Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Broome, is the Gibb River Road, an isolated four-wheel-drive track through
cattle-station country that is becoming popular with adventure travelers.
Off the West Kimberley coast lies a jigsaw puzzle of 10,000 or more barely
inhabited islands, the
Bonaparte
and
Buccaneer Archipelagos
, the last
named in honor of the pirate's pirate, William Dampier, who sailed here in
1688. In fact, much of the appeal of this coastline lies in the knowledge that few
Westerners have laid eyes on it since the first explorers of the 17th century.
ESSENTIALS
VISITOR INFORMATION
The
Kimberley Tourism Association,
P.O.
Box 554, Broome, WA 6725 (
&
08/9193 6660;
www.kimberleytourism.com),
supplies information on the entire region. The
Kununurra Visitor Centre
and
the
Broome Visitor Centre
(which appear later in this chapter) also handle
inquiries on things to see and do across the entire Kimberley, and you can drop
into their information offices once you arrive.
Best of the Kimberley
(
&
1800/450 850
in Australia, or 08/9192 6070; www.
kimberleytravel.net) is a Broome-based agency marketing a large range of tours and
experiences, including four-wheel-drive safaris, aerial tours, bushwalking and
horseback riding, and cruising. It sells accommodations and tour packages, and a
huge range of day trips, tours, and activities, and specializes in personalized vaca-
tions. Visits to the remote Dampier Peninsula to fish and go mud-crabbing with an
Aboriginal family, or to self-fly packages around this vast region for private pilots
(aircraft hire included) are among their more unusual offerings.
GETTING AROUND
Enormous distances, high gasoline costs (often A$1
per liter or more, equivalent to US$2 per U.S. gal.), wet season floods, and very
limited roads and facilities can make traveling the Kimberley expensive and
time-consuming. The place has lots of attractions so remote they can only be
reached by aerial tours or charter boats. Many more are accessible only on
unpaved roads, for which your two-wheel-drive rental car is not insured and
which it probably can't handle, so if you don't want to rely on tours, rent a four-
wheel-drive (available in Broome and Kununurra). Allow for an average speed
of 60kmph (37 mph) on the area's rough unsealed roads, and never exceed
80kmph (50 mph), because unexpected dips and smooth patches can take you
by surprise. Most outfits will allow one-way rentals between Broome and
Kununurra, or vice versa, at a ballpark surcharge of A$350 to A$550
(US$228-US$358). Review “Road Conditions & Safety,” “What If Your Vehi-
cle Breaks Down?,” and “Tips for Four-Wheel Drivers,” in the “Getting Around
Australia” section of chapter 2, before setting off.
Kimberley Camping & Outback Supplies,
65 Frederick St., Broome (
&
08/
9193 5909
), sells and rents every piece of camping equipment you need, from
tents and “mozzie” (mosquito) nets to cooking utensils, plus outdoor clothing.
Taking a guided four-wheel-drive camping or accommodated safari is a neat
way to sidestep the challenges of Kimberley travel. Safaris depart Broome,
Kununurra, or Darwin, and last between 2 days and 2 weeks. A popular route is
the cross-Kimberley journey between Broome and Kununurra. If you opt for this
route, look for tours that traverse the Gibb River Road, rather than the scenically
dull highway via Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. The Gibb River Road is an
adventurous unpaved “back road” between Kununurra and Broome that offers
gorges, low red ranges, swimming holes (ask directions to croc-free ones), walking
trails, barramundi fishing, and campsites or basic homestead accommodations on
vast cattle stations (ranches). Most safaris run only in the dry season, April/May
