Day 30 - Thursday 2 August - On to Fitzroy Crossing

Day 30

Thursday

2 August

Derby – Fitzroy Crossing

6.30am seems to be the time my body clock has set for me. Paul was awake as well, so I read my book until he decided it was time to get up and moving. I put breakfast together, which we ate while checking our phones and then he was off to sort out the outside connections while I tidied the inside. 

We moved the van outside, loaded the car and made our way out of Derby, stopping for fuel, before hitting the Savannah Way and continuing the journey east, towards Fitzroy Crossing.

The cloud cover rolled in, making it very overcast, I wondered if we would see rain. We watched for wandering cattle, a small herd crossing the road in front of us. LARGE boab trees had us mesmerised and saying we would stop at them on our return. We passed over creeks and rivers that were dry. 

Not long after 1030am, we had sight of Fitzroy Crossing, I plugged in The Fitzroy River Lodge location to the GPS and at 1055am we arrived. We pulled up out front, joined the queue in reception and then booked in for two nights. We had a nice big concrete slab to pull up on ad began to make ourselves at home. 

The car and van got a much-needed wash, as the sprinklers were on, unfortunately so did the inside of the van, as the water came spurting through the door. Once we were all settled, we went for a wander around the large park grounds. There was a sunset viewing bench overlooking the Fitzroy River, that when in flow is the most voluminous river in Oz, but right now it was looking rather dry. 

The buildings across the lodge are on stilts and all electrical appliances, ie air con units, are mounted half way up the building, so when the river is flowing, it doesn’t inundate the buildings. We checked out the tennis court and pool area. This was very tropical and looked rather inviting, but was quite cool. We found a beautiful frangipani in flower and there were seed pods, so we knocked one off with the pool skimmer net. 

We made our way back to the reception, picked up a couple of brochures and then returned to the van for lunch. I booked us in for the Geikie Gorge boat ride tomorrow morning and then we decided to take a look at the town. 

We returned over the bridges spanning the Fitzroy and its tributaries, put air in the tyres and then drove through the centre of town, all in 5min. There wasn’t much to see. We stopped at the tourist bureau, but it was shut. An aboriginal bloke came past to say hi and when Paul rattled off names of students he had taught at Pundulmurra, it was like greeting long, lost family. 

We managed to pry ourselves away, hopped in the car and drove out to the Fitzroy Inn, the oldest hotel in the Kimberley and a place Paul remembers visiting in the 80’s when the bar was segregated. We made our way inside the tin shed, where the party was at, had a look around and then joined the locals for a drink. 

We sat down with another travelling couple and exchanged info on places we had been, before the “joker,” Phil joined us, living up to his moniker. He had us all laughing, mainly at his dad jokes. He was very entertaining. 

We returned to town, passing by the school, just finishing off their sport’s day and back to the tourist info, which was now open, to buy a post card. When we came back outside a group of local youngsters were feeding the kites. There were so many birds, swooping and diving for the scraps they were throwing in the air and many more waiting their turn, perched on the electric wires. 

We then drove back along the main road to the post office, waited for ages in line and bought a stamp for the post card, popping that in the mail, before making our way back to the Fitzroy River Lodge for 3pm.

After freshening up and having a rest, we went for a walk around the camp grounds and checked out the river as the sun was disappearing. We wandered into the bar to have a drink and Bold was on, so I managed to get a 15min fix. We chatted with another touring couple, as they waited for their take away fish n chips, watching the channel 10 news at the same time and catching up with what is going on at home. Glad we are missing the rubbish weather. 

We walked back to our van and began dinner. The dinner smells at the pub had my belly growling and I was starving. We spent the rest of the evening being lazy, reading and going to bed early.