North Kimberley Day 35 - Fitzroy Crossing to Broome

Day 35 - Thursday 26/7/01
Start - Fitzroy Crossing
Stop - Broome
Trip Odometer - 454.3km
Stopped time - 3.5hrs
Moving average - 85.3km/hr
Moving time - 5.19hrs
Max speed - 9.1hrs

We left our camp at the caravan park (Fitzroy Lodge) while we headed out to Geike Gorge. Rather than drive back into town and along the routed way to the gorge we turned left on the Great Northern Hwy out of the lodge and then turned next left onto the dirt road than skirts the caravan park, past farming property and over the “Old Crossing” of the Fitzroy. This was the highlight – a fantastic crossing as this photo shows.

The Geike Gorge boat tour is $20 per head and runs a few times per day. It’s about a 20minute drive the way we came and it is suggest you turn up 20minutes before the cruise to purchase tickets. Run by CALM, the rangers conduct the tour with a good commentary and other info about the area is available. Afternoon light is probably better for photography, however we saw plenty of wildlife in the quiet of the early morning.

Back at camp Colin needed to make some slight repairs – replace a fuse in his rear taillights & to remove the source of a rattle in the driver’s side rear wheel, which was a broken brake-disc cover. After all the corrugations of the last few weeks he also found quite a few loose lock nuts etc.

After another quick shopping visit we headed out of Fitzroy, bound for Broome for our first tar driving day since leaving Yulara 4 weeks ago.

There are numerous excellent bush camps along the banks of the rivers heading out of Fitzroy – Minnie Bridge, Fitzroy River etc although the best spot is probably the Willare Picnic Area on RHS after crossing the one-lane bridge over the Fitzroy River.

On the tar, Colin was pretty much able to stay in convoy with us, even with his busted shocks and amazingly he rolled into Broome having made the entire journey across the Gibb River Road without causing anymore damage to his vehicle – we were all quite relieved.

We didn’t time our arrival into Broome quite so well however, as it was the day before the Broome Cup and we found all the caravan parks were full. The only option for camping in Broome was overflow in full sun at the Police and Citizens club.

Someone suggested “resort” and after a few phone calls we got a beautiful bungalow at Cable Beach Club Resort with kitchen, bathroom, and all the luxuries for just $165 per night for all of us.

It was quite a shock for the system to have running hot water, real beds, a kitchen sink and even a microwave. And we were thrilled to have the porter bring his electric trolley to our vehicles where we loaded out all our food boxes, cameras, computers, bags and fridge contents.

Once in the bungalow we asked for a highchair and the porter brought back not only that but also a baby bath and a stroller – all complimentary.