The Kimberley - Australia's Last Outback Frontier832736993933
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Handful of regions of the planet can offer an authentic outback encounter like Western Australia's Kimberley. The Kimberley has it all ... vast, remote and unspoilt natural landscapes, spectacular coastlines, residing indigenous Aboriginal cultures, and correct outback towns with wealthy and colourful histories.
The Kimberley region is located in northern Western Australia, and stretches from Broome in the west to Kununurra in the east. To the west it is bordered by the Indian Ocean, to the north by the Timor Sea, to the east by the Northern Territory, and to the south by the Fantastic Sandy Desert. The Kimberley covers a huge region of more than 420,000 square kilometres, creating it more substantial than Japan, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and the Australian state of Victoria.
The Kimberley is a remote outback area with a total population of about 25,000 inhabitants. It has only three towns with a population better than two,000: Broome, Derby and Kununurra. European settlement in the Kimberley is very latest, and dates from around 1885 when the MacDonalds and the Duracks arrived to establish cattle stations there. When gold was discovered at Halls Creek, a lot of other Europeans soon arrived. The gold rush was brief lived, but some miners stayed on to establish the town of Halls Creek.
The Kimberley nowadays is diverse, from the laid back cosmopolitan ambience of Broome, to the living indigenous culture of the Dampier Archipelago and the outback adventure of Kununurra. Apart from mining, other critical industries in the Kimberley have integrated broome resorts pearling (especially in Broome until the 1940s), mining (the Argyle Diamond mine these days generates 1/3 of the world's diamonds), agriculture (in the Ord River Irrigation Location near Lake Argyle) and of course tourism.
Broome is situated on the shores of Roebuck Bay, and is the southern gateway to the Kimberley's magnificent wilderness regions. Established in the 1890s, this former pearling port is nowadays a exclusive, exotic, and colourful seaside town with a romantic and flamboyant history. The town's multicultural heritage includes indigenous Aborigines, Europeans, Malays, Chinese and Japanese, and the subsequent cultural fusion has resulted in the town's distinctive cuisine and colourful characters.
The Rowleys Shoals lie some 300 kilometres off the Broome coast, and represent Australia's very best examples of shelf edge coral atolls. The shoals are property to a wealthy and diverse array of coral reef flora and fauna, and the area is a premier diving and nature based tourism destination which also provides globe class sports fishing.
The Dampier Peninsula north of Broome is characterised by clean, sandy white beaches, the clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean, and mangrove lined creeks. Right here it is possible to knowledge unspoilt all-natural beauty and to share the way of life of the Indigenous saltwater folks who have lived here for numerous thousands of years.
Derby is the Kimberley's oldest town. It is an superb base from which to explore the 1000 islands of the Buccaneer Archipelago. Derby is also the gateway to correct outback adventure along the Gibb River Road, and the ancient rock forms of Windjana Gorge National Park and Tunnel Creek are within an straightforward day's drive.
Kununurra is the eastern gateway to the Kimberley and usually the first cease for tourists arriving from the Northern Territory. It provides some of the finest adventure activities in the Kimberley, and is the ideal base to explore the rugged Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles), the Mitchell Plateau, the Argyle Diamond Mine and the Ord River.
Halls Creek is a service centre for the pastoral and mining industries and Aboriginal communities, and offers base from which to explore the surrounding Purnululu National Park (Bungle Bungles) and the Wolfe Creek Crater National Parks.
Wyndham is a small and reasonably unknown town which typifies the Kimberley character and spirit. Situated on the tidal waters of the Cambridge Gulf, exactly where the confluence of the King, Pentecost, Durack, Forrest and Ord Rivers meet, Wyndham is the northernmost town in Western Australia.
The Gibb River Road spans 660 kilometres of the most remote and spectacular landscapes in Australia. Travelling its length among Derby and Kununurra is one of the final genuinely outback experiences. Luxury 4WD tours now supply straightforward access to this remote region, which is home to wildlife sanctuaries, ancient landforms, deep gorges and fresh water holes.
Set high on the banks of the mighty Fitzroy River, Fitzroy Crossing is a quintessential outback Australian town. It gives an outstanding base from which to explore the magnificent Geikie Gorge National Park.
