the kimberley, western australia

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the kimberley

In terms of rugged spectacle, The Kimberley is without a doubt the most beautiful place in Australia. This land has 360 degree views of the biggest things you have ever seen - from the mudflats at Wyndham from the Five Rivers Lookout where you can see all the way to the Northern Territory, to Lake Argyle that you can take a boat out and not see any land, to the Bungle Bungles which are only 100 kilometres off the main highway around Australia but weren't discovered by white man until 1982. These things don't fit into any camera lens - there are even clouds here so big you can't photograph them.

Nonetheless, we tried, so there are lots of photos for you to download - hope you've got ADSL...

A little baby wallaby whose mum was found dead. This was at the Timber Creek Roadhouse just before the crossing to the WA border.

We've already planned our next trip into The Kimberley, in the Dry season on the Gibb River Road, to make up for travelling through so quickly this time.

I would also recommend Ron and Viv Moon's book called The Kimberley - An Adventurer's Guide for those who want to live vicariously.

kununurra

We drove from Jabiru, in the heart of Kakadu to Kununurra. Our first day back in WA!

There is a quarantine station on the WA side of the border, where they ransack thrugh your gear to make sure you're not hiding any illegal substances, like honey.

The quarantine officer looking at Neil's honey.

Yay! We made it!

This is Durack land (Kings in Grass Castles). Massive cattle stations were set up here after Patsy Durack arrived here in 1885. The Duracks owned the Lissadell, Argyle, Rosewood and Ivanhoe stations.

The only reason Kununurra was built was to service the Ord irrigation project. Now it is set - the Argyle Diamond Mine being close to home and a new sugar mill in town. Tourism also contributes as much money to the local economy as the nearby agricultural ventures.

The East Kimberleys are the prettiest part of the Kimberleys, and include Kununurra, Wyndham, Lake Argyle and Purnululu National Park.

A barramundi that was 1cm too big (82cm) and had to be thrown back. Barras change from males to females as they get older, so the mature females have to be kept in the river system for sustainability. Which means there is no such thing as a mature male.		Neil trying to wake up for the 5.20 flight.
Kununurra from Kelly's Knob. To get to Kelly's Knob you have take your first right after Nutwood Drive, which is Konkerberry Road.		Paul, the keeper of Rusty. Yes Jennifer, we named him after your cat. I can't believe you called your cat Paul.

lake argyle

To create a picture of how much water runs around up here; Lake Argyle is officially an inland sea. The Ord River, which feeds Lake Argyle, could fill Sydney Harbour from empty to full in four hours. It holds, at normal supply levels, 10 Sydney Harbours.

A lonely yacht braving the ferocious seas of Argyle.		Dad went on a boat cruise of Lake Argyle. The boat drove for three hours before it got to its fish-feeding destination.
This water intake dam is 18 stories high.		The other side of the dam - the Ord River.

When the river was dammed, a couple of chappies started a catfish breeding farm. They started selling the catfish at $4 a kilo, which was pretty abysmal. One night, after a few beers, they put their heads together and decided to change the name of the fish to 'silver cobbler'. Overnight the price went up to $18 a kilo.

Lake Argyle from an aeroplane.

purnululu n.p. (the bungle bungles)

The Bungle Bungles have a wow factor of a million. Even in a tiny Cessna, where I discovered a previously undetected fear of flying and was under constant threat of a massive panic attack and urge to push open a window and jump into Lake Argyle below (not helped by the fact that our pilot was Doogie Howser who accidentally turned on the windscreen wipers instead of the blinker when he came to pick us up), I forgot all about it when this ancient city of massive tiger-striped beehives appeared under the plane.

Australia is such a bizarre place. Even with satellites circling the planet daily, even with the country full of mines and cattle stations, it seems incredible that this huge bright structure could only have become known to the larger population less than twenty years ago.

The Aboriginal people of the area used it during the Wet because there was so much food there, so it's inscribed with many rock paintings.

You can't drive or walk through the Bungle Bungles during the wet, so we took aforementioned terrifying flight over it instead. Unfortunately, the windows of the tiniest plane in the world were very thick, and the digital camera didn't work very well with it. When we get the Pentax photos back hopefully they will be better, and I'll scan them.

		Doogie, learning his left from his right.
Me with Gilligan.		The Argyle Diamond Mine.
The open cut mine.		To break even the mine has to find $1,000,000 a day worth of diamonds.

the grotto

The Grotto is a waterfall pool which happens to be very deep - about 122 metres. It has a rock staircase that goes right from the top to the rock pool itself. The waterfall is only 11 metres high, but I could only get a half shot of it as it is only accessible by water, and digicam didn't bring his bathers.

The rock staircase is on the left.
"I'll give you a hand, Rissy!"		"I'm worn out after all that gallantry."
I can see my house from here.		The waterhole at the bottom. Spot the crocs.
"I think I can, I think I can..."

wyndham

Also on our way into Wyndham we made an attempt to see an old boab prison tree (obviously not the one in Derby), which was only 22kms off the highway. Nonetheless the road in some areas was so corrugated that we were going 5kms an hour, in which case the tree wasn't worth it.

Hands up who's noticed it's always me checking the mud pools?		Okay Rusty, it's safe to proceed.
Bugger.		Paul is digusted at the way Rusty's keeping himself these days.

Wyndham is the oldest town in WA, and the most northerly port in WA. When Western Australia's first gold rush occurred at Hall's Creek, Wyndham had six hotels on its main drag. Today (apparently) Wyndham just survives on tourism and its port, so we assume its port must be doing well.

This is the Fiver Rivers lookout. It shows where the Cambridge Gulf and the Forrest, Ord, Durack, King and Pentecost Rivers all meet up. You can also see the Northern territory from here. The mudflats are beyond description - it looks like you could fit the whole of Perth on them.

Mudflats on the other side.

We have it on good authority from a close contact in the Water Authority (my Dad) that the water in one of Wyndham's main tanks (the Hospital Tank) is only turned over once every 54 days. Don't drink the water.

parry's creek

The Parry Lagoons wetland area has been chosen as part of the new East Asian-Australasian Flyway. This is a migratory path for shorebird sites - some birds come here from as far as Siberia to nest, then get fat enough to go home again.

Neil doing a spot of fishing.		The billabong near Parry's Creek.
All aboard the Neily Cruises.

warnum and hall's creek

The petrol station at Warnum (Turkey Creek). The petrol here was $1.20 a litre :(		Russian Jack was a fellow who teamed up with a digger in the first gold rush of WA. His mate got sick and Russian Jack dumped him (and enough food) in a wheelbarrow and wheeled him 300kms to Wyndham.
Halls Creek's main drag.		How our radiator grill fared on the drive from Wyndham.

derby

Derby was the base for the the chase for Jandamarra ('Pigeon'). He was held in the old Derby Gaol, and the grave of his first victim is in the Derby Cemetery. Derby is the gateway to the Gorges - the magnificent chasms that make up the Kimberley.

The Wharfingers House Museum, built in the 1920s for the local wharfmaster. It also holds arts and crafts made by patients of the Derby Leprosarium.		Derby's School of the Air - the new building (not finished yet).
Neil fishing off the Derby jetty.		How to fry bees.
		The photo on the left is a cell from the old Derby Gaol (closed 1975). To learn more about the horrific things that went on surrounding the gaol, go to Derby Gaol.
Boab Prison Tree		Prisoners that were heading to the Old Derby Gaol (above) brought from the surrounding country areas would typically walk up to 48kms a day, and stay here for their last night before being locked up in jail. Before Derby was established in 1883, Aboriginal people were kidnapped from the West Kimberley. The kidnappers, known as blackbirders, were settlers who were connected with the pearling industry. They wanted divers and workers for the pearling boats. They rounded people up, put them in chains and marched them to the coast. They held their captives at the Boab Prison Tree while they waited for a boat.

broome

Luxury! Three nights in one spot!

In 1889 Broom was finally connected through the Overland Telegraph line. There was also a large cable sunk between Broom and Banjawangie in Indonesia (hence the name 'Cable Beach'). But Broome is most famous for its pearls and beaches (and sunset camel rides). There were record prices for mother-of-pearl after the war, until plastics came in - then no one needed Broome buttons anymore.

Some of the Japanese men who worked on the pearl luggers came to horrific deaths - cyclones would trash their boats while they were on the bottom of the ocean - cutting off their air supply and any hope of getting back to land. That doesn't take into account the number of divers who died of the bends.

Broome also has Malcolm Douglas' Crocodile park. Because, in all honesty, we haven't seen enough crocs.

Our first night in Broome.		A big lizard who was hanging around our camp.
Broome's cosmopolitan bottle-o.		Broome's jetty. They have giant leatherback turtles swimming around here.
Neil fishing for turtles.		The original Linney's. Broome pearls. Pink Argyle diamonds. Audrey shops here.
Martin Reed of Linney's showing me how pearls are made... Me resisting the urge to yoink and run.		Pearl luggers - where baby pearls come from.
Sun Cinemas - the oldest operating open air cinemas in the world.		D'oh!
Camp setup.		A camel ride along Cable Beach at sunset.
This was Noahpad, our camel, who's been doing this ride for 16 years.

Last updated: 13th February, 2002