Awake with the sun again , 5:50 but stayed till 6:15 . Getting up to a warm morning - it was 22 degrees already , and heading for a hot one . We had a slow morning , and packed without any rush at all , still managing to get on the road by 8:35 .
The scenery was a little lacklustre , at least that was how it seemed to us , but we have been in a magnificent part of The Kimberleys for the past couple of weeks !
The vegetation changed regularly enough , there would be small trees - nothing higher than about 7 or 8m - then therewould be no trees , just shrubby bushes , then grey / green foliage , then spinifex grass as far as the eye could see growing out of the red rocks .
We reached one lookout , and pulled in for a look . The ground was deep red with green spinifex , a scattering of trees and an eroded hillside .
Continuing on , we pulled in at Mary Pools Rest Area - a popular fee camp down by the Mary River ( that should be Mary Dust Bowl at the moment ) , we crossed over the concrete causeway to the camp area to find about 10 acres of campground with toilets & bins - although the bins are hardly a challenge for the crows - they deftly pick out anything and everything in the way of them getting something to eat !!
We decided not to stay , it was only 10am , so headed back to the hwy and continued on to another camp spot - also a lookout - Ngambun Cliff Rest Area - it had covered picnic tables , and a toilet block , and views - sunset would be sensational from here !!! Still too early to stop for the day , we pressed onwards .
The road lead us down from the cliffs , dropping us down to the valley below , one side of the road was red dirt , the other was grey ???
Down on the flats below , you got the distinct impression you had walked into an old western movie , with grassy plains stretching to the horizon and the odd few mesa type hills - they must be fairly high as they were a long way out from us .
Pressing on , we reached Fitzroy Crossing and pulled into Fitzroy River Lodge - it’s a caravan park / resort / motel / restaurant - you get the picture . We were set up quicker than the pack up this morning - it was also much hotter - 33 degrees !!
We had lunch before going into town to get some information . We got so much information from the girl in the info centre , and it was all useful , she even gave us a few tips about when to go to things - she was excellent . At this stage it was 3:30 , and there was a Geikie Gorge cruise leaving at 4pm that we would get to if we left immediately , so we did . 18 klms out of town , Lyn did it in no time at all - we arrived with 18 mins to spare , went to the loo & purchased our tickets .
The temperature got up to 36.3 degrees and it was quite pleasant to be out on the water. The cruise left on time and up the Fitzroy we went . The cliffs / gorge are made of white limestone and look a little different - they are white / cream at water level and up about 10m , before they go dark grey - which is the colour they go from weathering etc . The white section is kept clean by the amount of water that goes down here in the wet - it is a phenomenal amount of water - and can be 15m above us at the moment !!
Being limestone , it is porous and soft , with many different shapes being ground away in the flooding , and also creating caves .
There is also a very healthy population of Johnson River Crocodiles here , we saw about 5 in the first 100m , then several more as we progressed down the gorge .
The reflections on the way back were pretty good as well .
As we drove out , there sun was orange & red as it set over the horizon .
Well there you are , another day in the story . We haven’t heard from you readers out there yet , !!!!!
Here’s another map link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.k6L9Kn6YYPIU&usp=sharing
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