Following changed flights to Broome on Thursday, we stayed overnight in Derby and set off for Charnley River Station early morning. Our first stop was the Prison Boab tree in Derby. We read the history and observed the wildlife surrounding the beautiful boab. Our journey then continued along the corrugated Gibb River Road.

Arriving at Charnley in the afternoon, we prepared our tents, toured the lab area and then were quickly invited to observe a tarantula dig. Excitedly we hurried to the site and watched arachnologist Jeremy and Mark trace the burrow and methodically dig out a female tarantula, which would later be preserved and catalogued in the WA museum.
Following this we attended a helicopter briefing. Like excited school kids, each of the teachers took turns to sit in the front of the helicopter, practise plugging in our seatbelts, and learn how to open the doors. We will be using the helicopter to access various sites to study the biodiversity of the Kimberly. We all can’t wait for this!