Derby is a small town in the Kimberley just north of Broome.
Understand
Derby is a town with a huge Boab tree and the largest tides in Australia. Its popularity with visitors stems partly from its proximity to Broome, with Derby being the only town of any significance that is within a couple of hours drive from that tourist mecca.
If you want to spend more than an hour or two in the town, you must enjoy fishing, or just relaxing watching the tide come in.
Get in
Derby is around 2 hours drive north of Broome. The Greyhound coach service connecting Broome and Darwin passes through the town.
It is easy to find a tour to visit the town from Broome.
Get around
You can get around Derby town and out to the jetty by foot. If you don't have a car, it really is the only possibility.
See
- Boabs. The Boab Prison tree - a hollow Boab is just out of town. There are many Boabs around town, but if you have driven to Derby, you have probably seen enough along the road.
- The tide. Derby has the largest tide in Australia, with changes up to 12m in water height. The jetty is the place to see the effect - being particularly high above the mud-flats at low tide.
There are scenic flights from here (as well as Broome) to see the horizontal waterfalls - these "waterfalls" are actually just rapid flow of water in the narrow channels between islands caused by the large change in tide. There is no way to see them from land or from the water.
Do
Buy
Eat
Take-away, cafe, Australian-Chinese, Barramundi and Chips.
Drink
Sleep
Connect
Go next
Doctors Creek, Airport Creek, King Sound, Mary Island, Mary Island South, May River, Butlers Lake, Fitzroy river