FITZROY CROSSING, GORGES AND CAVES

The western part of the Kimberley seems to be flatter and more open than the eastern part, at least that's the impression from the highway.  Fitzroy River Lodge is something of an oasis but they work hard to keep things green. 

Old Fitzroy River Crossing

Fitzroy Crossing is a great place from which to explore some gorges and caves located in the ancient reef that would have been similar to the Great Barrier Reef 360 million, or more, years ago in the Devonian era.

From Fitzroy Crossing we drove 43 kms west along the highway before turning north onto the dirt road into Tunnel Creek.  The first 10 kms or so of that road were very rough, but the rest of the 83 kms were not too bad.  Nearing Tunnel Creek, the fossilized remains of the ancient reef appeared.

Over the aeons, the creek has made its way under the Napier Range so exploring in there involved some wading through water from sandbar to sandbar, often in darkness, so torches are essential.  At least it was cool in there.  Bats are supposed to inhabit the tunnel, but we didn't see any.  Nor did we see any aboriginal art, in spite of frequently shining our torches around.  We had booked a tour with an aboriginal guide, but there was some mis-communication between him and the local Information Office, so he didn't turn up for our booking.



Inside Tunnel Creek

A local inhabitant

Although Windjana Gorge is only 24 kms further on, we'd heard numerous reports of how bad that section of the road was, so we decided we'd leave Windjana for the time being and travel out to it from Derby.
On the way back from Tunnel Creek we passed an accident.  A four whel drive vehicle was on its roof on a bend and police and ambulance people were there.


GEIKIE GORGE

This gorge, another section of the ancient reef, is only 18 kms north of Fitzroy Crossing and the local Department of Conservation people run regular boat trips on the Fitzroy River through part of the gorge.

 

Freshwater crocodile enjoying the sun

Richard Nixon in stone?



We were told by the skipper of the boat that the gorge was named in colonial times after an Englishman who'd never set foot in the place, so the plan is to restore its indigenous name next year.


MIMBI CAVES

According to the brochure "Mimbi Caves is a 400 million year old cave system which was worn by water during the Devonian period".  We drove about 90 kms east of Fitzroy Crossing to meet with our guides, a Gooniyandi man and three aboriginal women rangers.  First up, we were welcomed to country with a smoking ceremony.

The caves were also part of the Devonian reef:



Note 'The Phantom' at the rear



After a tour of the first part of the caves

we were treated to tea and damper and entertained by our guide who also turned out to be  a singer/songwriter:

Into the second section of the caves we went, where we saw some fossilized coral:

and rock art (among other things):

A short drive away, the women rangers took women from the tour group into the birthing cave (more wading through water)

while the men waited outside

My pretensions to nimble-footedness turned out to be merely delusional.  The rangers were less than impressed with my supposed agility and insisted on lending a helping hand.  At least I didn't fall over, which is what a doctor who was with the group managed to do.