7th Of August..

Well, it's been a week since the last update..  We are now in Derby for the second time.  Since the last update, we went from Fitzroy Crossing, to Derby, Derby to Broome, Broome to Cape Leveque, Cape Leveque to Derby.  So let me start with our activities in Fitzroy Crossing..

Fitzroy Crossing is a very small place, where the northern road crosses the mighty Fitzroy River.  Alas during winter the river is pretty much empty.  However during summer the river floods.  Some seasons most of the town goes under, so the inhabitants never know.  Anyway, we spent a couple of nights in the Tarunda caravan park.  The key objective in stopping here was to visit the Geiki National Park, where they Geiki Gorge is located.

The Geiki gorge is a path, the Fitzroy river has cut through a 300 million year old limestone formation.  The limestone formation harks back to the Devonian period and is the remnants of an old reef, like the Great Barrier reef.  Getting to Geiki gorge is about 21km drive out of Fitzroy Crossing.

We decided to take a boat trip on the Fitzroy river, where it flows through the gorge. During winter, like now the river doesn't flow. There are large sections with plenty of water, but no flow.  Thus we left a
bit early in the morning to catch the first boat trip.  On the way, we almost ran over a few wallabies as they were lounging on the bitumen.  We arrived at the Geiki gorge well in advance and got tickets to the 8:30am tour.  They herded us into this open boat and then we cruised up and down the Fitzroy with commentary by the captain.

Apart from the reef itself, there were plenty of birds and fresh water crocodiles lounging about along the shores of the river.  The lower parts of the reef are white as it signifies the water level of the Fitzroy, when in action.

After the boat trip we also took a walk along the shore to get up close and personal with the reef.  Along the way I strayed off the path and only realized later that my socks and sneekers were full of burrs.  These are spiked things that latch on to everything and sting like needles.  Taking them off with bare hands is not easy!  I've got the scars to proove it:-)

Derby
After Fitzroy Crossing, we drove to Derby.  Derby is a small town towards the bottom of King Sound bay.  It's mostly famous for the high and low tides, that differ in height of up to 12 Meters.  The other items of interest here are the boab trees.  A very visually interesting tree.  You have to see them to appreciate their grandness.  Of course there is also the Horizontal Falls.  This is a place further out from Derby, where the tide gets squeezed between two small ranges.  During tide it creates a waterfall effect.  We are going on an adventure trip there tomorrow, fly there via sea plane and run through it via boat.

We also took the time to go and see the sunset at the Derby pier, while having seafood dinner at the restaurant there.

Broome
After two nights in Derby we drove to Broome.  You could say that Broome is the tourist capital of the Kimberleys.  It has as it's main attraction a very long and white sandy beach called Cable Beach.  This is where they offer camel rides into the sunset.

Broome is also the pearl captial of the world, where they grow the most magnificent pearls a man or a woman can ever hope for, or afford.  We did a tour through Willie Creek, one of the pearl farms and were given an insight into the pearling process.  So if you need a pearl consultant, just let us know!  Kylie got to try the most expensive pearl necklace and made all the other tourist females envious.

We also went to Gaunthemau Point, just outside Broome and ventured onto the very rocky and
slippery beach at low tide.  The objective was to find dinosaur tracks, which are fossilised in the sandstone from about 135 Million years ago.  We had luck on our side, both finding some of the tracks and not slipping and ending up with fractures!  Of course we also watched the sunset on Cable beach.

Another thing of interest in Broome is the Golden Staircase.  This only occurs when the full moon rises up at low tide across the mud flats that surround Broom, just after sunset.  We headed out to the Town Beach with all the other locals and tourists and settle in for the evening.  We had no idea where or when the moon would rise, so we simply planted ourselves like all the other tourists.  Luckily it turned out fine.  It's a wonderful show.  The red moon rises slowly and casts a golden glow across the mudflats.

Cape Leveque
After spending a few days in Broome, we left and drove to Cape Leveque.  This is where we had booked two nights in a cabin, plus one night camping at the Kooljaman resort. (Couldn't get the third night in the cabin as this place is pretty popular, even when booking months in advance).  Cape Leveque is at the end of the Dampier Peninsula and Kooljaman is a great resort.  The road out there is just over 200k, but you drive on bitumen for around 20k and then sandy gravel tracks for another 90k.  Then the rest is all bitumen.

I'm sure they left the gravel to keep too many tourists from coming there.  The time there was mostly spent relaxing and celebrating Sibbas birthday.  In the morning in Broome, just before emabarking for the Cape, I loaded up the laptop and gave Sibba access to the email account and facebook birthday greetings.  She was very surprised and appreciated getting the birthday greetings from everyone.  We went out for dinner at the Kooljaman Resort, two nights in a row.  The meals were just fantastic.  Not something you would expect in this place, which by the way is wholly driven by solar power.

While there we came to appreciate the sign they had on the toilets in the Bungle Bungles; "Please put the toilet seats down, as our little green frogs are keen to take a swim". One of the green frogs came into our Cabin and settled on the power extension board.  When Sibba went later that evening to the toilet, she found three of the green frogs lounging in the toilet bowl, basking in the water.   It turns out that every couple of weeks, one of the staff has to go around to collect these critters.  They tend to hide under the toilet rim during the day.

We also went for a boat cruise to try to see some humpback whales, but they were obviously on a strike, so no show.  We had seen them before out in the bay frolicking around, the previous day through the binoculars, so it wasn't so bad.  Being Icelandic we have seen them pretty up close and personal before.  The stay at Kooljaman was fantastic and very relaxing.  We could have stayed there for longer!

Derby again.
We left the Cape this moring and arrived here in Derby early afternoon.  As mentioned we are going on an adventure cruise, fly in a sea plane and boat trip tomorrow morning and will be back late afternoon.  That just gives us time to stock up and prepare for our trip onto the Gibb River road on Thursday.  This is where there is no mobile reception of any kind, so it may be a while before we update again.  I'm posting a fair few pictures, so enjoy..

Until Next Time, warmest regards.

Simmi and Sibba..

The white part shows how high the Fitzroy river can go in Geiki Gorge!

Underneath the limestone these small birds were building their mud nests.

On the Fitzroy river in Geiki Gorge

Yep, the fresh water crocks are there as well in the Geiki Gorge.

Geiki Gorge LimeStone.

The Fitzroy river cuts pretty interesting holes into the limestone.

This young fresh water crock was pretty lazy I must say, not very imposing  is it!

These are black Cocatoos.  You don't see them too often.

The color in the limestone was pretty spectacular..  This is former Coral.

This stuff is not easy to climb, lots of spiky bits, almost like the lava fields in Iceland..

Kylie had to explore some of the holes in the limestone..

Us, camping in Fitzroy Crossing..

Sunset over the Derby pier..

Boab tree in Derby.

Another Boab tree in Derby.  They are not small by any means.

The "Prison Boab Tree" in Derby.  They can be hollow inside so they claim it was used to store prisoners overnight.

Kylie in the old gaol at Derby.

Sunset in Derby, seen from our Campsite.

View over the upper part of Cable Beach in Broome.

View over the lower part of Cable Beach in Broome.  See the Camels and the 4WD out on the beach .

Cable Beach can also be rocky as well.

The settlers pier in Broome, where the pearl luggers used to land the shells.

Yep, this is a mother of a pearl.  Pretty big  and  not for sale!  They rejected a $2Million offer (No, not from me!).

Waiting for the sunset at Cable Beach.

Cable Beach around sunset.

Sunset at Cable Beach.

More sunset at Cable Beach.

Interesting colors in the sunset.

Sunset layers.

Me and Kylie while watching the sunset at Cable Beach.

The camels go home after working all day!

Sibba, waiting at Willie Creek for the Pearl Lecture!

A live pearl with all the stuff inside to study.  They have a live crab inside that acts like a cleaner.  Pretty amazing stuff.

Willie Creek, pearl showroom and tourist operation.

Kylie with $40k pearl necklace, plus a single pearl strap.  She was most insistent, but we had to say NO!

Kylie measures herself against a saltwater crocodile!

The rock formations on Gauntheaume Point.

Sibba thinking, where should we go down to find the dinosaur footprints?.

The rocky beach was pretty slippery and not easy to hop along the rocks.

I and Kylie looking over the Dinosaur footprints..  The three fingered one is a Theropod footprint.

Kylie trying out the Sauropod footprints.

Getting ready at the Town Beach to see the Golden Staircase.

This is the moon, just rising across the mudflats.

The golden staircase.

The Green frog from Cape Leveque.  It didn't flinch.  I had to remove it by force.

The view from our  Cabin at Cape Leveque.

The Cabin we stayed in at Cape Leveque.

Cape Leveque has pristine white beaches as well as Broome.

Interesting sandstone formations at Cape Leveque.

Looking out to the beach in Cape Leveque.

This Lizard also lived in the Cabin Roof at the Cape.

Sibba and I on the beach, watching the stars at Cape Leveque.