WA: The Kimberley kranks it up

WA 2022: Post 4 of 6  22 May 2022

Ahoy from crocodile country. Mostly we have been in fresh water crocodile country which means we are less likely to appear like dinner, but I’m ok with not swimming for the time being. The weather continues to be 35 degrees with bright blue skies everyday, and the most colourful sunsets that you wish would never end.

The Kimberley Region covers the top of WA and is almost twice the size of Victoria. The Kimberley is home to over 150 Aboriginal communities with many involved in the management of the national and conservation parks up here. Unfortunately due to Covid concerns, all the Aboriginal communities are closed to visitors at the moment.

We are traveling in May which means the vegetation is still very green, the rivers are reasonably full and the roads are generally open following the wet season. This part of the road trip is mostly flat with large red rock formations and boab trees filling the landscape. The imprint of the wet season is everywhere with wide worn river beds, huge clumps of sticks and leaves high up in trees where the water level reached, and an array of colourful wildflowers blooming. The campsites involve plenty of red dust and the world’s nastiest bindiis, but make up for it with the sparkly night skies. That is me below, pretending to know what is happening up there…

From Broome, we travelled east to Derby, south to Fitzroy Crossing and then a bit more east to set up camp just outside Purnululu National Park, better known to white man as the Bungle Bungles. For some reason there is suddenly plenty of roadkill, which of course is not nice, but it draws a lot of interesting scavengers which is feeding my twitcher habit.

Our first crocodile spotting adventure was at Windjana Gorge in the Bandilngan National Park where we clocked 16 happy crocs soaking up the sun. Just down the road is Dimalurru National Park which is home to Tunnel Creek, a phenomenal 750m long and dark cave, part of an ancient reef system and used as a hiding place by people needing to hide. Fortunately the extent of the wildlife in the cave during our visit did not include crocodiles of any size, instead we had an eel, teeny tiny bats, yabby type creatures, small fish and some annoying tourists.

Near Fitzroy Crossing, is the Danggu National Park where we did a boat tour of Geikie Gorge, cruising on the Fitzroy River spotting crocs and birds. The Rangers explained that the river can rise above 4.5 metres in the wet season, meaning the Rangers have to remove the boat ramp and all the signage for the walks in the national park before the wet season starts. Of course this means that when the next dry season comes, the Rangers spend a few weeks cleaning the paths and picnic tables of mud and reinstalling the signage and boat ramp. After that story, I read all the signage in detail!

A bit further along Highway No.1 is Halls Creek, a blip of a town at the north end of the Canning Stock Route with a very friendly tourist office and free wi-fi town wide. Halls Creek became a town after gold was discovered nearby in 1885. I discovered in Halls Creek that gold fever is still a thing, and you need a licence to look for gold. There you go.

An hour north from Halls Creek, we took a weekend to visit the Bungle Bungle Range – a World Heritage Site recognised for its unique black and orange banded beehives. It is difficult to get a nice photo of the range, however I can confirm that the beehives are impressive in every sense of the word. We did a 4wd bus tour into the National Park which meant a day with a random bunch of grey nomads from right across Australia who kept us entertained.

From here we head north to Kununurra, a town established in 1962 to support the construction of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme. Kununurra is only 45kms from the Northern Territory border so it will be our last stop in Western Australia.