Fitzroy Crossing (22/5/12 - 23/5/12)

From Halls Creek we drove 290 kilometres west to Fitzroy Crossing, with very little between the two towns.  Except constant whinging from Ben!  As we arrived at Fitzroy Crossing, we saw a massive snake cross the road - thank goodness we were inside the car!  We checked into the Fitzroy Lodge Caravan Park - an oasis in the middle of nowhere.  Beautiful lawn sites, restaurants, a bar, pool, tennis court etc.  Divine.

Fitzroy Crossing is located on the Fitzroy River, one of the largest rivers in Australia, with a catchment of 90,000 square kilometres!  Just north of the townsite the tributaries of the Leopold and Margaret/Mary Rivers join the Fitzroy before continuing on to King Sound and the ocean.

The highlight of our time in Fitzroy Crossing was a boat tour of Geikie Gorge, 20 kilometres north east of the town.  Our informative ranger guide was lovely and appointed Chloe and Ben "chief croc spotters" and gave them (& us) the front row seats, which meant we had the best view.

Geikie Gorge is part of an ancient limestone reef that developed around 360 million years ago.  Since the ocean receded, the Fitzroy River has gouged through the rock, forming cliff walls that tower over the water.  The cliffs and sculptured rock formations were varying colours and looked beautiful with the sunlight on them.

We saw 27 crocodiles (as reported by Chloe) and a number of birds, including the tiny fairy birds that were building their nests on the cliff faces, which resembled hornet nests. Geikie Gorge is home to freshwater crocodiles, barramundi and many fish species.  It is also home to sharks, sawfish and stingrays, that have over the years adapted to fresh water.

This area is home to the Bunuba aboriginal people.  As has been the case with a number of other national parks in Australia, Geikie Gorge is in the process of reverting to its traditional aboriginal name of Darngku Gorge.

Geikie Gorge was spectacular and we all loved the trip.

On our way back to town, we stopped at the Old Causeway Crossing, that was the only way across the Fitzroy River until the new bridge was built in the 1970's. There was up to 20 centimetres of water flowing across the causeway and could have been easily crossed in a car (as decided by Simon), although we did not do this as it was closed.  Instead we walked through the water from one end to the other.  Beautiful, clear fresh water.  Cool on our feet and lovely to drink.

Very close to the old crossing was the original townsite, although there is very few remains now.   Next stop, the historic Crossing Inn.  The Crossing Inn was established in 1897 as a shanty inn and trade store for passing stockmen, prospectors and drovers.  Whilst it has been rebuilt many times, it has survived rising floodwaters and is the oldest Kimberley hotel on it's original site.  The Crossing Inn was a lot neater and welcoming than when we were last here in 1998.  Plus there were no empty Emu Export beer cans to be seen!  It now also has an art gallery containing local aboriginal artwork, as well as some paintings by local high school students on the outside of the pub, which we all enjoyed looking at.

A quick stock up of supplies at the brand new IGA ended our morning.  We spent a quiet afternoon back at camp.  We head off tomorrow for Derby, to catch up with our friends Kurt, Cherie, Nadine and Leonie.  We can't wait!

Until Derby.......

The beautiful Geikie Gorge

Fairy bird nests

The Old Causeway Crossing

Historic Crossing Inn