EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

Situated 36km north of the coastal highway on a flat spur of land jutting into the mud flats of King Sound, DERBY is a mineral exploration base and an administrative centre for local Aboriginal communities. There's precious little reason for tourists to visit the town other than to refuel at the end of a Gibb River Road crossing or perhaps take a scenic flight over the West Kimberley coastline (from $130; ask at the tourist office). Without your own transport you'll find the spread-out town hard work to navigate.

The tourist office (Mon-Fri 8.30am-4.30pm, Sat 8.30-11.30am; tel 08/9191 1426) is on Clarendon Street, where buses also arrive. If you're desperate, places to stay include the Spinifex Hotel (tel 08/9191 1233), the town's main pub with ultrabasic dorms (under $20) and small, budget motel rooms ($50-70). With your own transport you'll be much more comfortable at the West Kimberley Lodge (tel 08/9191 1031, fax 9191 1028; $50-70), at 17 Sutherland St, a guesthouse with shared facilities; or the Derby Boab Inn on Loch Street (tel 08/9191 1044, fax 9191 1568; $50-70). There's a good restaurant at the Boab , but for something special (and expensive) try the Wharf seafood restaurant, out by the wharf (daily from 6.30pm; closed Jan & Feb), which also does takeaways.

The Gibb River Road starts just east of Derby and cuts straight across the Kimberley, rejoining the tarmac near Wyndham 667km further on. If you are heading east and want to see Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek , follow the Gibb River Road for 119km to the Windjana turn-off. From here you rejoin the Great Northern Highway after 123km. This section is no problem in dry weather in a 2WD and is more interesting (and only 30km longer) than following the highway to Fitzroy Crossing, 256km from Derby.

Since the pastoral expansion into the Kimberley in the late nineteenth century, FITZROY CROSSING has been a small travellers' rest stop and crucial ford across the still-troublesome Fitzroy River. Today it's little more than a roadhouse and "welfare town" serving the region's Aboriginal communities. In the Dry it's a bleak, dusty place, the river a string of pools, but during a good Wet, when the town is frequently cut off, water laps just under the road bridge and the land is flooded for miles around.

The town itself has nothing of interest; a Friday-night session at the century-old Crossing Inn on Skuthorpe Road will give you the most memorable experience of the place. The Fitzroy River Lodge (tel 08/9191 5141, fax 9191 5142; $115-150), on the highway east of the bridge, caters comfortably for passing tours. It has motel rooms , bushland lodges (or "canvas accommodation modules") and grassy campsites, as well as a pool, restaurants and a bar. Darlngunaya Backpackers (tel 08/9191 5140; under $20) on Russ Road is situated in the old post office, around which the settlement originally grew. If you call up they'll meet your bus, which comes through in the early hours. The Crossing Inn (tel 08/9191 5080; cabins $70-90) also has tent sites and the obligatory counter meals, while the neglected Tarunda Caravan Park , next to the supermarket/post office on Forrest Road, has cheap tent sites and on-site vans ($35-50). The tourist office (tel 08/9191 5355) is on Flynn Drive, by the roadhouse.

The local CALM office (tel 08/9191 5121) organizes the least expensive tour of Geikie Gorge National Park for around $20, and also offers other day-tours. There's a five-hour Danggu Heritage Aboriginal cruise (tel 08/9191 5355) run by local Aborigines for $75.