All Aussie tourist roads lead to the Kimberley

Kimberley fever has caught on in Australian travellers, sending tourist operators into a mad scramble to satisfy their desire for an outback adventure.

Uunguu Rangers Ildephonse Cheinmora and Jeremy Kowan at Ngauwudu (Mitchell Plateau). Picture: Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation

Kimberley fever has caught on among Australian travellers young and old, sending the region’s tourist operators into a mad scramble to satisfy their desire for an outback adventure beyond city lockdowns.

It’s only a third of the way into the tourist season, which starts in April and ends as the heat soars in September across the rugged northwest tip. Yet already every aspect is in peak demand, from helicopter pilots to tent wranglers and Indigenous tour guides.

“It’s turning into a record year,” says Michael McConachy, managing director of Kimberley Experiences Group, which owns accommodation, tours and aviation services across the region.

“The east Kimberley was one of the worst-affected places during Covid-19 and now it’s one of the best. Our scenic helicopter tours usually reach capacity at around 6-8 weeks into the season, but we were busy from the start.

“It’s a region that a sales brochure can’t do justice to because it’s so vast. People want to experience the last frontier – and they want to spend their hard-earned dollars on bragging rights that they’ve been there. It seems to be on everyone’s bucket list.”

The start of the season was delayed by late rains, and some roads up into the Mitchell Plateau became passable less than two weeks ago. Yet at the top of magnificent Punamii-Uunpuu, or Mitchell Falls, helicopters already fly in and out like airborne taxis to deposit tourists at the start of their walk down stony ramparts and through shallow water crossings.

Jazzlyn Phillips at Munumu art site. Picture: Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation

Around 80 walkers a day make the 4.5km hike; that will at least double within a couple of weeks, as more people turn off the famous Gibb River Road and head up into the sandstone plateau country.

Wunambal Gaambera traditional owners say there’s been high demand for their Uunguu visitor pass, which permits visitation to 50 cultural sites and has 95 per cent compliance by visitors entering their country.

The water torrents cascading powerfully over the lip of Mitchell Falls are a stark contrast to 2019, when the traditional owners say nature’s tap was turned off by the Wunggurr water serpent who lives at the foot of the waterfall.

It was the serpent’s punishment for tourists’ misbehaviour when a group swam in the lower pool, which is sacred and off-limits. In 2020, Covid-19 stopped the flow of tourists into the region as dramatically as the Wunggurr halted the water.

Warrana (Eagle Falls). Picture: Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation

Wunambal tour guide Jazzlyn Phillips, 21, is happy to be back showing visitors Wandjina rock art downstream at Munurru – although the sudden death of a senior elder temporarily halted that activity earlier this month.

“People are good, they like all the art and how old it is,” says Ms Phillips. “When we walk in I show them all the bush foods that you can eat.” Her mother, Catherine Goonack, who chairs the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation, says the tourist flow “is quickening up, making the place more lively”.

Her 700-strong community relies on visitors; its tourism income was cut by half when foreign cruise ships were banned from the Kimberley coast. Each luxury ship with hundreds aboard paid $105 per passenger for a visitor pass.

Coach and vehicle travellers pay a more modest fee of around $45. The money is used to train rangers, perform fire control and rock art conservation and run the Wunambal Gaambera-owned tourist campsite.

A talking point in the Kimberley is the noticeable change in visitor mix; a surge in four-wheel-drive couples and younger families with campervans to rival the usual coach-loads of retirees.

“The Kimberley has traditionally been a grey nomad mecca, but that’s changed,” says Kimberley Experiences’ Rosie Duffy.