Derby, Wandjana Gorge & Tunnel Creek

Derby is 220km from Broome, located on King Sound near the mouth of the Fitzroy River, surrounded by mud flats and has a huge tidal range producing the largest high tide in Australia reaching nearly 12m. It is also known for its dramatic sunsets. 

The town was founded in 1880s and was the first to be settled in the Kimberley region. It originally provided the port for the export of hundreds of thousands of cattle and supported the gold rush pioneers. Now it is a service town for the pastoral, mining and tourism industries. It is the gateway to the Buccaneer Archipelago and the gorges along the famous Gibb River Road. The Derby streets are wide to accommodate the mule and camel trains of the past with avenues of amazing boab trees and low level architecture.

Windjana Gorge is situated 145km east of Derby and 20km from the Gibb River Road. It became a National Park in 1971 with the main attraction being a scenic gorge created by the Lennard River through the Napier Range which exposes a classic geological ancient reef system, called the Devonian Reef, created over 350 million years ago. The river has taken millions of years to erode the gorge and its gravel has contained ancient fossils of extinct crocodiles and turtles.

Tunnel Creek National Park is a further 36km from Windjana Gorge and takes its name from the 750m long tunnel carved out of the limestone range by flowing water. Fractures in the limestone were enlarged by water seepage and the creek adopted its current underground course.

It also has an interesting history as the hideout for Jandamarra, a member of the Banuba people who lived in the area in the 19^th century. He was a fighter for Aboriginal rights and evaded police for years by using the tunnel as a retreat. He was eventually killed by police near the back entrance in 1897.

On our last full day in Broome we visited the Sunday market which was excellent and several purchases were made, had a couple of hours on Cable Beach, watched another great sunset over a beer and cooked a barbie for the six of us. Here are a couple more Broome photos:
 












We said goodbye to Aid & Ed at Broome Airport on Monday and also to Gene & Julian (although we’ll see them again in Broome at the end of the week) before setting off for Derby to stay 2 nights at the modern Spiniflex Hotel (known by the locals as the Spini).

Unfortunately the weather prevented us seeing sunsets on either day but spending a day in the town was still interesting, particularly to witness the art and meet the owner at Mark Norval’s gallery

and to visit the Mowanjum Aboriginal Art & Cultural Centre outside the town.

The Derby visitor centre is one of the best I can remember and the numerous boab trees are a lovely feature of the town. Neaps Bistro provided a cracking breakfast and an enjoyable evening meal!

The trip to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek meant an early start since we would be driving over 300km during the day to reach our next stop at Fitzroy Crossing, including over 120km on Fairfield Leopold Downs Road, an un-sealed route that passes both the national parks.

The first part of the journey was our first experience of the Gibb River Road which was quiet and unexceptional (since the classic parts of the road are further east). Once we turned off, the quality of the road was constantly varying, so the car and drivers got a real test, but we suffered no mishaps. However, we did help to rescue a couple of British girls driving a rental van without 4WD who had stopped at a creek crossing where there was what one described as a “puddle” but was in fact a foot of water covering the road. By putting on my trusty jelly shoes I was able to establish the best route through the water and then Mary drove our Mitsubishi Pajero through it successfully before encouraging the girls to do the same.

Windjana Gorge was a gem, with its beautiful colours and strata of the high rocks, the birdlife, variety of classic Aussie trees and numerous small and medium sized fresh water crocodiles bathing on the banks or in the river.

We walked along a scenic path for an hour in both directions before returning to the car park to eat our packed lunch and then head for Tunnel Creek, which also more than lived up to expectations.

By clambering over rocks and through a narrow entrance, we reached the tunnel, which is 12m high and 15m wide in places, and walked through water (using our jelly shoes) and over sand in darkness, lit only by a torch, which was really atmospheric with incredible rock formations created by dripping water. The bats that roost there were not to be seen and when we were warned there was a snake in the water we turned back!

Finally, we drove the remaining 111km to Fitzroy Crossing, where we arrived at the beginning of what turned out to be a highly dramatic, unseasonal, tropical storm that lasted over 4 hours and shocked even the locals with the volume of water that fell!