The Kimberley - An Awesome Part Of Australia

Travel Article - Enjoy

It’s great to travel! When you get away, you become oblivious to much of the shenanigans of the outside world. Boy, are there some crazy things going on. It’s nice to have a break from Covid.

When Adele and I travel, it’s like we’re in a cocoon no matter where we are. Sometimes it’s nice to travel locally. In 2021, we decided to stay in our area because of the travel restrictions related to Covid.

When I say local, I mean staying within my state of Western Australia. The problem is Western Australia is rather huge. We’re talking about an area of 2.6 million square kilometres (1 million square miles). It makes Texas look relatively small at one-quarter the size.

In the far north of the state is the Kimberley, whose gateway is the town of Broome. Getting there from Perth is two and a half hours in the air. The Kimberley is unspoiled and sparse, three times the size of England, with approximately 40,000 people!

These were some of the highlights of our trip:

Broome:

The town is famous for its pearling. At one time, it was the pearling centre of the world. It is also renowned for its expansive beaches, beautiful sand, and gorgeous sunsets. Since the climate is monsoonal, the time to be here is during the winter (June - September), the dry season. During the wet (December - March), the weather is not only rainy but oppressively humid.

Windjana Gorge:

This ancient geological area was formed when the Leonard River carved its path through the Napier Range. The range formed 350 million years ago when the ocean levels receded, exposing a large limestone reef. It is filled with narrow passages and caves, pristine and seemingly untouched by man;. However, you’ll see an occasional crocodile or two.

The gorge is also the site of a famous battle between the Aboriginal legend, Jandamarra, who led a three-year resistance against the early European settlers before Australia was even a country.

Geikie Gorge:

The gorge has plenty of fauna and flora. We once again spotted a few freshwater crocodiles. Red sandstone colouration and bleached white limestone walls made for a magnificent landscape.

Bungle Bungles:

To experience this picturesque area, you must take a 45-minute helicopter ride. Some may find it a bit nerve-wracking because these helicopters have no doors. We were assured, however, that it was an experience not to be missed. How true it was. Pictures can’t capture the awesomeness of this land.

Flying over the dome and triangular-shaped majestic outcrops was brilliant. Millions of years of water and wind erosion have worked their magic, creating this dramatic landscape of roughly 600 square kilometres in area. Though the Bungle Bungles were known to early settlers and indigenous groups, they were not “discovered” as far as the general public was concerned until the 1980s.

Bell Gorge:

Bell Gorge is stunning with a cascading waterfall. During the summer wet season it becomes a raging torrent. When we were there it was merely a moderate flow.

We arrived at the top of the waterfall and decided to head to the bottom pool. This entailed a strenuous hike up a hill over boulders and then down on the other side. Everyone was hot and looked forward to jumping in and swimming up to the falls. The swim was strenuous with the falls creating a strong current, always pushing us away.

Cathedral Gorge:

Cathedral Gorge is aptly named for its natural multicoloured amphitheatre. It is a massive cavern with incredible acoustics. A couple of concerts have, in fact, been performed here. The variation in colouring and texturing of the walls in the gorge is stunning.

A solitary wildflower would peek out at you every once in a while.

This is just a tiny sampling of what this vast land has in store. While we were at the height of the Covid hysteria, our two weeks away allowed us to immerse ourselves in nature rather than the nonsense of Covid tyranny. It’s good for the soul to connect with nature in a world that has lost sight of natural law.