Kimberley

The tropical north of Western Australia was long regarded as a land for tough characters and adventurers, determined gold prospectors and explorers. In this region there are only two seasons, not the usual four as in the south. The hot and sultry summer months (the 'wet') with their violent showers of rain and abundantly flowing rivers are followed by the rainless winter (the 'dry'), which is the best time to visit the north.

The landscape is patterned by ranges of ancient hills and depressions in the mighty river systems of the Fitzroy in the west and the Ord in the east. Characteristic features are the boab trees with their ability to store water. The great tourist attractions of the Kimberley are the wild gorges. The rock walls of the 10km long Geikie Gorge show a varying play of color, depending on the position of the sun. Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge (a sacred place to the Aborigines) are now under statutory protection as national parks. Western Australia's gold rush began in 1885 in Halls Creek, which preserves some remains from that period. A few kilometers from the town is the China Wall, a quartz formation exposed by erosion. 130km south of Halls Creek - best seen from the air - is the Wolfe Creek meteorite crater, which is over 850m in diameter and 50m deep.

Most of Western Australia's Aborigines live in the Kimberley region, in large self-governing Aboriginal reserves which can be visited only with special permission.