We slept in until 7:10am when “She” put the first load of washing on. We were in no real hurry having decided last night during happy hour to leave the campsite with the group at 9:45am and then head to Geike Gorge and book seats on the 11:00am cruise.
And that is what we did. We took the back road away from our camp site and then crossed the Fitzroy River at the old crossing point. It must have been a real challenge in the past as the crossing is almost at the bed of the river. The crossing would have been impassable during the wet season.
We saw a family of eagles feeding from a very recent roadkill and we had to avoid a large olive python sunning itself on the road into the gorge.
We booked tickets for the 11:00am cruise.
The cruise on Geike Gorge was great. The Fitzroy River is impressive as are the hills that line the river. The gorge is about 18k’s long and we saw about 4k’s during the cruise. We also saw a little wildlife including many freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves, eagles and birds and even a monitor heading for a drink from the river. We received a concessional rate of $29. The normal adult cost is $40.
On our return journey we noted that the olive python had moved on and fortunately had not been hit by traffic. We crossed the Fitzroy River again at the old crossing and that afforded the opportunity for some pictures. The eagles were still feeding and we went very close to hitting one as it departed from the roadkill. Only by swerving the car was an impact averted.
“She” was able to purchase a carved boab tree nut from one of the locals. This also gave us the opportunity to have a discussion with two of the locals who were both lovely people.
The afternoon was spent trying to book accommodation in Derby and the opportunity was also taken to help a friend manage photos taken to date on the trip. We were told by staff in the caravan park we have booked that for the first time in 15 years they are currently full. There are a lot of people travelling and we have also been told there will be more grey nomads heading north on the West Coast now that the school holidays have finished.
We have also been told that many of the grey nomads are only travelling short distances between free camps to ensure they have a spot every day. This is resulting in the need for other to arrive early otherwise you miss out.
After happy hour we cooked our evening meal and spent the remainder of the night watching television and surfing on the internet.