As the Kimberley landscape dries mid-year, it seems to crave the refreshment of the wet season. And during the thrumming, hot, often oppressive wet season, the people of the Kimberley seem to crave the cooler days and clear, blue sky of the dry season. So, this is the time of year to start thinking about planning your big Kimberley experience in 2025.
+ I can’t count the number of times I have travelled the Kimberley by land ...
following dusty red tracks and remote corrugated roads to outcrops and billabongs. The “big lap” is worth doing — from Broome along the bitumen to Fitzroy Crossing and Mimbi Caves, ducking in to Purnululu National Park, seeing the art at Warmun, staying in Kununurra, then heading back along the 700km of the Gibb River Road to Derby, adrift in the mudflats, watching sunset at the jetty. + I’ve sailed the Kimberley coast many times.
Most itineraries include Hunter River and the Mitchell Falls, King George River and Falls, Raft Point and Montgomery Reef. But look for itineraries with Jar Island and Bigge Island, too. + But it is the Kimberley from the air that I’m reflecting upon at this moment, as the land is sucking in water, plumping and replenishing ready for the dry season.
I’m thinking about the many times I have flown with Kununurra companies like Aviair and HeliSpirit, over the red earth, shardy ranges and ribbons of waterways. Every now and then I can see a road I know, a remote camp that I recognise — but mostly it is just a pas.
