Day 29 (19 May) – Fitzroy Crossing to Derby

Well this was one of the most boring drives so far.  It was 200km of nothing until we came to the intersection for the turn to Derby.  We stopped for a cuppa and to revive our spirits.  Unfortunately, this rest area is used by cattle road trains and it was littered with cow poo and widdle.  The smell was enticing (not).  Onwards to Derby.

I found a small caravan park on Wikicamps the other day that I hadn’t noticed before.  It had very good reviews compared to the older parks in Derby so we checked in.  Not bad, but better than the others in town.  This area is very dry considering all the rain of recent months. And the park is dusty too.  But the sites all have a fake grass mat so nice to sit out under the awning.  It’s quite hot here too.  More so than I expected.  And humid.

I’d been looking for a flight over the Horizontal Falls but the times we are in Derby and Broome is the Neap Tide time (lowest differential in tides).  One of the operators doesn’t fly on Neap Tides and the other is booked out for those days.  Today in Derby we dropped into the Visitors Centre and they had a brochure for Air Kimberley that does a scenic flight but no Horizontal Falls.  It leaves from Broome and flies over the Archipelago and on to the Horizontal Falls before landing for lunch at Kooljamon Resort at Cape Leveque.  We’ll be staying there for two nights next week so I’ll get to check it out before we arrive.  The flight then returns to Broome along the coast.  Should be good.  Helen is staying on the ground.

Tonight, we drove down to the wharf which has the highest tides in Australia.  How ships dock here in these enormous tides beats me.  We watched the sunset over the water which was nice but somewhat obstructed by the clouds.

Day 30 (20 May) - Derby

The original plan for being here in Derby for two nights was to drive along 140km of the Gibb River Road to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek.  But there were a couple of things we wanted to see in Derby and the two hour or more drive to Windjana and then another for the return, we decided not to do it.  Plus, the walk into these sights would be too much. So, a time in Derby it is.

First stop was the café recommended to us by the caravan park owner.  Neaps Café and Restaurant.  Nice coffee and a lovely environment, so we booked for dinner.  I think we were the only entry in his book when he opened it.  We might be eating alone.  Then it was off to the wharf to see how the tide was doing.  It’s going to be low tide at 12.34 which was 1 ½ hours from when e were there.  It was low enough to get an idea of the drop from last night.  The tide differential is (6.2 metres (20 feet) today.  Hard to fathom.

Near the entrance to the wharf is the Centenary Pavilion.  A stunning mosaic artwork on the floor depicting the 100 years since Federation and the achievements of the States and Nation in that time.

Then it was on to the start of the Gibb River Road for the obligatory photo like we did at the other end near Wyndham.  The Gibb River Road is a “short cut” from Wyndham to Derby of 684km instead of the 899km along the Great Northern Highway.  Trouble is it’s nearly all dirt and river crossings, and very very rough.  Not recommended for caravans.

Just down the road from the entrance to the Gibb River Road is the Boab Prison Tree.  This was a lockup used by the Police in the late 1800s for imprisoning aboriginals.  Not a nice history associated with this place.

Nearby is the longest water trough in the Southern Hemisphere.  It’s 122 metres long, was built in 1916/17, and was used for watering the cattle on their way to the port at Derby.  It could handle 500 bullocks at a time and was fed by bore water from Myalls Bore.  Nearby, also, is Frosty’s Pool which was built by 3^rd General Transport Company in 1944 and named after Corporal Charles L.V. Frost.  It was a swimming pool, also fed by Myalls Bore, for the troops in WWII.

We did a short drive around town, found the Dinner Tree where the Drovers ate their meals waiting to load cattle onto the ships, and stopped at the Old Derby Jail. 

We had a phone call, so stopped, and were watching the car in front of us.  The guy got out a couple of tissues and stuck them in the eyelets of his weight distribution hitch.  Must be going on a dirt road and didn’t want them to get dusty.  Problem is, the tissues will get sucked out as he drives along!! Duh!!

The old jail was one of horror for the aboriginals.  They were brutally interned here for minor crimes awaiting court.  They were chained around the neck and chained to bollards in the floor.  Sanitation was almost non-existent.  The story boards nearby paint an awful picture of the treatment of these people.

Tomorrow we’re off to Broome, only 220km away (about 2 ½ hours drive).  We’re there for a week and on Saturday I do the scenic flight over the Horizontal Falls and Kimberley.  Then we have two nights at Kooljamon Resort at the tip of Cael Leveque, some 200km north of Broome before coming back to Broome to pick up the caravan again.

Helen’s Highlights/Minnie’s musings

I have read about the atrocities meted out to the indigenous people of Australia and it is another thing to be standing in a place where such things happened. It was interesting to read one account where some native ‘boys’ lured some sisters over for a ‘joy’ ride but instead the boys were tasked with kidnapping children and before the parents could try to get them, they had been removed from the area. Just heinous.

 

Complaint of the day

Michael – as per the photo (we are on the right). “Why do people park right up close to cars when the rest of the carpark is empty?????”

From a man at the café trying to get his laptop organised – “Third world communications in a place like this.” Said in a very exasperated way.

Helen – Mine is directed as those long gone, who treated the indigenous with such disrespect and abuse. No wonder the scars are still being felt today.