Hi Fernando,
>Well then, you'll have to go back and take more pictures!
I hope to one day, but the access is somewhat tricky. Most of the photos I have shown were taken in the Prince Regent Nature Reserve. You need a permit to enter this reserve, and permits are only granted on the basis of a programme of scientific research (we were collecting for the WA herbarium and also doing a weed survey). There are no access tracks within the reserve, so everything is accessed on foot. Our trip involved being flown from Broome in to a small dirt airstrip that we had graded especially for us. This took us to the southern boundary of the reserve. We then walked >200 km over 25 days to the northern boudnary to Mitchell Plateau, where there is another airstrip that we were extracted from (tehre is also a popular 4WD track that ends at the Mitchell Plateau). Our only luxury was a food cache we had dropped in by helicopter half way along otu route. We didn't see a single other person for the entire 25 days!
You might get the mistaken impression from my photos that the plants are thick on the ground and all in the one region, but they are in actuality spread out over our 200 km walk. They probably ARE all over the place int eh wet season, but are restricted to semi-permanent soaks in the dry.
I have driven to the Mitchell Plateau on a previous trip (1997), but haven't seen the orange flowered indicas before this trip. The problem is that you can only drive in during the dry season and most of the carnivores are going dormant by then. You should eb able to see petiolaris complex plants along the roadside early in the dry though (early April say).
>I'm curious to know how much it cost to travel to these locations, could >you please let us know?
Lots! Broome has an international airport, and there is a domestic airport at Kununurra (these are the closest access points to the Kimberley). Kununurra is the location that Siggi found his new form of D. indica (hartmeyeroium?). You would have to hire a 4wd from either one of these spots and have a bit of a drive around (at AU$140/day or similar). The Gibb River Road is the main track through the Kimberley, and visits a number of pleasant gorges - a walk along any of these creeks early in the dry should turn up some plants.
All that being said, for someone coming in cold to Australia, for my money I'd fly to Darwin in late summer (say early to mid February, or maybe march depending on how well the wet season goes). It's easy to get to (has an international airport), and there are a multitude of beautiful plants to see within a short distance (~30km fro the city centre). Unfortunately, most of Kakadu is inaccessible at that time - but the plants are all out. A couple of years ago I went in late January and found D. indica, darwinensis, petiolaris, dilatato-petiolaris, and burmanii. Also B. aquatica, and a number of utricularia (although these were just coming into flower - hence the suggestion to go a bit later). You probably wouldn't even need a 4WD to see a good variety of plants, although some ground clearance might help if you got adventurous. It's an 800 km drive to Kununurra from Darwin, and there'd be heaps to see along the roadside along the way at that time of year.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Dan.
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