Gibb River Road - at last!
Finally we both get onto the Gibb River Road after so many years of hearing about it! From Kununurra it starts so spectacularly, you drive out on the floodplain of the Ord, with ranges all around you in the distance. And then you turn onto the road, and to your right is the magnificent Cockburn Ranges, with its big rock ramparts, looming right over you.
Our first stop was El Questro, which was kind of pricey and kind of developed in parts, but so worth it. We had a secluded shady camp spot right by the Pentecost River - one of the loveliest places we have camped on this entire trip. And there were so many amazing walks to do and places to visit on the property – Emma Gorge, El Questro Gorge, Chamberlain Gorge, Zebedee Hot Springs, Moonshine Gorge – we went pretty hard for a few days.
After a short detour back to Kununurra to repair the front axle on Elsie, we carried on, stopping briefly at Ellenbrae Station, and then up to the Mitchell Plateau. Which, having seen some aerial photos, is probably best experienced from the air. It is a long drive up there and the country you can see from the road is very flat and not all that spectacular. We were so thankful that the grader driver was working as we were driving through - otherwise it would have taken us three days to get up there, the road was SO bad in parts. The corrugations were so deep and wide you couldn’t skim over the top, Elsie was down to about 5km/hour. For a little while Tim turned up the hand throttle and we both got out and walked alongside! Once we got there, the Mitchell Falls and surrounding gorges were pretty amazing (although kind of dry) and we did see some fabulous rock art close to our campsite on the King Edward River. Including the ancient Bradshaw figures (and we finally found out an Aboriginal name for them – Gwion).
Next stop was the lovely Manning Gorge, and then down to Mornington, which is a former station bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, who are gradually fencing it off, removing the cattle and managing the whole property for conservation. It is the biggest private conservation reserve in Australia, so we were really keen to check it out. It is a great spot, set in some beautiful country, and has the upper reaches of the Fitzroy running through it. We went out to the Sir John Gorge and had the whole place to ourselves.
Back to the Gibb River Rd and onto another beautiful red sandstone gorge, Bell Gorge, and then our final stop at Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek. Both of these ‘icons’ which have been talked up over the years are features of an old Devonian reef system which juts up onto an otherwise level red countryside. The popular Tunnel Creek (finally Tim got to go in a cave!) was cool, eerie and good fun although with more water flowing through it could get interestingly squeezy. Windjana Gorge has a huge population of freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks or just hanging in the water. The gorge walls exhibit a cross section of ancient reef with watercut hollows and ledges. At this time of year the wide sandy riverbed is dry, crunchy and very hot.
And at Windjana we bumped into Kerry and Greg again – we’ve been on the same route for about six weeks, and become better mates every time we see them. This culminated in a great fun and very boozy night, where we probably kept our neighbours awake far too late and left us a little ‘battle scarred’ the next day.
Our first stop was El Questro, which was kind of pricey and kind of developed in parts, but so worth it. We had a secluded shady camp spot right by the Pentecost River - one of the loveliest places we have camped on this entire trip. And there were so many amazing walks to do and places to visit on the property – Emma Gorge, El Questro Gorge, Chamberlain Gorge, Zebedee Hot Springs, Moonshine Gorge – we went pretty hard for a few days.
After a short detour back to Kununurra to repair the front axle on Elsie, we carried on, stopping briefly at Ellenbrae Station, and then up to the Mitchell Plateau. Which, having seen some aerial photos, is probably best experienced from the air. It is a long drive up there and the country you can see from the road is very flat and not all that spectacular. We were so thankful that the grader driver was working as we were driving through - otherwise it would have taken us three days to get up there, the road was SO bad in parts. The corrugations were so deep and wide you couldn’t skim over the top, Elsie was down to about 5km/hour. For a little while Tim turned up the hand throttle and we both got out and walked alongside! Once we got there, the Mitchell Falls and surrounding gorges were pretty amazing (although kind of dry) and we did see some fabulous rock art close to our campsite on the King Edward River. Including the ancient Bradshaw figures (and we finally found out an Aboriginal name for them – Gwion).
Next stop was the lovely Manning Gorge, and then down to Mornington, which is a former station bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, who are gradually fencing it off, removing the cattle and managing the whole property for conservation. It is the biggest private conservation reserve in Australia, so we were really keen to check it out. It is a great spot, set in some beautiful country, and has the upper reaches of the Fitzroy running through it. We went out to the Sir John Gorge and had the whole place to ourselves.
Back to the Gibb River Rd and onto another beautiful red sandstone gorge, Bell Gorge, and then our final stop at Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek. Both of these ‘icons’ which have been talked up over the years are features of an old Devonian reef system which juts up onto an otherwise level red countryside. The popular Tunnel Creek (finally Tim got to go in a cave!) was cool, eerie and good fun although with more water flowing through it could get interestingly squeezy. Windjana Gorge has a huge population of freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks or just hanging in the water. The gorge walls exhibit a cross section of ancient reef with watercut hollows and ledges. At this time of year the wide sandy riverbed is dry, crunchy and very hot.
And at Windjana we bumped into Kerry and Greg again – we’ve been on the same route for about six weeks, and become better mates every time we see them. This culminated in a great fun and very boozy night, where we probably kept our neighbours awake far too late and left us a little ‘battle scarred’ the next day.
posted by Tim and Nic at
7:14 am
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