15th – 16th June 2017
Geikie Gorge, Derby, and big boab trees.
Up early after a long sleep, and had a
great shower in the corrugated iron units which have no roof on, so in the
morning you shower in the sunlight, and in the evening you shower under the
stars ! Very enjoyable, for a change
!! After filling the water tank, we
headed out towards Halls Creek, where we refueled and had a coffee, then headed
on.
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| Outcrops along the road |
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| Homestead Inn, Fitzroy Crossing |
The road was through open plains with
sudden rock outcrops at Mabel Hill & Alice Hill. Fascinating. Lots of mountain ranges to the north and
south. We reached Fitzroy Crossing by
lunch time, checked into an “interesting” camp site, and went off to the
Homestead Inn (oldest pub in the Kimberley ?) for an excellent Barra’ fish and
chip lunch, washed down with the new West Australia Elsie beer. And after lunch we set off to Geikie Gorge
where we planned to take a boat trip up the river.
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| Water carved rock |
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| Geikie Gorge |
Geikie Gorge is where the Fitzroy River
cuts through the limestone at the junction of the Geikie and Oscar ranges, and
where the Margaret River joins before flowing on to Derby and on out into King
Sound. The Gorge is 14 kms long, with the 60 m high walls polished white by
floodwaters up to a height of 10-12 metres above the normal river level. And when you see the floodwaters marked in
the Ranger Post where we gathered before leaving for the boat trip, with the
marker for the 2017 wet marked as level with the top of the roof, you get an
idea of just how much water is involved around here !
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| Amazing formations |
The small cruise was excellent, and the way
the floodwaters have carved patterns in the rock walls of the gorge are
spectacular. We saw a pair of Osprey,
lots of freshwater crocs sunbathing on the banks, noisy cockatoos in the trees,
and Fairy Martins who build mud nests below the overhangs along the gorge. A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon,
and as the sun set, we returned to the dock and our cars, and headed back to
the camp site for supper, a game of cards, and bed.
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| Sunset as we head back to Fitzroy Crossing |
On Friday we got moving reasonably early,
and headed up the road towards Broome. Not a lot of sights on the road, but at lunch
time we stopped at a roadside place that had an enormous old boab tree. They say that boabs are like humans in their
growth patterns – First of all they grow tall and skinny, and then, once they
have reached their full height, they then start to put on weight and get rather
fat ! Boabs don’t have growth rings
like other trees, so it is extremely difficult to tell their age accurately,
but the really big ones like this are estimated to be up to 1500 years old, and
therefore one of the oldest living items in Australia, if not the world ! After exploring t
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| Bird playing on Tony's mirror |
he tree, and watching a bird
play with its reflection in the shiny wing mirrors on Tony’s car, we continued
on to Derby. Having visited Derby many
years ago, I knew there wasn’t a lot to see there, and sure enough after a
quick visit to the wharf, and seeing the
extensive mud flats at low tide, we headed out again.
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| Derby wharf at low tide |
The tides in Derby (and elsewhere along his
coast) vary some 11.8 metres, which are among some of the highest in the world,
along with the Bay of Fundy, Bristol, Mont St Michel, and Puerto Gallegos,
Argentina (all of which I have coincidentally visited !) As a result, low tides
can mean some pretty impressive mud flats !
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| Derby Prison Tree |
Heading out of Derby, we made a quick visit
to their local museum, a lot of the contents of which we were familiar with,
(which just goes to show our increasing age !) and we then visited the old
prison tree a few miles out of town.
This big old boab was used as a prison for Aborigines in the 1880’s –
Yet another instance of some of the unspeakable horrors inflicted on these
people by the early settlers. Often the
prisoners were captured in the Kimberley, and brought to Derby as slaves to be
used on the pearling boats in the region.
Out of interest, in local stories, the boab
trees are called Larrkardiy, and the termite mounds are called Jilkarr, and are
outstanding and enduring features of Indigenous religious belief and practice
in the Kimberley.
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| Plenty of water still in the creeks |
On the final run into Broome, we crossed
multiple waterways, all still with plenty of water still in them from the wet
season, and finally pulled into the camp site at sunset. Half way on our trip ! We had actually arrived a couple of days earlier
than expected, so had 4 days to look forward to exploring and relaxing in the
area.
Rest of the pics are here :- https://goo.gl/photos/LM8vWG6ckrSF78ph6
and here "- https://goo.gl/photos/rorRzCpCmdxNuRvx8
The small cruise was excellent, and the way
the floodwaters have carved patterns in the rock walls of the gorge are
spectacular. We saw a pair of Osprey,
lots of freshwater crocs sunbathing on the banks, noisy cockatoos in the trees,
and Fairy Martins who build mud nests below the overhangs along the gorge. A very pleasant way to spend the afternoon,
and as the sun set, we returned to the dock and our cars, and headed back to
the camp site for supper, a game of cards, and bed.
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