Nothing can prepare you for your arrival into Broome. The red earth over which you fly for hours ends abruptly at the water's edge. There is no green fringe, just red desert meeting clear blue water. It's a stunning introduction to a landscape that is startling and beautiful.
Our base for exploring Broome and the wider region of the Kimberley is the luxurious Cable Beach Resort. Set right on Cable Beach, so named because of the terminus of the cable across the Timor Sea from Java, this luxurious resort is a delightful fusion of Asian and Colonial cultures, reflected in the architecture and in the garden design. Cocktails at sunset overlooking the beach as the sun sets over the turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean is the classic Broome experience, especially when teams of brightly decorated camels come back from their sunset trek along the beach
We had to wait for the lowest tide to clamber down the cliffs at Gantheaume Point, where 30 million years ago a dinosaur walked and left his footprints in the sand. It's a beautiful spot with orange rocks and vast views of Cable Beach and the ocean.
The rocks were very slippery so it wasn't easy but it was amazing to see the footprints, frozen in stone and washed by the warm waters of the Indian Ocean.
Our first taste of the Kimberley was Windjana Gorge, where the Lennard River has cut its way through the soft petrified coral of an ancient marine reef. This is the largest and most spectacular gorge in the Kimberley region. There are lots of fresh water crocodiles here, sleepy and well-camouflaged as logs at the water's edge.
The landscape is dotted with the bizarre Boab trees. They stand like colossus amongst the drought-resistant vegetation of the North-West. The girth of these aged trees is impressive and some of them are amongst the oldest living plants on earth. East of the mighty Fitzroy River we saw the famous Boab Prison Tree. Its swollen hollow trunk is so huge it was used to house convicts.
Beautiful blue Tinsel Bush, Cyanostegia, is flowering, as we leave Broome for the trek south. In fact it is our very first wildflower, and we are all so excited we stop for photographs!
At Birdwood Downs, just out of Derby, we meet Robin Tredwell, voted Rural Woman of the Year in 1995 for her work on sustainable farming. The severe environmental challenges of the Kimberley, combined with a history of overgrazing have resulted in widespread land degradation. In much of the Kimberley, semi-desert has replaced the original native savannah grasses, eucalypts, boabs and bauhinia.
Since 1978 Robin and her team have been trialing promising grass and legume species for seed production and for grazing. They offer consulting and educational programmes on systems for creating and managing productive pastures in the dry tropical regions of the world.
Just before dark Robin took us on a tour of her remarkable garden which survives on recycled water only, and there is not much of that! It's an oasis around the homestead, with a very productive vegetable garden, which feeds staff, visitors and volunteer workers. We all had dinner on the veranda that night, and celebrated birthdays for two of our travellers!
Karrigini National Park is the gem of the Hammersley Ranges, where long winding gorges have been carved into one of the oldest landscapes on earth. It's a dry flat plateau dissected by deep gorges. You can squeeze through long serpentine tunnels of marbled red rock, tiptoe along ledges, paddle through waterways that drop into deep chasms, eroded over hundreds of years. And it's all red!
We stayed in Karratha to investigate what turned out to be a highlight for me, the Dampier Archipelago and the Burrup Peninsula, with its treasure of Aboriginal engravings. The afternoon is warm and sunny as I wander up the dry creek bed. I am startled by the profusion of the images. There's a staggering array of petroglyphs - kangaroos, emus, turtles, boomerangs - hundreds of engravings on the rocks high up on both sides. This quiet valley must have been a special meeting place and its rich artistic heritage has survived for thousands of years.
Millstream is an oasis in the desert that we approached on a winding road through the Chichester Range. I wanted to swim in Python Pool, (captured beautifully in the film "Japanese Story") nestled into the base of the mountains. Towering sheer red cliffs surround this rock pool and gums overhang the water. It's a tranquil and spiritual place
From the lookout I can see over the Chichester Range to the Hammersley Ranges stretching away in the distance. Water for this oasis springs from an aquifer fed by the nearby Fortescue River. Lush water holes here are shaded by lush Livistonia palms. We stop for lunch in an ancient paperbark forest alongside the deep waters of the Fortescue River. The large creamy dragon flower, Sesbania formosa is blooming here, as it does along all the rivers of the north west region.
It's a night to remember at Bigimia Station, the homestead of a huge cattle station, 1.4 million hectares in the dry and dusty Gascoyne region. Our hosts are Jane and Lochie McTaggart and their homestead sits beside the Gascoyne River, which flows underground. A huge timber jetty is built out over the dry river bed and beautiful paper barks grow along the dry watercourse. The Gascoyne hasn't flowed for four years - it's been a long harsh drought!
Recent winter rains have meant a profusion of wildflowers: mulla mullas; Sturt's desert pea; paper daisies; verticordias; and other flowers I have only ever seen before in wildflower exhibitions. And as we travelled south the range of flowers grew more varied. The large creamy flowers of the dragon tree, Sesbania formosa, captured our hearts as we lunched by the Fortescue River. The golden flower spikes of the flame grevillea and carpets of purple mulla mulla drew oohs and ahs. Golden cassias grow along the rivercourses of the Kimberley and the Pilbara. The woolly wild tomato, solanum, was widespread and covered with purple flowers and where we saw it, we also found the bluebell, trichodesma. Road verges proved perfect growing spots for Sturt's desert pea, carpets of cerise pink parakeelya, felted pink mulla mulla, paper daisies in pink, yellow and white, cobalt blue dampiera, and the wreath leschenaultia, which proved be the prize wildflower, our favourite of the whole amazing trip.
Go See It
Ross Garden Tours will tour from Broome to Perth in September. See the diversity of Western Australia and its wonderful wildflowers. It is a mecca for plant lovers and a photographer's dream! This tour can be linked to an 8-day tour of the South West corner of WA: 'Wildflowers of the South West'. For details call 1800 809 348 www.rosstours.com
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