Fitzroy Crossing
Trip Start
Dec 23, 2007
1
22
47
Trip End
May 30, 2008
Fitzroy Crossing,
Australia
Saturday, March 29, 2008
The road to Fitzroy Crossing took me past the Windjana Gorge National Park and the Geikie Gorge, however, both access roads were closed due to the wet season. From about 70km from Fitzroy Crossing, the road was lined with boab trees, although only appeared every now and then. These trees were quite spectacular and really the only thing worth looking at on the drive!
The town is located on the Fitzroy River, although out of the reach of major flood waters. There is really not much to the town which is heavily populated by Indigenous Australians. I drove around the streets to see what I could find and came across a local Aussie rules football game. All players and supporters were Aboriginal; there wasn't a white fella in sight! I thought I had better not stop, didn't want to draw attention! I kept driving across the river to the Fitzroy River Lodge which was overpriced at $185 per room per night, but it was the safest and most appropriate place to stay the night
Boab Tree
.The next day I took of toward Halls Creek, on my way to Kununurra. Like Fitzroy Crossing, the town and surrounding areas were populated by many Aboriginal Communities and I had the privilege of seeing many sitting in the shade of trees within the towns and lining the road some kilometres from the towns themselves. While driving I really had to keep my eyes pealed for not only stray cattle, camels, horses, eagles and kangaroos, but also Aborigines on or near the edge of the road.
I was going to visit the Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater which is situated 135km south of Halls Creek, however, decided to keep rolling on toward Kununurra. It was a little too far out the way and would have put me late into Kununurra. It's a shame because the crater is apparently the second largest in the world measuring 850 metres in diameter.
The Purnululu National Park (the Bungle Bungle range) was on the drive between Halls Creek and Kununurra. I was looking forward to going into the park, however, after just 50 meters on the track off the main road, I turned back as it was unsuitable for my trusty Subaru. Apparently the 4WD tours were also closed for the season so the only option was to fly over. This was too expensive for me at the moment so I gave it a miss.
