Ivanhoe Crossing & Marlgu Billabong

After the Hoochery We headed to Ivanhoe Crossing. There were large signs warning about crocodiles in the river but we didn’t see any. The Ivanhoe Crossing was our biggest river crossing so far and Scott let me drive through it. The water was flowing quite quickly but it was very shallow about 600mm deep.

We made it across and drove to Mayiba Spring which was quite a shallow pool. There was a couple swimming in the shallow waters so we decided to continue on to Black Rock Pool.

We arrived at Black Rock Pool and walked the short track. During the wet season there is a waterfall that falls 50m, however as it was the dry season there was only a shallow pool remaining. Everywhere we looked we could see black and white butterflies flying around and settling on the trees, it was so beautiful. We also saw a beehive about 10m above us on the cliff face near the water fall.

We continued on the track and drove up to Telegraph Hill Lookout which had beautiful views of the river and Marlgu Billabong below us. We walked around the ruins of the Wyndham wireless telegraph station. The station was built in 1914 and was operational until 1921 and assisted ships entering Wyndham Port. The station was closed due to the static interference from the iron in the rock surrounding the station.

We continued on to Marlgu Billabong which was absolutely amazing and worth the long drive on the dirt road. Marlgu means “wild bird” in local Aboriginal language, and the name rings true with more than 160 species of birds recorded here, including migratory birds. We could see hundreds of ducks, a night heron, a glider duck and a big flock of pelicans that kept duck diving to catch fish. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see any crocodiles! We had lunch at the Billabong as it was getting close to 2pm and continued on to Wyndham.Read more