14^th July:Derby

I could not find a church in Fitzroy Crossing and there is no Anglican Church in Derby that I can see. Baptist, Catholic or Assembly of God. Maybe it truly is a God-forsaken place!!

(Sorry! Bad Joke!)

We came to Derby today – almost 300 kms of very boring road. Only many very large boabs to see. There is one at a Rest Area called”The Tree”. In the middle is the most massive boab. If the others we've seen are anything to go by, and who can tell as they are all so individual”, this one must be about 3000 yrs old. At least well before the birth of Jesus!! I took a photo of it by itself and then a pristine Land Cruiser and large van parked beside it and it was very difficult to get a photo without it. The cheek!! (I have a thing about pristine white Land Cruisers and Patrols. They either spend a lot of time cleaning them or they never go off the bitumen!! Compare with the X-trail. It is taking on a distinct red tinge and the van is caramel coloured anyway. Even Gail's car has a patina of dust!!)

This is an enormous, packed park. Lots of Coromals – it is a WA van. We took a look around and visited the jetty which is the scene of much fishing. It was high tide and everyman and his dog was there to fish the tide in and out. No barra - too cold!! But Gail wants to have a go on Wednesday.

We did take a look at the old Derby goal which was used from 1903 to hold aborigines who speared sheep and cattle that were grazing on tribal lands. Whiteman did some terrible things to the aborigines who, no doubt, didn't understand that these were not animals for hunting and eating. After all, they were on tribal land and driving out kangaroos etc!

We will go to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek tomorrow. This way there is less rough road but I suspect it will be muddy. Some places had 200 mms of rain the other night and there is a lot of water lying around!