The West Kimberley Crossing in 3 Days - Britz

Two nights and 1,125 kilometres in a loop from Broome in a 4WD camper, which is a short run onto the first dirt of the Kimberley.

Derby comes first on King Sound, then the road south to Tunnel Creek, where a creek has cut a passage clean through the Napier Range and the walk goes through it with a torch, wading in places, among bats. Windjana Gorge follows in the same limestone, which was a coral reef in the Devonian and now stands as a wall above a river pool with freshwater crocodiles in it.

Fitzroy Crossing comes next, then Geikie Gorge, where the Fitzroy River cuts through the reef again and the lower walls are bleached white by wet season floods that rise more than sixteen metres. Mimbi Caves close the route, on Gooniyandi country, with rock art and marine fossils in the same chambers.

The return runs back to Broome. 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. Three days and 1,125 kilometres is a brisk pace for this country, so this suits a traveller with a few spare days at the end of a longer trip rather than anyone wanting to linger, and the roads here are dry season only. For a first taste of Kimberley driving it works rather well, since everything on the list is within a day’s run of Broome and the tracks involved are the gentlest in the region.