Mitchell Plateau

Getting to the plateau
After a feast of gorges, it was off to the Mitchell Plateau and Mitchell Falls. Dispensing with the bad stuff – this was the one and only place where the toilets made me gag and, unfortunately, we were there for two nights. It shouldn't have been that way – they were long-drops and there was a resident ranger who should have kept them up to scratch. OK. Done with the bad.

The Kalumburu Road wasn't too bad at all – about as bad as I'd expected the Gibb River Road to be but wasn't. It was slow going and we bounced along, but it was OK. I was astonished at the huge number of Livistona palms growing in the area. These were the palms I'd been so anxious to see at Palm Valley. Granted, the Palm Valley specimens were more lush, but they were growing in and around the Finke River so got more water.

That night we were half expecting our guide for the next day to arrive and give us a preview talk, but he didn't show. Not a wasted evening though, sitting around one of our better camp-fires.

Lots of Livistona palms
More photos here

Hiking to the Falls
Another expectation bites the dust. Because a helicopter flight back after the walk “down to the falls” was included in the price of the tour, I assumed it was going to be pretty steep going down. Not so. Rough, certainly, but that made it slow going more than anything, although coming up on even the slight rise from “the bottom” would probably have tested me and one or two others I suspect.

We made lots of stops along the way as Brownie, our guide, explained all about aboriginal lore, plants, animals, rock art ... and we looked at the scenery! First stop was Little Mertens Falls, no indicator of what was to come but giving another great cross-country view. Next was our first major rock art stop. It's amazing stuff. Aboriginals are allowed to refresh the artwork, according to their needs. Remember, these are the equivalent of Western arts' stained glass, paintings, mosaics, murals, etc for passing on stories in a pre-literate age. Not all rock art has been refreshed, so much so that for some, the colour is there but nothing of the 'paint' that can be carbon dated.

Next it was scrambling behind a small waterfall (not exactly reminiscent of being behind Niagara!) then across boulders that were a foretaste of the climb to Emma Gorge. Rest stops, be it amongst the boulders or along the rocky path, always involved a search, usually unsuccessful!, for a comfortable spot to sit. (Needing to search for safe and/or secure footstep places goes without saying!) Shade was often at a premium too. It was hot!

Then we got to Mertens Falls, with a sizeable gorge, some beautiful pools, and, joy, a Mertens' Water Monitor, a gorgeous fellow (or female?) who eyed us off but seemed unconcerned at our presence. Water was flowing over and down into the gorge - just! - but it's impossible, really, to imagine what the falls must be like in the Wet. More rough and rocky 'paths' to negotiate, and we were there!      

Tiny wildflowers on the way to Mitchell Falls
More photos of the hike here

Mitchell Falls
First stop before the falls proper was a swim in the Mitchell Falls pool. This is where I finished up jumping in fully clothed after thinking I'd just paddle my feet. The memory of the fun and deliciousness of it hasn't dimmed.

After swimming we got our first view of the falls. Pressing on, walking across rock, it was very easy to see in the rock markings, indentations, etc, that it was very like rock-pools at the coast. Hard to believe it was under water millions of years ago. Finally we came to where we were looking directly across to the falls – 35 storeys high was the figure quoted to us. Amazing sight. Again, hard to imagine the falls in the wet. I was pleased to see the rainbow at the bottom of the falls. It's one that is referred to as a Rainbow Serpent in Aboriginal mythology.

There were some spectacular views from the helicopter – I was in the front seat again – as we flew twice around and over the falls. In this situation my shortcomings as a photographer become all too evident. But even bad photos that I have taken make the memories come alive.       

Mitchell Falls
More photos here

                                       

Mitchell Falls in the wet
Photo credit

The perfect end to the day was a swim in the swimming hole by our camp. It was the most enclosed swimming spot we were in with the 'things' in the water a bit harder to ignore ... bugs, little fish, slimy rocks .... but it was nevertheless probably the longest time I was in the water apart from the pool at Cable Beach resort. And we had a bird guarding our towels and sandals.

Swimming hole near Mitchell Plateau camp ground

"Guard Bird" at the swimming hole

Truckin' 2

There's swimming, flying, sailing and the towns .... and there's Terra Firma, where most time was spent. So much of that time was spent travelling, mostly on unmade roads. Yes, we bounced around a bit with the occasional jolt here and there. But really it was very comfortable. Never once did I think “Aren't we there yet?” or “Let me off!!” I even dozed a bit, sad to say as I missed the scenery.

People will say, “Oh, but the scenery doesn't change much.” In fact, it does. Slowly and subtly, but change it does. Wide, flat, open; hills, trees, scrub, palms; water crossings, with and without water; termite mounds, big and small; the very rare building of some sort; roadhouses, fences, no fences; passing traffic, every hour or so.

The first major trek was across the Tanami Desert. Next was the drive into Purnululu NP, just on 60km off the Great Northern Highway but it took 2½hrs to do it, such were the twists and turns.

The second major trek was the iconic Gibb River Road. I expected this to be really bad, but it wasn't, well not from the point of view of this passenger! Mind you, I wouldn't have wanted to drive it!! The wear and tear on the truck was enough to make you realise you'd have to be prepared to write off a vehicle if you drove a 4WD across. It wouldn't necessarily happen – although it did to a woman trying to hitch to anywhere from Mt Barnett Roadhouse! It would definitely take years off the life of a 4WD though and only a fool would attempt it in a regular car. That said, the road was in pretty good nick, reasonably graded. But you can see why you don't travel the Gibb in the wet. Seeing the height that water reaches by the debris caught high in tree branches – you'd need your floaties, and then some!!

The third, though shorter, major trek was on the rugged Kalumburu Road, off the Gibb, then off that again up to Mitchell Plateau on the most rugged stretch of all.

Pretty much all the rest was on sealed roads. The romantic factor took a steep dive! Anyone wanting to experience the romance of the Gibb needs to get on with it. It's sealed from the Great Northern Highway to Emma Gorge Resort and major roadworks are under way to seal from there to the El Questro Homestead turn-off. Once that's complete it's not hard to imagine that the rest will follow, not quickly perhaps, but the days of the unsealed road look to be numbered.

I've not read any words nor seen any photos anywhere that do this trip justice or give a real appreciation of the majesty of Kimberley country. But I'll try to give a little of the flavour with these photos.

Start of the Gibb River Road, near Derby,WA
More photos -
Gibb River Road - Part 1
Gibb River Road - Part 2
After the Gibb - Part 1
After the Gibb - Part 2

Civilisation along the way

After Alice, Halls Creek was the first town we came to. We stopped the night here, stocked up for our two nights at Purnululu, and stopped here for lunch on the way back from Purnululu to Fitzroy Crossing. So not the greatest of sightseeing spots.

There's an 'Old Halls Creek' which was abandoned in 1955 with the town moving to less hilly country when a new road was put through. The old cemetery remains and traces of the town, a few street signs, footings of buildings. The largest remainder is ruins of the old post office, made of termite mounds crushed and turned into mud bricks.

Fireplace at the remains of the old Post Office

 


















A local legend is “Russian Jack”, famed for carrying/pushing a sick and injured prospector in his wheelbarrow from Derby to Halls Creek in the 1880's during a gold find. The injured prospector is a great-grandfather of a friend of mine!

"Russian Jack" monument 

 














And the local butcher lived up (down?) to his advertising boast when a stew made from his meat was the only meal our cook made that could be criticised.

Would you buy meat here?!

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For us, Fitzroy Crossing was merely a stopping place. Mind you, the camp site was about the best we stayed at with a terrific shower block – you come to appreciate such things! It was a full day's drive from Halls Creek to get there, then in the morning it was up and off to the Geikie Gorge cruise before heading straight on to Broome.

The river at Fitzroy Crossing - literally miles wide when it floods

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Broome is a booming place, houses going up all about.
I'd never seen the point in a resort until arriving at Cable Beach Club. Excellent indeed for completely chilling out, unwinding, relaxing. The only negative was the shortage of washing machines as we all brought out our dusty, dirty clothes from the previous week ... hardly a serious complaint. The grounds were beautiful and extensive - so much so that I kept getting lost between my studio apartment, the pool and the restaurant! The climate is such that the restaurant has no walls at all along what would be the wall looking out to sea. So easy to see the sunset and the camels coming back from sunset rides .... one of which I'd never intended to try. No reason for a camel to suffer me on its back! 

Because of the unexpected Cessna flight, I didn't get to see too much of Broome itself, the biggest “didn't see” being the lighthouse and dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point. We arrived back from the flight in time to catch the presentation at the Pearl Luggers museum about how pearling was done “in the olden days” - pretty horrific really. After that, I walked around the town centre and bought a couple of 'sun block' tops – cover-alls to wear instead of using lashings of sun block cream. Later, the iced coffee wasn't half bad either!

The Staircase to the Moon wasn't the perfection of the advertising brochures. You did get the idea of what it could be like but smoke in the air turned the moon red and lessened the reflections on the water. But the rising red ball was magnificent in itself and was accompanied, at our viewing point, by a 30 minute didgeridoo solo that was hauntingly beautiful. There was no disappointment at that turn of events.

Glimpses of Broome here. Including the best I could manage of the Staircase to the Moon. Aboriginal men wore pearl shells much as a Scotsman might wear a sporran!

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Derby was our morning tea stop (by the wharf) before starting up the Gibb River Road. The town, on King Sound which has Australia's highest tidal variations, up to 11m, is smaller than I expected but well kept, giving the impression of an active, prosperous community. New civic buildings added to that impression. I loved the median strip in the main street, planted with boab trees!

On the approach to town there is an historic boab, believed to be 1,500 years old, whose hollow trunk was used as a prison for Aboriginals. Nearby is a concrete water trough, built in the early 20th century, that could handle 500 head of cattle at a time fed by bore water. Initially it didn't run dry but that only lasted a couple of years so a windmill took over pumping in the water. Over-use of natural resources is obviously nothing new!

A bit of Derby here.

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Oh dear, Wyndham, also smaller than I'd expected. Was this ever a godforsaken place!! Or so it seemed. Perhaps appearances were deceptive ... there is a busy port there. And it's home to the 20m long “Big Croc” .... another “Big” Australian! At the entrance to the town is a collection of sculptures, an Aboriginal family and some native animals.

The Big Croc

Aboriginal family group

 





























We had lunch at the lookout where you're supposed to be able to see five rivers flowing into the Cambridge Gulf. But it was hard to distinguish grey sea, grey mudflats, grey sky. Smoke again. Photos taken by friends Joan & Ken only a couple of weeks before tell a very different story.

My smoky Wyndham

 

Joan & Ken's non-smoky Wyndham

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Kununurra was a real mixed bag, the largest town we'd seen since Broome. The town was purpose built when construction on the Ord River Scheme commenced. It's got all the basics you would expect, including a hospital. I know that because I saw a doctor there! If I'd been at home I wouldn't have bothered but because it would be another week before the next chance to see a doctor, I went for a check because The Bug had given me some miserable days and more miserable nights with a hacking cough. No, “just a virus”, no need for antibiotics. But your blood pressure is way too high. Come back in the morning so we can check it again. Well, that wasn't going to happen but it put the fear of God in me, thinking I could blow a gasket at any minute. The first woman to catch The Bug, from the passenger who never should have joined us, put things in better perspective: Of course it's high, look what we've been through. And she was right. Nevertheless, on returning from the trip, I saw my local doctor, wore a 24hour BP monitor and then started medication. The diseases of Western affluence :-(

Apart from that, while remaining with the negatives ... this is the place where mosquitoes made a meal of me, even biting me through my clothes. I still suffer from those too, they're fading so slowly.

At Kununurra it was like rejoining civilisation, leaving the isolation of the Tanami, the Gibb River Road and Mitchell Plateau behind us .... most of us not being entirely happy to do that. Even the non-religious amongst us felt what could be termed a spirituality in that splendidly beautiful isolation.

The camp-ground was quite crowded, I had no choice but to sleep inside my tent. It was the place where smoke was the most oppressive, probably because it coincided with the worst of The Bug. Although crowded, the setting was lovely, on the edge of Lily Creek Lagoon, an offshoot of Lake Kununurra. I was sitting at lagoon's edge, calming down from the doctor's news, when bagpipes began. The piper played three tunes, one I recognised, one I didn't, the third was Amazing Grace. Sun was setting and it was beautiful. Our paths crossed when he finished playing and I was dashing back to the washing I'd left too long in the dryer. He was a young pilot with one of the local tourist airlines, keeping up his practice because he was a few thousand km from his regular pipe band! He said he practised by the lake quite often. What a bonus for bagpipe lovers like me!
After the Ord River cruise we visited the Durack Homestead, family home of one of the most famous names in the Kimberley. The house had been moved, stone by stone, from its original location because it would have been flooded by Lake Argyle. The solid walls, hallway running the length of the building, wide verandah all around and doors from all rooms opening onto the verandah would all have helped keep the place cool - relatively speaking. But it would have been jolly hot to live in more often than not.

We also made a quick detour to Ivanhoe Crossing, not that it's used much these days. With the development of the Ord River scheme water now flows across it so swiftly as to make it mostly unsafe.

I have to put in a plug for Artlandish, an Aboriginal art gallery. I was planning to buy some brightly painted clapsticks for the little English boys but the gallery attendant said No, they're too young for clapsticks ... well, Rufus yes, but I'd have thought Felix would be old enough to enjoy them. Instead, she suggested I buy a book, and a very nice book it is, but at one third of what I was prepared to spend. You have to praise someone who will take a lesser sale so the buyer gets the right thing. It wasn't as though she was going to see me again, she knew I was passing through. I was very impressed.

Lorikeets by Lily Creek Lagoon
More Kununurra photos here

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From Kununurra it was a long day's drive, 512km, across the Western Australia / Northern Territory border to Katherine. This is another major town, a stopover on the Stuart Highway, bigger than Kununurra ... first traffic lights seen since Alice! We had little more than an hour in the town before checking into our motel. A real shower and a comfortable bed!

I bought a necklace at a tucked away Aboriginal gallery and popped into the local library. I did think it a pity that the library was on the first floor of the building, missing out on a bit of passing trade, so to speak. But on speaking to the library staff I discovered the library had been on the ground floor but was moved upstairs after being flooded out a few years ago. I'm afraid I can't comprehend that. The river is in a deep ravine about 500m, at least, away. But it did happen.

 I got to ride shotgun for 1½ hours of this long drive. It gave me a different perspective on the passing landscape and I learned more of the life of a truckie from Brendan. Les was watching a film, sitting in my seat in the back :-)

Riding shotgun

Riding shotgun - the camera at the windscreen

showed the road ahead on a screen in the passenger pod

No longer seen on the streets of Melbourne -
a public telephone

Katherine Public Library - upstairs!

Traffic lights - Main Street (Stuart Hwy)

Old bridge on the outskirts of Katherine.
Water rose to the top of the bridge in floods a few years ago.

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Our second last town, township really, was Jabiru. A huge camp-ground booked out for the weekend, mostly for an Aboriginal sports carnival. The kids were well behaved, a couple of their minders could have learned a thing or two from them! The township is small but contains the basics. The permanent homes had lush green lawns. It's ironic that in the middle of the desert there is enough water for sprinklers that we can't use at home. The most notable building is a Holiday Inn, built in the shape of a crocodile. It's so big, and amongst plenty of greenery, that it's a bit hard to see, but you can pick out individual features.

The other main building, a little away from the township, is the Bowali Visitor Centre, a very well set-up introduction to Kakadu. It even includes a small but pleasant library.

The one jarring thing about Jabiru, Kakadu NP in general, was the roads .... so good that you might have been in the midst of well-funded suburbia. It was a bit off-putting after all the off-road driving we had done.

Jabiru - putting up my tent for the third and last time

Our last camp

Eye - Crocodile Hotel

Library - Bowali Visitor Centre



Seasons calendar

The seasons explained

Dugout canoe - Bowali Visitor Centre

Table set for our last camp dinner

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Last Stop was Darwin but I'll leave that until the end.