December 2022 - Travel nut

Cockburn Ranges

Cockburn Ranges is one of the iconic places in East Kimberley region, north-east of Western Australia. It is a prominent landmark, that rises over 600 meters high above the surrounding plains. This scenic place is a must to see for those travelling along the Gibb River Road or visiting El Questro. It is beautiful and every changing and one of the ways to see Cockburn Ranges is from the air.

Cockburn Ranges Scenic Flight

Seeing a landscape from a bird’s eye view gives you a different perspective. First, you can see different angles of the same place. Second, there is an opportunity to appreciate the vastness and the expanse of the land. Third, you can spot some details that might not be visible from below. This was the idea behind taking a scenic flight with Aviair from Kununurra to see Cockburn Ranges and the mighty Kimberley rivers. Unfortunately, it was not the best day for scenic flights. There was a lot of haze from controlled burning up in the air. In addition, the position of the sun was often in the wrong direction at times. Yet, we enjoyed the flight and made the best of our experience (despite feeling a bit airsick in that tiny airplane ☹).

Mudflats and Five Rivers Lookout at Wyndham

Wyndham is West Australia’s most northerly town, located 100km north from Kununurra, and it is the best place to see where the 5 Kimberley mighty rivers – the Durack, King, and Pentecost to the south, Forrest to the west and Ord to the east – combine and enter the Cambridge Gulf. Mesmerizing mudflats formed by the rivers, their colours, shapes and patterns are a photographer’s dream. We first saw these unique and beautiful mudflats from the Five Rivers Lookout on the top of the Bastion Range at Wyndham.

Then we drove 100km to Kununarra to take Colours of the Cockburn Ranges scenic flight to see those amazing mudflats from above. It was unforgetable experience!

Kimberley native flora

Kimberley native flora is fascinating for anyone who appreciates nature and photography. The northernmost region of Western Australia is one of the most beautiful and unique places on Earth, with rich landscape, flora and fauna. The diversity of the landscape means there is also a great diversity of the plants and trees. With over 2000 plant and tree species, many are unique to the Kimberley region and are, thus, an important part of the ecosystem, providing food for the animals, birds and insects.

Boab tree

Boab tree (Adansonia gregorii) is an icon of the Kimberley region. It’s the only region in WA (and in the whole of Australia, with the exception of parts of NT) where it grows wild and in huge numbers. It is a large, slow growing deciduous tree, characterized by unique bottle-shaped trunk. These are very hardy trees, which can grow over a thousand years.

We found boab trees very fascinating. No boab tree is the same. Each boab tree has a unique shape, size and character. Each has a story to tell – some look huge, fat and mighty. Others look tall, slim and elegant. Still others look like Siamese twins with a few stems grown together.

Within the same season (even within the same week) you can find boab trees that look completely bare, some that are partially covered in leaves, some are quite green, full of leaves and even fruits.

We consider ourselves very lucky to have seen a boab flower, which is a big creamy flower, normally occurring in summer and we have seen it in July, which is a dry winter season in Kimberley. Interestingly, each boab flower only lasts one day.

The fruits of boab tree are eatable by animals and people and are very rich in Vitamin C (although we haven’t tried them ourselves).

This is the famous Prison Boab near Derby on the west coast. Its significance refers to the 1890s when it was used a rest point for police and escorted Aboriginal prisoners en-route to Derby.

Apart from the Boab tree, there are a number of other interesting trees growing in the Kimberley.

Kapok tree

Kapok Tree (Cochlospermum fraseri) is a common deciduous tree found in Kimberley, in the north of Western Australia. It can grow up to 7 meters, has large pretty yellow flowers and large egg-shaped seed pods. Both flowers and young roots can be consumed. Likewise, the silky kapok inside the pod is put to good use too – to stuff mattresses and pillows. Hence theres is an alternative name for this tree – cotton tree.

Kimberley Rose

Kimberley Rose or the Sticky Kurrajong (Brachychiton viscidulus) tree only grows in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is a deciduous tree, that can be as high as 10 meters long. It produces massive display of scarlet red sticky flowers during the dry (winter) season, after it sheds its leaves.

Livistona palm

Livistona palm (Livistona nasmophila) is native to Kimberley area in Western Australia (as well as part of Northern Territory). It can grow up to 18 meters high, forming a canopy above, providing cooling shade underneath. We saw this plant at Zebedee Springs in El Questro and also at Echidna Chasm gorge in Purnululu National Park (both in Kimberley).

Mulla mulla

Mulla mulla (Ptilotus exaltatus) is a common annual plant growing up to 1,2 meters in most regions of Australia. We saw it first growing in Pilbara and we fell in love with it straightaway. This particular plant was photographed at James Price Point in West Kimberley.

Mimbi Caves

The campground

Mimbi Caves nature-based campground in Kimberley on Great Northern Highway (between Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek) was a pleasant surprise and a real treat for us before heading back home after completing the Gibb River Road trip back in July. Owned and operated by Indigenous Gooniyandi people, the campground is located on a large property and has a bush feel, yet it has modern amenities, which include clean flushing toilets, hot showers, bbq shelter, kitchen sink and communal firepit.

The campground is small enough to feel secluded, yet big enough to meet fellow travellers. It so well laid out and organized that it is very easy to park when you have a caravan. The sites are big and separated from each other with pockets of space and some trees.

We liked the unique indigenous feel of this place, the outback setting and well-organized space. Highly recommended, not just as an overnight stop, but as a place to relax and get to know indigenous people and their culture.

The tour

The Mimbi caves are accessible only through a tour with local Gooniyandi people and the tour was quite a highlight of our trip to Kimberley. We love caves but the experience of this cave started even before entering the cave itself. In fact, the limestone rock formations at Mimbi are so unique and beautiful that we were already happy just wandering around those amazing nature sculptured structures while hearing the ancient Dreamtime stories of the Blue Tongue Lizard that created the hills at Mimbi.

But our guide Ronnie also led us through the caves, pointing out fossils, ancient rock art, while sharing more stories.

Those who were brave enough could swim in the icy cold freshwater pools flowing through the caves (not us 😊).

The tour concluded with tea, damper and walking around fire ceremony (and more stories 😊).

Avon Valley National Park

Avon Valley National Park, 1-hour drive from Perth, a great place for hiking and camping. We found it not as popular and busy as some other national parks closer to the city. With no sealed roads, it is a bushland area, spanning 4800ha.

Avon Valley National Park is a place to go camping. It has 5 camp grounds with basic facilities, which include picnic tables (some with shade), fire pits and toilets. Camping fees apply. As we haven’t camped there, we can’t provide more information but you can find it on this website.

Homestead campground in Avon Valley National Park — Homestead campground in Avon Valley NP

There are no defined hiking trails but, nonetheless, it is a great place for nature lovers. It has a few species of eucalyptus and grass trees (Xanthorrhoea) and is one of the best places to see wildflowers.

Grass tree bushland at Avon Valley National Park — Grass tree bushland

Even in November (which is not the prime month for seeing wildflowers) we managed to spot a few of them.

Wildflowers

Rhodanthe chlorocephala Pink white everlasting (above).

False Boronia (Lysiandra calycina) – above (left). Lobelia species (above right).

Fauna of Kimberley

Kimberley fauna is unique, diverse and fascinating. The first thing that comes to mind when talking about fauna of Kimberley is crocodiles! There is no surprise. There are plenty of them in Kimberley and they can be extremely dangerous to humans.

Crocodiles

There are two types of crocodiles found in Australia (and both are in Kimberley) – saltwater or estuarine crocodiles and freshwater or Johnston’s river crocodiles. Saltwater crocodiles are big (up to 7 meters long) and are dangerous to humans and we’ve only seen from the far distance (at El Questro). Contrary to their name, they live in fresh waters too, up to 200km away from the coast and can attack in less than a second.

Fresh waters crocodiles are much smaller (not more than 3 meters long), have smaller teeth and narrow snout. They live in creeks, rivers, billabongs and are often seen sunbathing on the shore. While they are non-aggressive, they can bite if disturbed, so it is still safer to admire them from a distance.

Windajana Gorge is one of the best places on the Gibb River Road to see fresh water crocodiles.

We also saw freshwater crocodiles in Emma Gorge along the Gibb River Road.

Lake Argyle is home to an estimated 30,000 fresh water crocodiles (and yes, you can still swim there – we did!). So, that is another place to see them and taking a cruise is the best way to see crocodiles (and many other interesting animals and birds).

Among other interesting creatures that we saw in Kimberley were olive python, rock wallabies and sugar glider.

Kimberley Fauna – more than crocodiles

Olive pythons are the second-largest Python species in Australia. They can grow up to 3.5 meters long and the sub-species in Pilbara region can grow up to 5 meters long (we saw one rather large olive python in Millstream Chichester NP). Olive pythons are found in northern parts of Australia. They can often be seen near creeks but also in woodlands, open forests and savannah. We were lucky to spot one in Silent Grove campground near the creek (Actually, we were shown the python by fellow travellers, for that we are very grateful).

Sugar glider is a small nocturnal gliding possum, found in the northern parts of Australia in eucalyptus woodlands. It feeds on gum and the sap of eucalyptus trees. This little cute Sugar Glider was on the Eucalyptus next to our camping spot in Silent Grove campground. We were lucky enough to watch it feeding on the nectar of the Eucalyptus tree flowers for 2 days we spent there (although not lucky enough to see it flying).

Rock wallabies are yet another type of unique animals we saw in Kimberley – in Lake Argyle. We took a morning cruise and were shown the whole colony of them, sunbathing on the rocks.

Birds of Kimberley

The Kimberley region, comprising 420,000 square kilometres has diverse landscape, ranging from rugged ranges, savannas and pristine coastlines. The diversity of the landscape means great variety of the birds.