Wild Wild West

After Kununurra there is a lot of wide open empty country as we headed west. There was about 200 kms of nothing until we reached the Bungle Bungles, then a whole lot more nothing after. This is mostly flat open country full of cattle stations, with the cows spread fairly sparsely across it. However because it is so big, most of it is not fenced, so every now and then we would see some cows grazing right on the highway. That is not such a problem, except if they decide to cross in front of you. And sometimes they do, as evidenced by the occasional road kill to be seen.

Although road kill is not pleasant to see, there is usually a congregation of bird life gathered around it cleaning it up - the ubiquitous crows of course, but often also hawks, kites, and the occasional wedge tail eagle. They are beautiful to see. But occasionally they get so caught up in their feast they don't notice oncoming traffic, and become part of the road kill themselves.

George's native instincts are kicking in, and he is keen to try some road kill. I have insisted only if it is fresh - as in, we have to see it being hit in front of us. So he has been watching the road trains, looking out for a wondering cow, or even a kangaroo.

After the Bungle Bungles, the first town is called Hall's Creek, and it is only about 100 kms further, so we decided not to stop. We were very happy with this decision when we drove through - there were aborigines all over the streets, hanging around, drinking, yelling, fighting. We moved on quickly.

The next town was called Fitzroy Crossing, and we had to stop here for the night as we had been on the road about 5 hours. We found a nice caravan park just out of town which was very pleasant, and met up with several fellow campers who had been at the Bungle Bungles with us. We went for a drive into town and visited the historic Fitzroy Crossing Inn, and there again we saw a collection of aborigines - drinking, yelling, fighting. There was also an aboriginal art gallery, and some attempt at getting them to use their time constructively, but there were many who would not take this up.

Next day we moved on to Derby, where the Fitzroy River opens to the sea. There was a port and a long curved jetty with very high pylons. Derby's claim to fame is the height of its tides, which can be up to 12 metres, depending on the phases of the moon etc. This means at high tide the water is almost up to the level of the jetty, whereas at low tide, there are metres and metres of pylons to be seen.

Derby is a small town, again with a large population of aborigines, but perhaps a larger percentage being a bit more engaged. It is a bit more developed, even having a cafe with good coffee and free wifi, which we hadn't seen for some time. It is also the base to explore the Buccaneer Archipelago, a large collection of islands close by, and the Horizontal Falls. This is a narrow opening between two islands where the very large tides are moving in and out through a very confined space, so form a phenomenon like a waterfall, but horizontally. The problem is all these things have to be seen either by boat or plane. There are many tours running, but the cost is $700 to $800, so we gave that a miss.

Derby is also the other end of the Gibb River Rd, which runs between it and Kununurra. This a 4 WD track that runs parallel to the sealed highway we had just taken, but a bit further north. This is one of those favorites of 4 WD enthusiasts which they have to tick off their list. We actually drove a little on the Gibb River Rd, (but only a few kilometers, and they were sealed,) to get to an aboriginal art gallery, which was actually very good. So now we can say we have done the Gibb River Rd - well, a little bit of it anyway.

We also attempted the Cape Leveque Rd, another iconic 4 WD track just out of Broome, but this time we actually went off road as well, with nearly disastrous consequences. But more on that in our next entry.

GeorgeY's bit

Instead of "Wild Wild West" I rather think of it as "Arid stupid dump". Although the Fitzroy River is one of the largest rivers on Earth, (just shy of the Amazon river) in terms of the amount of water it dumps to the sea, it is seasonal. And hence in the dry season, as we experienced, every bridge is either over a dead, stinking puddle or dry as a bone pebbled river bed. Produce is scarce, expensive, and carted from the other end of the globe, so is not fresh. And let's not mention flavor, or consider the carbon foot print. The reason behind this is that one of the three original custodian tribes of the land has refused to allow a dam to be built, thus depriving the land of a valuable resource for plants and animals. Unlike Kunnunurra and its great Lake Argyle, the Crossing's most consistent flow is in the pub.

Usually on a hot day I like a cold beer in the afternoon. Once I had a look at the local pub at midday, any interest to buy a six pack from IGA was totally reversed, leaving me very crossed at Fitzroy Crossing.

Derby is vacant and lacks beauty. The sunset pictures looked over a dry beach due to the tide, so we decided to try the sunrise early on, to take photos. As the tide came in very fast, the water looked muddy and murky, and not what we hoped for in terms of blue turquoise colored water.

Never before had I considered tides as a serious electricity provider, but here. It is very plausible to generate power from tides when they move in, then reverse on the way out, and use the spare power in a pumping storage setting, for the in between stagnant periods. A low head axial flow Kaplan turbine is all that is needed, and the best thing is you do not need a massive installation. It can be done on a small scale to feed local towns, cutting down grid and transmission overheads.

Once again I see Australia as the land of opportunities. Alas, many are missed.