You may have heard the term “Big Country”. The Kimberley is the personification of this. Imagine if you could view infinity, punctuated with deafening silence. No city haze on the horizon, a clarity of atmosphere that is rarely seen. We arrive after the Kimberley wet season, a time when millions of square kilometres of the big summer deluge pour over the coastal escarpment, into the 27c degree ocean below. Red cliffs surround the fiord-like estuaries. Flowering deserts hide 40,000 year old indigenous rock art and clear waters act as a backdrop for the whale shows, heralding a new generation of calves before they head south.
You will see ancient Gwion Gwion rock art galleries believed to be around 50,000 years old -possibly the oldest known to man. Similarly impressive is the mythical ‘Great Fish Chase’ featuring images of the Wandjina spirits with their distinctive haloes, dugong, fish and snakes. This is crocodile territory and they love the Hunter River, flanked with lush green rainforest, mangroves and soaring red cliffs – arguably one of the most scenic parts of the Kimberley.
At Montgomery Reef the 10 metre tide drops so rapidly that waters trapped inside the reef are unable to escape, creating a raging torrent that cascades over the top as over 100 kilometres of reef emerges from the ocean. The waters are alive with boundless fish, turtles and sharks. Experience this from a Zodiac. Prepare to get wet. With fishing, hot air ballooning, camel safari’s and world’s best pearls there is plenty to do during an overnight stop in Broome. Still to come are the mighty Horizontal Falls and the King George River with its spectacular 80 metre high waterfalls – the highest in the Kimberley.
Nothing can fully prepare you for the dramatic contrasts of Australia’s North-West, rich in Aboriginal culture and galleries of ancient artwork. Towards the west, in the historic pearling town of Broome, the colours of nature are vibrant and intense: rich red earth, azure blue seas and brilliant white sand beaches. North of Broome lies the ragged Kimberley coast, a place you can only comprehend from the sea.
