Rodney Campbell's Blog

Driving west to the small township of Fitzroy Crossing and then out to Geikie Gorge National Park. It’s the most easily accessible national park in the Kimberley. There’s bitumen all the way out to Geikie Gorge and it’s less than 20km from the small Kimberley town of Fitzroy Crossing.

The best way to see Geikie Gorge is to join a boat tour. We had a couple hours to wait for our river cruise on Geikie Gorge so we made and had lunch and explored the local area a little. It was pretty damn hot though, so sitting in the shade with a cool breeze was the order for much of the time :).

Geikie Looming

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 42 mm, 1/250 sec at f/8, ISO 100

Geikie Gorge is situated at the junction of the Oscar and the Geikie Ranges. Geikie Gorge has been carved 30m deep by the mighty Fitzroy River through part of an ancient limestone barrier reef which snakes across the west Kimberley. Some 350 million years ago in Devonian times an ancient sea laid down the limestone barrier reef.

During the wet season when the Fitzroy river is in flood the waters can rise 16.5 metres (54 ft) up the gorge walls and the continuous rise and fall of the water has left the lower half of the walls scrubbed and bleached white.

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger – so click any of the images below to see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer.

Geikie Reflections

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 85 mm, 1/200 sec at f/8, ISO 100

The gorge was named in honour of Sir Archibald Geikie, the Director General of Geological Survey for Great Britain and Ireland when it was given its European name in 1883. Sir Archibald never visited the gorge and in due course the traditional owners, the Bunuba people, hope that it will be more generally known by its Aboriginal name, Darngku.

Many of the visitors on the tour were on the lookout for crocodiles in the water and at the waters edge – we saw a few during our cruise but most of them were too shy and afraid and were well hidden :).

What Awaits

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 300 mm, 1/320 sec at f/8, ISO 250

More of those fabulous coloured cliffs with the white scrubbed lower layer.

Geikie Cliffs

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/80 sec at f/9, ISO 100

Mangrove Reflections

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 135 mm, 1/160 sec at f/9, ISO 500

I actually took this well before we left on our boat tour up the river. It’s the view from near the boat ramp across to the other side.

Geikie Gorge Boat Tour

NIKON D750 + 28.0-300.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 28 mm, 1/100 sec at f/8, ISO 100

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