***What's Happening In The Kimberley?***

A (hopelessly) irregular e-letter with news, site updates and travel tips.
By Birgit Bradtke
Subscribe at https://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/

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4 Feb 2008, Issue #004
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In this issue:

** Update and Thank You!
** Kimberley Travel: Virgin Blue Operating Code Share Flights With Skywest
** What's New? Check out Carol's Gibb River Road Tips.

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Update and Thank You!
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Hello from steamy and hot Kununurra, where it keeps raining just enough to maintain the sauna conditions.

A thank you to everybody who wrote to me with feedback. (And a special thank you to the people who wrote just to say, "Thank you".) I received many more messages than I expected and I very much appreciate it.

Several people asked when the guide will be available, and for more info and help for their detailed planning. I understand that you need that information, and that you need it rather sooner than later. It will be in the full guide, and it will be available soon.

(As it turns out, writing a detailed and comprehensive travel guide is an awful lot of work. What WAS I thinking...)

You even get a whole chapter with a stack of sample itineraries to check yours against, to make sure yours is realistic.

I am still aiming for the February release date. The book may not be available to the public at that stage, but there will be a pre-launch version for newsletter subscribers. It will be available in downloadable, instantly accessible ebook format.

For now, all you really need to decide on is the overall length of your trip, pick up and drop off days for your hire vehicle if needed, and the dates for the nights you want to spend in Broome. Those things need to be booked asap to get the best deals and to get exactly what you want.

If you plan to travel between mid June and mid August you should probably also decide on dates for Kooljaman (Cape Leveque) soon.

But everything else is not as urgent. So don't panic just yet. Also, don't hesitate to bug the Broome, Derby or Kununurra visitor centres if you have questions regarding accommodation or tours.

https://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/kimberley-tourist-information.html

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Kimberley Travel: Virgin Blue Operating Code Share Flights With Skywest
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In the free guide I said that no budget airline flies to the Kimberley. This is about to change, at least on paper. Skywest and the popular now-frills budget carrier Virgin Blue just signed a code share agreement.

From February 4 travellers can buy Virgin Blue fares to Perth and connect seamlessly to Skywest flights, while Skywest passengers can do the same in the opposite direction.

Does this mean flights will become cheaper? I doubt it. But apparently there will be additional flights between Perth and Broome, and if you are flying to Perth on Virgin Blue you will at least be able to check your luggage right through to your final Kimberley destination. You can also earn points for Virgin Blue's frequent flyer program on the Skywest flights.

If you were planning to fly via Perth and you haven't booked yet then it's definitely something worth looking into.

http://www.virginblue.com.au/ -- http://www.skywest.com.au/

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What's New? Check out Carol's Gibb River Road Submission.
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Reader Carol from Melbourne just sent me a very detailed account of her Kimberley trip last August. You can find the uncut version here:

https://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/the-adventure-of-a-lifetime.html

I extracted a couple of separate articles from it, and I want to draw particular attention to what she has to say about the roads, speed, and tyres at the bottom of this one:

https://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/adventure-of-a-lifetime-the-gibb-river-road.html

(If the link is too long and wraps and breaks, just copy the whole string -- including the .html -- into your browser bar.)

Thanks, Carol, for your detailed report and for emphasizing once more how easy it is to avoid trouble on a Gibb River Road trip.

https://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/gibb_river_road.html

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And now I better get back to work on that book. More from the Kimberley soon!

B. (Birgit)

Feedback:
https://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/contact.html

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