At the end of each calendar year, as both heat and air pressure increase dramatically, the northern monsoon builds and breaks open to drop its rains through the central Kimberley.
Here, in this vast and sparsely populated region of Western Australia, these waters rush first out of the range country, into gallery forests of melaleuca and pandanus.
Building in momentum, the deluge passes through gorge and canyon, swamp, and marsh, until it reaches the King Sound, the gateway to the Indian Ocean, seven hundred kilometres downstream.
This is Martuwarra. Known more broadly by its modern, colonial title, the Fitzroy River, Martuwarra is the most powerful River in Western Australia and one of the most pristine, free-flowing riverine systems on Earth.
