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.

BUNGLE BUNGLES AND HALLS CREEK

Scenery on the road from Kununurra to Warmun (Turkey Creek) was quite spectacular - better, we thought, or at least as good, as the bit of the Gibb River Road that we saw;  fantastic hills/mountains of red rock weathered, contorted and eroded into all sorts of shapes, and close to the highway.  With the morning sun shining on the rock, the colours were quite wonderful.  Didn't get any photos, we just kept driving down the road.

Warmun is a closed aboriginal community although they run the roadhouse to cater for tourists and, presumably, bring in some income..  Evidently, there is a back road from Warmun in to Purnululu and certain areas of the National Park are reserved for exclusive indigenous use.

Just after lunch, we set up camp at the Bungle Bungle Caravan Park, a new park opened last season by Mabel Downs Station.  The park is only one kilometre off the highway at the entrance to Purnululu National Park.  Only unpowered sites were available and night time temperatures dropped to nearly zero.  I managed to stay snug with the aid of lots of clothes, two sleeping bags and the doona.  As well, we used a gas heater briefly, just to take the chill out of the van.

The blustery wind we'd had in the morning had dropped by the afternoon, so we took the opportunity to have a helicopter ride over the Bungles - our first ever chopper ride, though with no doors on the craft the wind was so strong I had trouble holding on to the camera, let alone focussing.  Still, it was amazing seeing those shapes from the air and it gave us a good idea of the extent of them.

Next day we set off at 7 am on a small four-wheel drive bus for an all day tour of Purnulu.  Although it's only something like 50 kms from the caravan park to the entrance to the National Park, it took about two hours to cover that distance.  We visited both ends of the park, walked Cathedral Gorge and the Dome Trail at the southern end, then Echidna Chasm at the northern end after lunch.  We got back to the caravan park about 5:15,and dinner in the big camp tent was provided (soup and beef stew with rice), as well as a roaring camp fire. A great advantage of doing a tour like this is saving wear and tear on the car and the driver.  A great disadvantage is being part of a captive audience for the political spin of vested interests, a practice that seems common in the tourism industry. Nevertheless, we had a fantastic day and a half at the Bungles.  They were very high on my list of 'must sees' for this trip and were well worth it all.

The trail into Echidna Chasm was along a creek bed (again!) but by now I'm able to leap gazelle-like along the rocks - at least I think it's a gazelle I'm thinking of.



Echidna Chasm



End of the chasm



Eric asked me to stand under the rock

After the Bungles, we drove about 100 kms along the highway to Halls Creek and booked into the local caravan park, which was fine.  We'd heard tales about 'Hells Creek' but on Saturday morning all we saw were people shopping and going about their business in a perfectly ordinary fashion.

In the afternoon we drove south to check out Old Halls Creek, the site of the first gold discovery in WA.  There's nothing left there but a few plaques on ruins, but I reckon the achievement of the men commemorated below was pretty extraordinary:



Caroline Pool, south of Halls Creek



Roadside wildflowers and spear grass

China Wall, a quartz outcrop

The road south of Halls Creek, the Buntine Highway, loops around in a sort of U shape back into the Northern Territory and up towards Victoria River Roadhouse and Timber Creek.  En route, it passes through what was formerly Wave Hill Station.  People of a certain age will remember the Wave Hill strike by aboriginal stockmen against the Vestey Group.  Those who are younger probably know the Paul Kelly song, From Little Things Big Things Grow which tells the story of this struggle and the ultimate victory of the Gurindji people, many years later, when Gough Whitlam poured sand through Vincent Lingiari's hand.

Currently we're camped at Fitzroy Crossing.  From here we'll explore some Devonian reefs and gorges

EAST KIMBERLEY

It's been a while since I've posted anything, basically because we've been on the move a lot, travelling from Queensland across the Northern Territory to WA.

The trip across the Barkly Tablelands, up the Stuart Highway to Katherine, then west along the Victoria Highway to the WA border was uneventful, though Eric needed a few days' rest in Katherine after three solid days of driving from the Queensland border.  All through the Territory the trees and shrubs were in flower - eucalypts, wattles and the purple flowered shrub which I think is turkey bush. I know I've said it before, but the countryside really is looking its best.

From Katherine, we overnighted at Victoria River Roadhouse:

then moved on to the WA border and the Quarantine Station where all our fresh fruit, vegetables and honey were confiscated.  So we arrived at Lake Argyle 'resort' in need of supplies.  In their fridge they had one, almost past it, cucumber and one over-ripe tomato so, with the addition of some olives and feta cheese, we were able to whip up a 'Greek' salad. 

Swimming pool overlooking Lake Argyle

Sunset at Lake Argyle

The man-made Lake Argyle was created by damming the Ord River, orignally for the purpose of irrigating cotton crops, but cotton didn't work.  They seem to have found that melons and mangoes work best, and Indian Sandalwood.  As a result of the damming, the Ord River and environment have been adversely affected.  I wonder whether it was worth it. According to the sign at Lake Argyle, it holds about 21 times the volume of Sydney Harbour. 

Ord River upstream from Lake Argyle

KUNUNURRA
 



Eric at Kelly's Knob lookout, Kununurra

Kununurra from Mirima (Hidden Valley) National Park

  

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Parry Lagoons Nature Reserve (on way to Wyndham)

Black Creek waterhole (on way to Wyndham)



WYNDHAM

What can I say?  On the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words, here are two thousand words:



Wyndham Tourist Infromation Centre

 

Hazy conditions overlooking Cambridge Gulf from Five Rivers Lookout (where the King, Pentecost, Durack, Forrest & Ord Rivers flow out to sea)



ALONG THE GIBB RIVER ROAD

It's generally hot, dry and very dusty,

interspersed with river crossings and gorge oases:

The camp grounds run sprinklers all the time in an effort to keep up some green grass.

Camped at El Questro (note solar panels)

Livistona Palm Forest at Zebedee Springs

Thermal pool at Zebedee Springs

Chamberlain Gorge

Rock art spotted at Chamberlain Gorge

Attired to walk Emma Gorge

An hour of scrambling up and down the side of the gorge, over and around rocks and boulders and across stepping stones over the creek

and we reach the waterfall at the end of the gorge

where we sit and cool off for a while before tackling the return trip.  Three hours after starting, we returned to the cafe where we got a much needed cold drink.  (By then what was left of our water was as hot as we were.)

After a short rest, we decided we could make it further along the Gibb River Road to Home Valley Station in time for lunch.  But, alas, about 10 kms short of Home Valley we got a flat tyre.

Surprisingly, no one came along for about 15 minutes, although a tour bus did pass and the driver waved.  Then about six cars came along one after the other and a very competent chap, travelling with his young son, lent a hand and saw us safely across the Pentecost River.  As the tyre had a split right in the middle of the tread, it couldn't be repaired and so had to be replaced at Home Valley.  Given that they charged an arm and a leg for the new tyre, I'm glad it was replaced at Home Valley which is run by the Indigenous Land Corporation, rather than the Voyages controlled El Questro.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of Home Valley as we were anxious to get back to El Questro before dark, which sets in about 5:15.  Apparently some of the movie Australia was set at Home Valley and if I had my time over again, I'd camp there rather than at El Questro. 

Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say.  In this case an advantage of driving back later in the afternoon was that we got to see the setting sun light up the colours of the Cockburn Range - truly spectacular.

Back in Kununurra, we retrieved the van from storage, re-packed the camping gear, replenished supplies, washed and repaired stuff and now we're ready to head off again.  Next stop is Purnululu National Park and the Bungle Bungles, then we'll amble along the bitumen on Highway 1, called the Great Northern Highway in these parts, through Warmun (Turkey Creek), Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing before reaching Derby on 14th July. 

After experiencing the state of the Gibb River Road, I think we've given up on trying to make it down the Tanami Track to Wolfe Creek Crater  -  too far and too rough  -  but we'll see if there's anyone at Halls Creek who might run a tour.