Week 11 – Fitzroy Crossing – Broome

It was a short drive from Mary Pool to Fitzroy Crossing so we arrived fairly early. Unfortunately the park wouldn’t let anyone in until 11.00am so we, along with about 10 other vanners, parked our vans and went into the restaurant for coffee. Finally they let us in and we set up camp. The park is well set out alongside the Fitzroy River. The Fitzroy, along with the Ord River are the two largest rivers in Australia by volume. That is, during the wet season, it has been measured that enough water to supply all of Sydney for a month passes through in minutes. The river is pretty dry at present but there is water flowing and the Geikie Gorge is nearby. We went into the town after lunch but there isn’t much there. It is basically an Aboriginal town with a supermarket, a couple of petrol stations and an information centre. We couldn’t get back to the park quick enough.

It was State of Origin night so we went to the restaurant bar and had fish and chips for dinner. Pa then stayed and watched the game on the tv.

The next day we decided to visit the Geikie Gorge. We drove into the gorge and they had river cruises with a park ranger as guide. So we paid our money (senior’s discount) and got on board the boat for a cruise down the Gorge. It was awesome, a beautiful day on the water with lots and lots of crocodiles.

The river has carved through the sandstone and limestone rock over millions of years to form amazing shapes. These are highlighted by the reflection of the sun on the water.

On the way out of the Gorge we saw some brolgas on the side of the road so Nanna got out to take some photos.

As we took off again a 4wd went past and threw up a rock which smashed our windscreen. There is a huge star crack with a long crack right in front of the driver. Hopefully we can fix it at Broome – the next stop.

We drove the 400km to Broome the next day and arrived on a Friday. By the time we set up and went to the supermarket to stock up on supplies, I forgot it was Friday and didn’t call any windscreen places. Of course, they were all closed on Saturday so we had to wait until Monday to sort it out.

Broome is very nice, but expensive. The area around Cable beach is very touristy so we avoided there and went to Roebuck Bay and Town Beach, the original pearling port of Broome. 

Broome at one time supplied 65% of the world’s pearls and pearl shell. The shell was used to make buttons, in medicines and cosmetics.

We drove out to the west end of Cable beach and drove the Pathy on to the sand. This is where the fishermen launch their boats. Just drive onto the beach, back up the trailer to the surf and launch. Some of them use ropes but most just drive into the water. Wouldn’t want to buy a second hand car in Broome!

The next day the Broome markets were on so Pa dropped Nanna off while he went to O’Brien’s to check on the glass (found out it was closed). The markets are a major tourist attraction with many stalls. After we visited Chinatown and wandered around the shops. After lunch we drove to cable beach and had a walk along the rocks looking for dinosaur prints. There are many locations around here where there are tracks from dinosaurs from over 130 million years ago. These tracks are preserved in the layers of rock around the beaches, but only visible at extreme low tides. We didn’t find any but had fun on the beach. The sand is very fine, like cement dust.

We then visited the port of Broome and walked along the jetty. We watched some fishos catch a large fish from the rocks and Nanna had fun examining the rocks.

The next day we decided to drive up the coast towards Cape Leveque. The road was dirt and sand for over 200 km, and pretty rough. Along the road we turned off toward Quondong Point to visit the isolated beaches along the coast. This road was even worse. For 30km we travelled in a cloud of dust with corrugations big enough to swallow the Pathy. But the Pathy handled it well and we finally arrived at the deserted beaches to find there were heaps of campers dotted along them. They even had caravans! They must have taken a long time to drive in to stop their vans being destroyed.

We had a walk along the beach and looked for shells.

We had a chat with a couple of ladies who camp there every year for 6 months at a time. They had heaps of info about the area. The area does have surf at times but there is no swell at present. We walked to the rocky point and watched the fishos before heading back down the track towards home.

In the arvo we visited Gantheaume Point, the lighthouse is situated on this point and is visible for many km up and down the coast. The rocks on this point are awesome. Many shapes of layered, weathered rocks, contrasting with the blue of the ocean. This is a major dinosaur track site but, of course, the tide wasn’t low enough for us to see them.

The next day we visited the Broome museum and learn about Broome’s pearling history as well as the attack on Broome by the Japanese in WW2. We visited Cable Beach at sunset to take a few pics before heading off for fish and chips.

The Pathy got her new windscreen the next day and we went shopping to stock up for our upcoming trip along the top end beaches. Tomorrow we are off the Barn Hill station then 80 mile beach.