The West Kimberley Crossing in 5 Days - Britz

Four nights and 1,133 kilometres in a loop from Broome in a 4WD camper, round the limestone country of the west Kimberley.

The geology is the thread. Some 350 million years ago this was a barrier reef in a tropical sea, and the Napier and Oscar ranges standing above the plain today are what remains of it, fossils included.

Derby comes first on King Sound, then Windjana Gorge, where the Lennard River has cut a cleft through the old reef and freshwater crocodiles lie out on the sand banks, and Tunnel Creek, where a creek runs underground through the same limestone and the walk goes through it with a torch, wading in places. Fitzroy Crossing and Geikie Gorge follow, with the lower walls bleached white by wet season floods, and the Mimbi Caves close the loop with their rock art and fossil beds.

Britz supply the camper and the day-by-day plan, and the hire is priced live per vehicle rather than per person; campsites, fuel, ferries, park fees and activities are all extra, with a nil-excess insurance pack available at booking. Five days rather than three makes a considerable difference here, since it allows a full day at each of the gorges instead of a drive-past, and the walks at Tunnel Creek and Mimbi are both slower than they look. These roads are dry season only, and not every pool is safe for swimming, so the local signage is worth taking seriously. Broome itself is worth a day at either end, with the camel trains on Cable Beach at sunset and the tide running out far enough to expose dinosaur footprints at Gantheaume Point.