Saturday, 24 July
A much warmer morning, unfortunately the clear blue sky was covered by a high haze before lunch time. The road from Fitzroy to Derby was just as good as the previous day’s drive, with a wide road and long straights. Fuel consumption was even better today and we broke under the magic 15 lts/100km! Not much to see on the way, mainly cattle stations and savannah, although there are a number of different types of wattle in bloom at the moment. It is actually wildflower season in the Kimberleys, with various wattles, some gums and grevilleas, fluffy white flowers on silver scrub and little mauve flowers along the sides of the road. We did stop for a short break at a rest area containing a rather impressive example of a boab tree.
Derby is a rather old style tropical town of about 3,000 people and the largest tidal falls in the southern hemisphere. Today the fall is only about 9 metres, well below the king tides of 12 metres. We are in the Kimberley Edge Caravan Park, a large park quite close to the centre of town. We have a huge site which backs onto some open space before the tidal flats. There is a large barbed wire topped cyclone fence – not sure if it is to keep the crocodiles or locals out, or us in!
We have visited the Information Centre and discovered that all the seaplane flights to the Horizontal Waterfalls are fully booked until next Wednesday, so we will have to be content with a scenic flight only – no boat ride through the falls (thank goodness!!!).
As the tide was full, we had a drive around the Derby jetty (will return in the next day or two at low tide) – quite an amazing scene with cars and people lined up all the way around, fishing. There was an amazing assortment of gear being used, from hand lines to enormous surf rods (hopeful of a shark or crocodile perhaps?).
Much hotter again today, with the temperature around the 30 degree mark and the humidity has increased again. Curtin Air Base is just down the road, so we are being treated to plenty of high jet noise.
A much warmer morning, unfortunately the clear blue sky was covered by a high haze before lunch time. The road from Fitzroy to Derby was just as good as the previous day’s drive, with a wide road and long straights. Fuel consumption was even better today and we broke under the magic 15 lts/100km! Not much to see on the way, mainly cattle stations and savannah, although there are a number of different types of wattle in bloom at the moment. It is actually wildflower season in the Kimberleys, with various wattles, some gums and grevilleas, fluffy white flowers on silver scrub and little mauve flowers along the sides of the road. We did stop for a short break at a rest area containing a rather impressive example of a boab tree.
Derby is a rather old style tropical town of about 3,000 people and the largest tidal falls in the southern hemisphere. Today the fall is only about 9 metres, well below the king tides of 12 metres. We are in the Kimberley Edge Caravan Park, a large park quite close to the centre of town. We have a huge site which backs onto some open space before the tidal flats. There is a large barbed wire topped cyclone fence – not sure if it is to keep the crocodiles or locals out, or us in!
We have visited the Information Centre and discovered that all the seaplane flights to the Horizontal Waterfalls are fully booked until next Wednesday, so we will have to be content with a scenic flight only – no boat ride through the falls (thank goodness!!!).
As the tide was full, we had a drive around the Derby jetty (will return in the next day or two at low tide) – quite an amazing scene with cars and people lined up all the way around, fishing. There was an amazing assortment of gear being used, from hand lines to enormous surf rods (hopeful of a shark or crocodile perhaps?).
Much hotter again today, with the temperature around the 30 degree mark and the humidity has increased again. Curtin Air Base is just down the road, so we are being treated to plenty of high jet noise.
Mr Whippy has just arrived in the caravan park!
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