The Kimberley

Pressed between the Indian Ocean and the Great Sandy Desert, the Kimberley’s 320,000 square kilometers of rough, raw tropical bush are broken only by unpredictable rivers, magnificent boulder-stacked cliffs, and tiny pockets of settlement. Only rugged souls venture past the beach mecca of Broome, but those who do are rewarded by a wilderness experience they won’t soon forget. Occupying the entire northern end of Western Australia, the Kimberley is accessible from the rest of the state by flights to Broome or via a long, lonely desert highway from Port Hedland, and from the Northern Territory via Routes 1 and 96, which branch off the Stuart Highway.

Within the region, the only major paved route is the Great Northern Highway. Most other roads, including the Gibb River Road and its offshoots in the northern Kimberley, are unsealed 4WD tracks. Flooded rivers during the monsoonal Wet (Nov.-Mar.) often close these roads altogether; the East Kimberley is wetter than the West. Call ahead for road conditions (tel. 1800 013 314) and register with the police before setting off. like the rest of the tropics, the Kimberiey’s high season is the Dry (Apr.-Oct.), and temperature doesn’t vary nearly as much as precipitation.