Part 5 – Wilare Bridge Roadhouse to Giekie Gorge WA

View of Section of “Giekie Gorge” and “Fitzroy River” From Our Tour Boat

In part 4 of my Broome saga, I left you as our tour bus stopped at Wilare Bridge Roadhouse, some 190 kilometres east of Broome. Wilare Bridge Roadhouse…at last. A much needed, and friendly respite from the incessant, unending blend of monotonous flat scrub country and brilliant blue sky!

Wilare Bridge Roadhouse is one of very, very few places along this lonely section of the Great Northern Highway where you can refill the petrol or diesel tank. Plus the roadhouse serves an excellent selection of hot and cold meals and coffee, or take away food. If the blistering heat and humidity have really got to you, maybe enjoy a cold ale at the pub section of the roadhouse. Just one ale will do…you dont want to doze off and end up yet another statistic!

Much needed pit stop at Wilare Bridge Roadhouse on way to Fitzroy Crossing

The roadhouse also provides a pleasant outdoor area under covered pergolas. I recall with vivid memory how delighted I would be to see Wilare Bridge Roadhouse again that same evening! Everyone alighted eagerly from the coach and headed for the loos. After a 20 minute stop we were back on the four wheel drive coach and on our way…ever eastwards. We still had around 200 k to go before arriving at Fitzroy Crossing.

A quick photo stop on trip to Fitzroy Crossing to view the Giant Baobab Tree

The landscape began to alter after seventy or so k’s. The boring ,flat, scrub country gradually gave way to high ridges and more interesting scenery. After another long session of sitting in the coach, and experiencing yet another very numb behind, the Kimberley town of Fitzroy Crossing appeared in the distant shimmering heated air waves. Now I have often heard about Fitzroy Crossing. I dont think I had ever actually sighted a photo of the town which might have prepared me for the fact that there is very little of interest in the town.

Fitzroy Crossing essentially consists of a small and very old residential area, a few petrol stations and roadhouses, a very old Pub and a caravan park or two (or maybe three?). My apologies to Fitzroy Crossing if they have a lot more to offer than I have briefly described. However, as our tour coach was in a hurry to arrive at Giekie Gorge in time to meet our scheduled boat departure the trip through town was a quick one. He did give us more of a guided tour of the town on our way home. That took all of five minutes. Anyway my impression was that I would not wish to endure the long trip from the coast to visit Fitzroy Crossing again.

Finally, and with great relief to the nether portions of the bods, we arrived at the Gorge. Our coach driver/ guide then showed us another wonderful quality he possessed. He magically whipped up a first class luncheon for us at the side of the coach of chicken, ham, sausages, salads, plus much more, and plenty of coffee. Thanks very much to that most friendly and capable Tour Captain. Full marks!

Next we walked a few hundred metres along a track through heavily tree’d, rugged, colourful escarpment style country, and boarded our tour boat following our meeting with our Aboriginal Tour Guide. He gave us a fascinating rundown on the area and what lay ahead. He then led us to the Fitzroy River , a wide gorge river, to board the river Queen! When I saw our boat I knew that this trip to Broome and the Kimberley region would never run out of eye popping shocks!

Vine covered trees on walk to board boat at Giekie Gorge WA

You see, once again I am sure I had been given a wrong brochure for this whole trip. The photo of the boat in the brochure I had seen was a most comfy looking affair. Roomy, well fitted out with well padded seating and certainly looked very safe. As I stepped from the timber dock down into the square shaped tinny I profess to thinking…the way today has progressed there must be a crocodile waiting in the river for me! This little boat will surely sink with all us people aboard!

Nevertheless, our guide packed the 20 or so of us neatly into his little tinny boat, started the outboard motor, and we set off exploring the Fitzroy River and Giekie Gorge. The scenery is exquisite. The colours of the gorge cliffs which extend far above the river, the colour of the water, the birdlife and the many crocs eyeing us from either little sandy beaches, or from atop outcrops of rocks, were an experience not to be forgotten.

Cliff formations – Giekie Gorge – Kimberleys

Our Aboriginal Guide did a fantastic job of telling us all about the Gorge and it’s history from a tribal aspect. We stopped for a bit and after alighting from the boat our guide lit a fire in a very lonely, strange feeling canyon. He made us billy tea and continued to regale us with stories of his people. Altogether fascinating.

In fact almost fascinating enough for me to start thinking maybe the 900 K (est), round trip may be worth it after all. But no I wont get that carried away, because the trip back to broome which commenced around 5 PM was from my point of view an even more boring, bottom numbing long drawn out affair.

Around 8.30 that night out of the pitch black that surrounded us as our coach headed ever west some lights appeared in the distance through the front windsreeen of the bus. “There’s Wilare Roadhouse not too far ahead. Whos ready for dinner?” There issued a loud chorus of “thank goodness”, “how wonderful”, and similar heavy expressions of relief that we could finally escape these bottom numbing seats & hit the loos!

Once again the staff at Wilare Bridge Roadhouse were bright and friendly. How do they do that? Our dinner orders that our Tour Captain had left with the roadhouse on our way east were efficiently provided. We all sat outside under the pergolas, under a crystal clear sky jam packed full with stars, and enjoyed our dinners and a few ales or vinos. Then about an hour after we arrived it was back on the torture rack (the coach) and ever onward to Broome.

About an hour and a half later the lights of Broome hove into view. What a blessed relief that was. Shortly after we were home at Seashells Resort at around 11 PM….some eight hours later than we had expected. All in all a most unusual day. The sights were worth seeing but not at the expense of sitting in a coach for some eight or nine hours.

A lesson well learnt. Check out the details of a tour very carefully. Ask lots of questions and maybe avoid some nasty surprises. Best way to see Giekie Gorge my friends is get a Helicopter ride from Broome…not a one day coach trip!! Or if you wish to chance your arm with the coach trip take a good book and a big fat pillow to sit your rear end upon!

Please visit again. I will be posting “Part Six – Broome to Willie Creek Pearl Farm” in the next 48 hours.

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Broome to Geikie Gorge WA and Back – The Longest Day!!!

<= Never smile at a crocodile. Here’s a friendly (?) croc sun bathing on a sand bank at Geikie Gorge, in the Kimberley, as we cruised past in our “tinny” boat!

Day three, and we had decided to book a “four wheel drive” style coach tour from Broome, to enjoy a boat trip up the colourful Geikie Gorge river system. Now this trip to Broome had already produced a couple of “shocks” along the way. We were about to receive shock number three!

The coach collected us at around 8 am at Seashell’s Resort at Cable Beach. Prior to leaving the resort we made plans to enjoy an early evening BBQ amongst the tropical grounds of the resort when we arrived home from the tour. The evenings in Broome had been warm, balmy, and very still. We thought a barby would be the icing on the cake after our pleasant drive and boat trip up the fantastic gorge.

We settled into our seats on the coach. The tour guide/driver then passed back to each tour member a form to fill in as to what we would like for dinner that evening at the Willare Roadhouse along the Great Northern Highway? Hold on a moment….dinner this evening. We had been told we would be back in Broome mid afternoon….where on earth were we travelling to that we would be having dinner in the middle of the never never THAT NIGHT? And where and what was Wilare?

Well here came shock number three. You see, you need to really grill and quiz travel agents on matters like this. Either the travel agent gave us details on one tour and then sold us another. I will never know. Anyway a few friendly questions to our friendly tour guide soon wrecked our day! The trip we were on travelled some 400 kilometers east inland to Fitzroy Crossing. We then had to travel over some unmade road, board a small boat, conduct the two hour trip around the Gorge, get back on the coach and travel that same damned 400 + kilometers all the way back to Broome. Now I blame myself for this stuffup. I should have consulted a map before booking the tour..900 kilometres to take a short boat trip is a bit stoopid! And out in the outback it’s not like you are travelling through beautiful mountain country to make the long, long trip worth the trouble!

We were firmly committed by then. So we determined to make the best of the trip. A few hours later, with a very numb behind, I was already wishing I had stayed back at our resort in Broome! Eventually after driving through mind numbing, flat, scrubby country, occasionally relieved by a few odd shaped Baobab trees we reached Wilare Roadhouse. Thank goodness…another 30 minutes would have been too much.. Where’s the loo?

The Coach Stop at Wilare Road House a Few Hundred K East of Broome

There is nothing at Wilare. However I was that relieved, pardon the pun and the coffee break rejuvenated the old body to get ready to endure the next couple of hundred K’s to Fitzroy Crossing. Back later with the rest of the trip to Geikie Gorge WA and crocodiles!

Part Five is now posted : “Wilare Bidge Roadhouse to Giekie Gorge to Broome”

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