Broome to Derby
No, I haven’t given in to itchy feet and decided to leave Broome – just headed north to Derby for a little overnight outing!
Derby is a two and a half hour drive from Broome, heading north east to the Port Hedland turnoff and continuing north after that.
The road has had lots of rain and so the drive took a while longer than normal as there were roadworks happening in quite a few places along the route. Saw plenty of road trains on this trip and quite a lot of stray cattle along the roadside.
At Willare Roadhouse a traveller reported seeing a cow stuck in mud by one of the bridges .. still alive and luckily about to be rescued. Incidentally ‘tired’ travellers get a free cup of tea or coffee at Willare which is very welcome!
Still a lot of water around
Derby is one of two places in the world (the other being Nova Scotia) where the highest King Tides occur at the end of March and again at the end of April each year. Derby’s tides can apparently reach up to 11.8 m and today I was told that the tide was around the 11 metre mark.
There is a jetty where you can walk and plenty of people were fishing hopefully for barramundi but often having to make do with a rather meagre cat fish on the end of their lines. One local, an Englishman who had lived in Derby for nearly 40 years (he worked in the building trade) told me that there were also crocodiles in the waters there … which by the way looked very muddy. I wouldn’t like to fall in.
I spent an interesting evening at the very large King Sound Resort hotel where I was one of two guests in the whole hotel. Both of us had dinner with the owners and their daughter and another friend. The meal was cooked by the hotelier’s wife and plenty of tales were told and some excellent local history learned by moi!
Breakfast next morning was at the Wharf Cafe highly recommended by the locals.
The high tide covering many trees at the side of the jetty.
The Wharf Cafe at the jetty in Derby is renowned for its fantastic coffee … and the food’s pretty good too!
Small barge being loaded with drums discerned by other tourists and myself as possibly being fish food …
The jetty at Derby
There are many Boab trees throughout the Kimberleys but the famous Boab Prison Tree six kilometres south of Derby is huge, with a girth of 14.7 metres. As to the story about it being used in the 1890s as a lockup for Australian prisoners on their way to Derby for sentencing … I’m told that’s just one of quite a few questionable tales.
Next adventure … Gibb River maybe?
1 Comment
Hi Tina, your trip to Derby was obviously interesting. I would have loved to have seen the high tide seeing I have a passion for high tides, high seas and tidal waves. Let me know good time to give you a buzz. Tonight I am out but message me when you’re free x Linda