Kimberley Stock Photos Western Australia

A massive Kimberley wet season in 2011 has resulted in significant flooding of Roebuck Plains, and the Fitzroy and Ord River catchments.

Aerial images of Roebuck Plains and Roebuck Bay, just to the south of Broome in the 2011 Kimberley wet season. Sustained and constant rain has turned Roebuck Plains into a giant inland wetland. Runoff from the plains flows out into Roebuck Bay, increasing nutrient levels and causing an annual freshwater inundation. A la nina system has resulted in a larger than average wet season. Roebuck Bay is an important end point on the east-Asian flyway for migratory birds.

The Kimberley has a tropical monsoonal climate, with two distinct seasons, "the wet" and "the dry". The wet season is characterised by monsoonal rainfall, often precipitated by cylonic activity. Rainfall flushes vast quantities of fresh water into the river systems, the arteries of the Kimberley. The Fitzroy River delivers more than 5,000 million cubic meters of water into the Indian Ocean every year, and is home to more than 40 species of freshwater fish.

Images from a wet season expedition along the Kimberley coast in March 2012 on board Odyssey Expeditions. We visited Talbot Bay, Dugong Bay, Doubtful Bay and Montgomery Reef.