Geikie Gorge - 29th August

After getting our washing done, we went to the Information centre in Fitzroy Crossing and found out what times the Geikie Gorge cruises were on today and found there were only three; 9.30, 10.30 and 3.00 which gave us the option of three o’clock or three o’clock since you have to be there half an hour before and it is 18 km from town. We decided to go out to where they go from to take a look and perhaps do one of the three suggested walks but when we got there it was so hot that we opted for a short one; twenty minutes instead of the 90 – 120 minute one we were thinking of even after all our good training at the Bungle Bungles. We did the River Walk which goes down to the river bank near a sandbar area of the Fitzroy River. It was nice and shady down there with some big trees and quite peaceful. There were two women swimming there who said the water was lovely; I felt the water and it was quite warmish, certainly not cold. There are warnings about crocodiles around the park because there are fresh water crocs in the river but they usually don’t cause any problems for people but go for smaller prey. We spent some time just wandering around looking at the flora and fauna which included some black cockatoos in a gum tree, other small birds, and some wallabies that allowed us to get close enough to see them well and get some photos. After we had made sure we had our information correct for the cruise later we went back to our unit and had lunch.
Just after two we headed back to Geikie Gorge Park for the cruise armed with sunscreen, bug spray, hats and water since the boat has no roof and the hot sun even for the hour would be unrelenting.*We heard on the news that the highest in the state was 38 degrees in Fitzroy Crossing! We were surprised how many people were at the gazebo for the cruise and how they didn’t issue tickets but just said they would recognize us as we boarded! Anyway, they had two barges joined together with a captain driving from the back and off we went down Geikie Gorge. It is very pretty with some very white rocks and some lovely red or orange rocks also. We saw many freshwater crocodiles along the away either on the bank sunning themselves or floating in the water. We were surprised how many there were actually. It was delightful when we were on the left side of the gorge with the cliffs shading us but once we had to turn around, it was very, very hot and we were glad we lathered on the sunscreen. We saw a few water birds but only a few compared to what we have seen at other places; maybe it was a bit too hot at that time of day. The captain had a microphone and speakers and gave a commentary along the way, pointing out any wildlife he saw as well as explaining a bit about the gorge and Fitzroy River telling us that the 2002 flood was the worst when the water was 2 metres above the roof of the gazebo! Every season they have to pack everything up and when they come back after the wet season, they have to clean up the mud in the gazebo from the flooding. As we came back down the gorge there were some pretty reflections of the gorge walls on the river so it was probably a good time day for the cruise despite the heat.
We went back to Fitzroy River Lodge for dinner tonight, since there didn’t appear to be much better around here, and instead of the rather average buffet of the previous evening it was a very respectable a la carte menu. I had a vegetable wrapped in filo thing and Fin had a steak with vegies both of which were very nice; unfortunately we both had a very filling soup with bread and I couldn’t finish it all which I was sorry about but also knew I would regret it more if I tried. So, at least we got a good meal on our last night in Fitzroy Crossing. Off to Broome tomorrow via Derby to see the Prison Boab tree.