Fitzroy Crossing

 2 – 6 September 2022

After a nice lunch in the shade by a creek we set off again and made our final water crossing for this part of the journey. We continued along the unsealed road before turning on to the Great Northern Highway and heading north towards Fitzroy Crossing. Last time we stayed there, in 1991, we camped at the Crossing Inn and Mick picked up enough work to keep us there for almost a week. We spent some time each afternoon at the bar, chatting to locals and negotiating work. We had been told about Geikie Gorge but just didn’t have time to visit so we decided that we would return one day.

This time we set up camp at the Lodge and enjoyed the wide open spaces, and lack of crowds. Fitzroy Crossing has a bad reputation for crime and violence but we found it to be a nice place to stay. It is the same as many remote communities where lack of opportunity and intergenerational poverty create a range of social challenges.

We booked to go on the Danggu Geikie Gorge Boat Tour at 8:00am on Saturday morning so set of early – which was just as well as the GPS tried to take us on a very unusual route that included some bush tracks. We ignored her once we realised what she was up to, and headed back towards town and onto the right road.

The one hour boat tour was fantastic! Geikie Gorge is part of the same Devonian reef system from which Windjana Gorge is formed but it is completely different. The massive cliffs clearly show the extent of successive wet season floodings. Our guide explained that the Fitzroy River is actually the second largest river in the world, by volume. The river is home to many species of fish, including a rare freshwater shark, and the usual freshwater crocodiles. Fossilised remains of the ancient Gogo fish have also been found there.

Mick and I were both astounded by the beauty of the place – the formations are sculptural and magnificent to see. We are so glad we made this detour to visit. We’ve seen a number of fabulous gorges on this trip and each is unique but this would have to be one of the most stunning.

The rest of our time in Fitzroy was spent on housekeeping tasks and photo editing, but we did think a visit to the old Crossing Inn was in order. The inn is the oldest licenced venue in the Kimberley and we have very fond memories of the time we spent there. We drove down but were bitterly disappointed to find that pub was closed at the time. All the advertising we had seen promised a warm welcome and a pub that “has retained its charm and character from days gone by”. We will never know why it was closed at 5:00pm on a Monday evening, but there was certainly nothing charming about the sight that greeted us.

We left Fitzroy Crossing after an initial 2 nights that we extended to 4 and made our way towards Derby. Along the way we stopped for a coffee at another of Western Australia’s well set up rest areas that allow 24 hour camping. Toilets, dump point, sheltered picnic tables and level ground – and this one also had a great view.