Paynter's Photos: Derby

We are staying at the Kimberley Entrance Caravan Park which is by far the busiest park we have stayed at. There are at least 6 vans waiting for sites any time you look out towards the entrance.

Derby is noted for its extreme tides - varying as much as 11 metres. This is the wharf at low tide. The new jetty was built in 1964 to export live cattle and is now a popular fishing spot.

And this is high tide of 10.6 meters from the same spot.

And sunset over the wharf at King Sound.

We tried our hand at crabbing – even bought a crab pot but they were just too small to keep

The Boab Tree is a feature of this area and vary from the very young to 2000 year old trees. They are a protected species and some roads have been diverted around them.

These are the friendliest trees in the west. The Boab and Snappy Gum have grown together to form an interlocking canopy.

Myall’s Bore and Cattle Trough is just outside of town. The first bore was sunk in 1910 and the 120 metre long trough built in 1917 providing water for up to 500 cattle at a time.

This boab has a long, sad history. It is the Boab Prison Tree where prisoners were held inside (see the small entrance hole) on their way to court in Derby.

We took a tour out the Gibb River Road to Windjana Gorge National Park on the Lennard River. The Gorge is 3.5km long and runs through an ancient limestone reef.

This is a little further up the Gorge where the fresh water crocodiles bathe in the sun.

You can get quite close (with the aid of a lens). They are harmless (we’re told) and didn’t appear very interested in us as food

Tunnel Creek is 750 metres long through the Napier Range. Armed with our torches, we walked through knee high water to the other end. Without this light, the tunnel is total darkness.