gorge (well, the part that was open) in the middle of the day and it was very hot - 33 in Derby.  Some of it was quite hard walking as it involved trudging through thick, coarse river sand, out in the open.

About two and a half hours later, we returned and were pretty exhausted, as much from the heat as anything else.

Are you tired of photos of rock yet?  I know it all looks pretty much the same in the photos, but it really is quite awe inspiring to actually see these sections of the fossilized reef.  Our photos don't really do it justice.  It's hard, no - impossible, to capture a sense of the sheer scale of the thing which extends over a vast distance, let alone the variations in colour and texture.

Tomorrow we're doing a flight over the so-called Horizontal Falls as well as "an exhilarating thrill ride" through the falls.  I think I'll give the swim in the shark cage a miss.  I hope they mean shark free cage