Criss-crossing the Kimberley

[JohnM]

Righto, ten weeks is long enough at home – especially in winter. Time to get back to the Kimberley and some warmth; this time on land in the dry season rather than along the coast at the end of the wet season as recently done (A Kimberley coast crawl).

Tomorrow it’s on the bird PER-BME to overnight before joining an Outback Spirit tour for two weeks. Outback Spirit operate several itineraries in the Kimberley. The one I chose is ‘Jewels of the Kimberley and Faraway Bay’.

I first did an Outback Spirit trip solo to Faraway Bay in 2019: (Kimberley Wet aerial safari) and PJM and I have done several others since: (Adventure across Arnhem Land, Target: The Red Centre, I’ll give you the tip – at Cape York). We have always enjoyed them.

This time, my brother and SIL, and another couple are joining in for their first experience of Outback Spirit.

The first day of the trip is activities around Broome – flying by floatplane to Horizontal Falls and driving up the Dampier Peninsula to visit the beagle Bay ‘Mother of Pearl’ church and the pearl farm at Cygnet Bay. We’ve previously been to Cygnet Bay, which I think is an excellent outing if at Broome (A longer brush with Broome). That visit and an earlier one I did solo (Brushing Broome to points further N) were both during covid and the Beagle Bay TO community was closed which thwarted my desire to see the Mother of Pearl church, so I’m glad the tour includes that.



Then it’s up to Derby and out on the western end of the Gibb River Road to Tunnel Creek, deviating to Fitzroy Crossing, the Bungle Bungle, Wyndham, Kununurra, Lake Argyle, then rejoining the Gibb River Road at its eastern end to head towards Emma Gorge Resort at El Questro and then further west before turning onto the Kalumburu Road to Drysdale River Station and then on to Mitchell Falls. From Mitchell Falls we fly in Outback Spirit’s own Cessna Grand Caravan to Faraway Bay. The tour finishes after flying to DRW in the same bird.

I was particularly keen to choose a tour that included Mitchell Falls and Faraway Bay as PJM had been to neither, the former being a Kimberley icon and the latter being a cool experience in a very isolated location accessible only by air or by boat.



As usual, the TR will be completed upon return.

 

[Major]

I take it this is your pre Wildflower season TR

 

[JohnM]

OK, back home after an excellent trip. A jam-packed itinerary covered a lot of ground, with lots of activities, including some heavy-duty hikes.

En route PER-BME. 1F in a whY-only QFLink A320.



Approaching BME. The tide was out.



Swinging around for approach from the west over Cable Beach.



Later, on the deck, we had the afternoon and most of next day free before the tour group gathered and we moved to the tour accommodation at the iconic Cable Beach Club Resort.

There is a major redevelopment happening at the N end of Cable Beach and vehicle access to the section of beach N of the main swimming area is shut. That, and school holidays meant that the S end was chockers with vehicles. The main swimming area was also quite busy, and at about 1530h the iconic camels were being led to the beach.

 

[JohnM]

After dinner at the famed Matso’s, straight across the road from our accommodation, and the inevitable pearl shop crawl the next morning, we transferred to Cable Beach Club Resort in the afternoon.

The heavy blue line shows the tour route, including flights. Total distance driven was about 2700km.



There was some variation to the schematic route shown previously for the Broome-Beagle Bay-Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm-Horizontal Falls component of the trip.

The first day was full-on with a 0545 departure by coach to Beagle Bay, then on to Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm for breakfast and pearl tour, followed by a short retracing to the Lombadina airstrip for the Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventures’ floatplane flight to Horizontal Falls. Lunch on the floating platform was followed by a scenic boat ride in Cyclone Creek and several passes through Horizontal Falls, before the floatplane flight back to Broome following a couple of orbits over Horizontal Falls.



First, the mother-of-pearl church at Beagle Bay.



Then to Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm. The pearl extracted from the demonstration shell was assessed as being worth $980.

 

[JohnM]

Then to Lombadina airstrip and the floatplanes coming in. They dropped a group of pax who had flown directly from BME early to Horizontal Falls and would now coach back to Broome via Cygnet Bay and Beagle Bay. I think we got the better deal of coach first/flights second.



Flying out over the tip of Dampier Peninsula and the One Arm Point community, then across the Buccaneer Archipelago at the top of King Sound, before landing in Talbot Bay and pulling up at the platform. The swirling waters of the tidal movement were clearly visible from the air.