The vast track

Days  22 to 24 Broome to Derby. 2nd to 4th May

Thursday  3^rd May.

We took a plane ride today!

The track suddenly became a vast expanse of an ever changing palette of colours, textures and shapes.

We have been travelling through what appeared to be unchanging scenery of savannah grasslands; from Fitzroy River to Broome; from Broome to Derby.

The only change in the scenery has been  crossing the floodways at regular intervals and the occasional river, still flowing with water, but the terrain has still remained flat with only the bizarre sculptural outline of the almost prehistoric looking Boab tree to break its monotony.

BIG BOAB!!!

Stating the obvious that this is going to be the case when travelling by car! It makes commonsense to build the roads on the flat plains and not over rugged ranges.

It’s not until you are in the air that you really appreciate the vast Kimberley area, an area which is 10 times the size of Tasmania, and the complexity of its geography and topography.

We took off from Derby airport at 7.00am.

 This pleased our pilot, Kate because it is the best time for flying, no thermals and clear vision. It is also the optimal time for photography, the light is bright and clear. This pleased me…. and Paul?  Paul was pleased because he could sit in the co-pilot seat and look at all the dials and instruments.

Derby is surrounded by mudflats and mangroves and from the ground they are disgusting, slimy grey mud flats and straggly drab green plants poking out through the ooze.

From the air they took on a totally different aspect. The tidal creeks became beautiful sinuous copper green veins, edged with lime green plants winding their way through caramel coloured mud flats. One formation actually took on the shape of a Boab tree.

These gradually merged into the parallel lines of rocky ridges some made of the creamy coloured sand stone and others a bright red iron rich rock.

Flying at 2000 feet we could pick out the shapes of the ranges running in parallel lines like long threads of red and white into the beautiful azure and aquamarines of the coastal waters of Talbot Bay where the ridges became small linear islands. These made up the 1000 islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago.

Then we flew over the amazing Horizontal Waterfalls.

 These are formed because of the huge tides in this area. When the tide is coming in, it  is forced through a narrow 20m wide gap in one of the ridges into a narrow long lake and then through a second gap of 10 m into a third narrow stretch of water. 

The effect from the air is like a waterful flowing over rocks and hence the name Horizontal Falls.

We continued our flight over “Slug Island”, such an unromantic name after the last feature but you can see where it got its name from.

Then onto several iron ore mines which are actually mined under sea level. Next the whirlpool, a maze like structure of islands which set up whirlpools when the tide is flowing through. 

These swirling waters are so treacherous that small boats who are trying to take a short cut through this maze of islands can actually get stuck in the whirlpool.

As we headed back to Derby we could see the outgoing tide drawing out streamers of caramel coloured muddy water into the pristine aqua blues of the King Sound.

A final fly over Derby as Kate expertly brought the plane in to land without a single bump.

We had just flown 240 Kms over an area which is so vast that its true character, majesty and beauty can only be disclosed from the air.
It was only 9.00am! The rest of the day was ours to explore Derby

The Jetty at Derby experiences the highest tidal  change in Australia.Up to 10 metres! This photo was taken about 1 metre before low tide!

Goodnight from Derby! We are off to Windjana Gordge Saturday and so will be out of reporting range for awhile.