From 22 May to 21 July 2022 - 7'165 kilometers
Warning: this is a LONG drive, there are MANY pictures...
The Pinnacles are limestone formations within Nambung National Park, near the town of Cervantes, Western Australia.
The area contains thousands of weathered limestone pillars. Some of the tallest pinnacles reach heights of up to 3.5m above the yellow sand base. The different types of formations include ones which are much taller than they are wide and resemble columns—suggesting the name of Pinnacles—while others are only a meter or so in height and width resembling short tombstones. A cross-bedding structure can be observed in many pinnacles where the angle of deposited sand changed suddenly due to changes in prevailing winds during formation of the limestone beds.
On the way to Denham
Steep Point is the westernmost point of mainland Australia (26°09′08″S, 113°09′22″E). It is located within the Gascoyne region of Western Australia, 670 kilometres north of the state's capital Perth. It is also a part of the Shark Bay World Heritage Site.
Access to Steep Point is by four-wheel drive vehicles only, as tracks to the point are through sand dunes. The North West Coastal Highway is the closest sealed road and is 200 kilometres east of the point. An entry permit is required to travel to the point, which can be purchased at the ranger's house in Edel Land National Park.
On the way to Karijini National Park
Karijini National Park is centred in the Hamersley Ranges of the Pilbara region in the northwestern section of Western Australia. The park is located north of the Tropic of Capricorn, 1,055 kilometres from the state's capital city, Perth.
At 627,422 hectares, Karijini is the second largest national park in Western Australia (behind Karlamilyi National Park), with rock formations that are estimated at 2.5 billion years old. The ideal time to visit Karijini National Park is between May and September, during Australia's late autumn, winter and early spring. The days are warm but the nights are cold. Summer temperatures which reach 38°C make it less practical to visit, with added risk of bushfires.
This is natural, NOT men made!
The white "rock" is asbestos...
On the way to Broome
Broome, also known as Rubibi by the Yawuru people, is a coastal pearling and tourist town on Western Australia's tropical Kimberley on the eastern edge of the Indian Ocean.
Being situated on a north–south peninsula, Broome has water on both sides of the town. On the eastern shore are the waters of Roebuck Bay extending from the main jetty at Port Drive to Sandy Point, west of Thangoo station. Town Beach is part of the shoreline and is popular with visitors on the eastern end of the town. It is the site of the 'Staircase to the Moon', where a receding tide and a rising moon combine to create a stunning natural phenomenon.
Roebuck Bay is of international importance for the millions of migrating waders or shorebirds that use it seasonally on migration through the East Asian – Australasian Flyway from their breeding grounds in northern Asia. They feed on the extensive intertidal mudflats and roost at high tide on the red sand beaches of the bay. They can be seen in the largest numbers in summer, but many of the younger birds remain throughout the first and second years of their lives. The Broome Bird
Gantheaume Point is a promontory about 6 kilometres from Broome, Western Australia.
It was named on 24 July 1801 for Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume, by Nicolas Baudin during the Baudin expedition to Australia: this was a French expedition to map the coast of Australia, then known as New Holland.
There are outcrops of Broome Sandstone, deposited in shallow water in this area in the Early Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago.
Footprints from dinosaurs of that time, and plant fossils, are preserved in the sandstone. At very low tide, dinosaur footprints can be seen about 30 metres out to sea.
Derby is a town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Along with Broome and Kununurra, it is one of only three towns in the Kimberley to have a population over 2,000.
During World War II, Derby was bombed by Japanese planes because of an air base and jetty that was used by Australian forces. More recently, refugees were housed at Royal Australian Air Force Base Curtin, however the detention centre was closed in 2014.
Derby was famous in the 1920s as the terminus of the first scheduled aviation service in Australia, West Australian Airways Ltd. Their service began with their first flight on 5 December 1921, which crashed, near Geraldton. At one time the Perth to Derby service was the world's longest passenger airline route.[
King Sound, near Berby (on the mouth of the Fitzroy river) has the highest tides in Australia, and amongst the highest in the world, reaching a maximum tidal range of 11.8 metres at Derby. The tidal range and water dynamic were researched in 1997–1998.
From Deby, a flight to see the "Horizontal Falls"
The Horizontal Falls known as Garaanngaddim by the local Indigenous people, are an unusual natural phenomenon on the coast of the Kimberley region where tidal flows cause waterfalls on the ebb and flow of each tide.
The falls form when seawater rushes through two short and narrow gorges which are about 300 metres apart from each other. The seaward gap is about 20 metres wide and the landward one is about 10 metres.
The natural phenomenon is caused by the changing local sea level due to tides of up to 10 metres.The water builds up on one side or the other of the gaps faster than it can flow through them, creating a waterfall up to 4 metres high. With each change of the tide, the direction of the falls reverses from inflow to outflow and back again.
The Horizontal Falls have been described by naturalist David Attenborough as "one of the greatest wonders of the natural world".
From the opposite side
Iron ore mine on nearby Koolan island
The Baobab Prison Tree, Derby is a 1,500-year-old, large hollow Adansonia gregorii (Baobab) tree 6 kilometres south of Derby, Western Australia with a girth of 14.7 metres. It had been reputed to have been used in the 1890s as a lockup for indigenous Australian prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing, but there is no evidence that it was ever used to house prisoners.
The Mowanjum Museum is a place to share and celebrate the culture of the Worrorra, Ngarinyin, Wunambal and Gaambera peoples.
The museum is an important storytelling space where visitors can learn about Wandjina Wunggurr history, protocols and traditions.
Featuring exhibits of significant objects from the Mowanjum Collection, as well as multimedia projections and touchscreens, the museum is an immersive and interactive experience.
Hum... you now need to take a decision:
1) Drive the "Gibb River Road" and see pictures of the interesting sights that I visited...
=> Click here to start the drive
or
2) Go directly to Kununurra and continue towards Darwin
.
=> Simply continue to scroll this blog
Kununurra is a town in far northern Western Australia located at the eastern extremity of the Kimberley approximately 45 kilometres from the border with the Northern Territory.
Kununurra was initiated to service the Ord River Irrigation Scheme. Kununurra is the largest town in Western Australia north of Broome, with the closest town being Wyndham, 100 kilometres (away. Kununurra is 3,040 kilometres from Perth via the Great Northern Highway.
The town is situated in among the scenic hills and ranges of the far north-east Kimberley region, having an abundance of fresh water, conserved by the Ord River Diversion dam and the main Ord River Dam.
The tropical agriculture crops grown in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) have changed over the years. Tourism and mining have also become important to the local economy.
From Kununurra, a flight to see the Bungle Bungle range
The Purnululu National Park is in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Declared a World Heritage Site in 2003, the park includes the Bungle Bungle Range, a spectacularly incised landscape of sculptured rocks which contains superlative examples of beehive-shaped karst sandstone rising 250 metres above the surrounding semi-arid savannah grasslands.
Unique depositional processes and weathering have given these towers their spectacular black and orange banded appearance, formed by biological processes of cyanobacteria (single cell photosynthetic organisms) which serve to stabilise and protect the ancient sandstone formations.
These outstanding examples of cone karst that have eroded over a period of 20 million years are of great beauty and exceptional geological interest.
The Argyle diamond mine, 100% owned by Rio Tinto, is one of the world's largest suppliers of diamonds, producing approximately 20 million carats each year. Argyle commenced mining its main ore body in 1985 and has since produced more than 800 million carats of diamonds. The majority of which are destined for the jewellery industry.
Argyle is the world's leading source of the highly prized, rare pink diamond which has become Argyle's signature stone. These exquisite signature stones vary in colour from pale pink to intense purple reds and command prices up to twenty times that of a white diamond.
Day trip to Lake Argyle
Lake Argyle is Western Australia's largest and Australia's second largest freshwater man-made reservoir by volume. The reservoir is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra.
The lake, with its surrounding mudflats and grasslands, has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports about 150,000 waterbirds with twelve species being represented in large enough numbers to be considered internationally significant.
The mud flats and grasslands are the natural habitat of eight wader species also represented in internationally significant numbers, along with a healthy population of Australian bustards which are considered a "near threatened" species. Birds for which the lake has global importance include magpie geese, wandering whistling-ducks, green pygmy-geese, Pacific black ducks, hardheads, black-necked storks, white-headed stilts, red-capped plovers, Oriental plovers, black-fronted dotterels, long-toed stints and sharp-tailed sandpipers.
Drive to Nitmiluk National Park
Nitmiluk National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 244 km southeast of Darwin around a series of gorges on the Katherine River and Edith Falls.
The gorges and the surrounding landscape have great ceremonial significance to the local Jawoyn people, who are custodians of Nitmiluk National Park. In the Jawoyn language, Nitmiluk means "place of the cicada dreaming".
Nitmiluk Gorge, a deep gorge carved through ancient sandstone by the Katherine River, is the central attraction of the park. Nitmiluk Gorge is made up of thirteen gorges, with rapids and falls, and follow the Katherine River, which begins in Kakadu.
During the Dry, roughly from April to October, the Nitmiluk Gorge waters are placid in most spots and ideal for swimming and canoeing. There may be freshwater crocodiles in most parts of the river, as they nest along the banks, but they are harmless to humans. Saltwater crocodiles regularly enter the river during the wet season, when the water levels are very high, and are subsequently removed and returned to the lower levels at the onset of the dry season.
Mataranka river and hot springs
Darwin is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. The city is built upon a low bluff overlooking Darwin Harbour. The Stuart Highway extends to Darwin's eastern satellite city of Palmerston and its suburbs.
The Larrakia people are the traditional owners of the Darwin area and Aboriginal people make up a significant percentage of the population.
On 9 September 1839, HMS Beagle sailed into Darwin Harbour during its survey of the area. John Clements Wickham named the region "Port Darwin" in honour of their former shipmate Charles Darwin, who had sailed with them on the ship's previous voyage.
The city has been almost entirely rebuilt four times, following devastation caused by a cyclone in 1897, another one in 1937, Japanese air raids during World War II, and Cyclone Tracy in 1974.
It is the smallest, wettest, and most northerly of the Australian capital cities and serves as the Top End's regional centre.
Darwin's proximity to Southeast Asia makes the city's location a key link between Australia and countries such as Indonesia and East Timor.
Argh... you need to take another decision:
=> If you want to go staight to the next part of the trip, click ....