Our traveling day to Fitzroy Crossing was a very long one of 660 kms. We were all ready to leave at 8.00 am and set off down the highway. For the first 300 kms, the scenery was very interesting with rugged bluffs creating a backdrop to the scenery along the road. In the afternoon, these had disappeared as the landscape became flatter and took on the appearance of a giant flood plain.
We stopped for lunch at Halls Creek (an old gold mining town). Now it is very much an aboriginal town and lots of people just sit under trees passing time throughout the day. It appears that there is a high level of drunkenness in this town. We bought lunch at the Shell Roadhouse and in a short time we were on our way westward again.
We reached Fitzroy Crossing just after dark and found our hotel just before the bridge over the Fitzroy River. Most of the last 100 kms were on very straight roads so it was easy driving – the only difficulty being the setting sun straight ahead of us which made it very difficult to see any wandering stock or wildlife that may have been on the road.
Today, we went on a heritage cruise on Geiki Gorge (Darngku). It was conducted by the local aboriginal people. The scenery was stunning – coloured limestone cliffs on one side of the river with broad sandbars on the other. We climbed one of the peaks for a view across the valley. Many of us felt like very successful mountaineers when we reached the top.
Bill, our guide was very informative in telling us about aboriginal culture and their use of plants in cooking and medicine. We saw four crocodiles sunning on the banks and rocks. he tested our knowledge with a short lesson in reading animal tracks and signs that he expertly drew in the sand.
We’d strongly recommend this trip to others.
We had a relaxing afternoon by the pool and around our motel.
that weight over your left shoulders is me watching all of this, One day??? Are you the only driver Bruce?