Tuesday 16^th September

Today we drove on unmade roads to Tunnel Creek where Jandamarra hid at times during the aboriginal resistance to the white settlers. We waded through the water for 750m with torches and reef shoes and saw bats and the occasional freshwater crocodile that are deemed not to be dangerous.

After a picnic lunch we wandered down Windjana Gorge and marvelled at the 100m cliffs and the huge numbers of basking crocodiles – we must have seen close to a hundred! We then drove to Derby; took a look at the prison tree (a giant moab tree) and after a welcome shower in our room went out to see the sunset over the Derby jetty. Each room has its own washing/drying machine so most of us took advantage of it to empty their dirty washing bags!

Monday 15^th September

Today we drove to Fitzroy Crossing and in the afternoon enjoyed a tranquil, if somewhat warm, cruise up the Geikie Gorge, formed by an ancient limestone reef; magnificent red cliffs and sandbanks with basking freshwater crocodiles. The Fitzroy River is one of the largest, although not the longest, in Australia. We stayed the night at the River Lodge that is built on stilts to try and avoid the huge floods in the wet season.

Sunday 14^th September

Today we had a spectacular ride for over an hour on a seaplane from Broome to the Horizontal Falls. These are areas of white water where the tide is forced between a couple of rocky gaps. We flew over them several times and then landed by floating pontoons where we got onto a speedboat and drove through the larger of the two gaps several times; very exciting! The water had a four metre drop through the second gap so we wouldn’t have been able to get back if we had gone through that one. We then had an excellent lunch and Iain and some of the others had a swim in a shark cage up close and personal to some tawny nurse sharks who come to be fed – hopefully fish rather than fingers and toes! The tide had turned and when we went back on the speed boat the first gap was almost still and we were able to drive through the white water in the second gap before sailing into a creek that they use to overwinter the pontoons etc because it is protected on all sides by tall cliffs from any cyclones. We then had a 90minute flight back on the seaplane to Broome.

We just happened to catch the final day of the (mainly Japanese inspired) Festival of the Pearl and had a very pleasant evening watching live music and singing whilst sitting sipping a mojito on a terrace of the hotel. Then just after we had had our starters we were able to go out and watch a splendid firework display that lasted a good fifteen minutes. Unfortunately I think they were very disorganised in the restaurant and many of us didn’t get our mains for an hour and a half. Martin’s was cold as well so he was a very unhappy tour guide and sent it back but I think everyone else took it in their stride and we did end up with a free glass of wine.

Saturday 13^th September

This morning, after a splendid breakfast, Doug from the B&B kindly took me into Broome for a very necessary haircut and then I made my way back by bus before we were picked up by our tour group Outback Spirit at 12.50pm to go to our accommodation in Cable Beach. This was very plush and had beautiful grounds and rooms. We met the rest of our group (18in total) with Martin and Tina who are the tour leaders at dinner which was fine.