The Gibb

Gibb River Road

We have been questioning all and sundry about The Gibb and continue whenever we encounter someone that has come across it.  Always the same questions, the state of the road and conditions of the water crossings. We were expecting good and consistent feedback ..... This is where perception is defined I think.  Big Aussie 4WD boys have eaten out their tyres and said the road is shocking, a Swiss couple, used to more refined roads, said it was a disappointment - they expected something more challenging ! 

EL Questro

We drove in first with the car to make sure we could get in - Gee ! No worries ! A bit of a water crossing.

  Off to the Zebedee Spring.

EL Questro Falls.

Lookout ....

Emma Gorge

Moonshine 

We went for a drive to Explosion Gorge. Jurg reckons he has given up on fishing but Gian-Luca insists (read - begs)  guess what ........   WE GOT A FISH - EVEN A CATFISH IS A FISH !

The expensive section - helicopter in !

Now you know how desperate we were for fish !

We ate it for dinner !

Off to Home Valley Station

Two nights, kids enjoyed the pool and didn't enjoy the schooling ! Jurg enjoyed a sole walk. I enjoyed a quiet read. We did a short walk with fellow travellers (first met in EL Questro - a Kiwi and German from Port Headland) we meet up with them again at Ellenbrae for scones ! 

They head off, saying see you in Drysdale, they only have their swag and car so they are much quicker than us - especially when we have a flat tyre and it takes us an hour and a half to get back on the road ! Jurg wonders why it is that when something needs fixing on the bus it is always on the sunny side (read bloody hot side) and not in the shade !

Stay the night at Drysdale and then pack like mad the car with camping gear, for the trip up to Mitchell Falls and Kalumbaru - the most northern point in WA ! 

Mitchell Falls - the drive is long to the falls road turn off and then 2 hours to the Falls camp ground.  We have a short walk to the first pool to see if it is still swim-able ! It is a little green but has a gentle (read - trickle) seepage of water through the rock. 

We make camp with our Port Hedland friends, we share our gas and their table.  We have to sleep on top of the sleeping bags on the ground as we couldn't fit the mattress in the car ! 

Up and off walking by 6.15!!! We head off to the lookout and encounter our first slithery friends on this trip - a fat King Brown sunning on the rock path.

Then off to Mitchell Falls -not much water flowing but a nice dip to cool off.

A short dry water flow rock walk to look at another rock pool - well worth the walk and having a husband that doesn't like to be confined to walk trails ! 

Another unconstrained discovery walk. Deviate again from the main track.

We all wet everything to walk back, it is bloody hot, 40+ degree.

We saw a rare Monjon - which is a cross between a wallaby and a brush tailed possum  ! It has a thick tail curled tail and pounds quickly from rock to rock with no scramble or thump noise.  

We got back to camp at about 11.30, had lunch, packed the car and drove off at 12.30. So since 6 this morning we walked 10 ks. We had arranged to meet the other couple at Honeymoon Bay.

So off to Kalumbaru, we get rained on !!! The temperature dives from 39 to 21 degrees in 10 min, we were watching the cloud s wondering if we were going to get wet or if it was just teasing. We didn't get really wet, however it was enough to settle a little of the dust and make it a little sticky and we drove through a couple of puddles.

We drove all afternoon, through Kalumbaru (everything closed as it is Saturday afternoon) on  to Honeymoon Bay and arrive at 5.30, it took us 5 hours to drive 220 km.

Morning brings Jurg and Gianl-Luca teasing the fish or the crocodiles I'm not sure which.

We go for a walk on the beach while the temperature climbs to 39 before 8 am. Back to pack the car and everyone but me go for a quick dip - walk to the knees and then sit to get wet and cool off while I stand watch for crocodiles ! I had a shower !

We drove out via ....... To get some fuel for the home trip - we think we are good, however it's not a place to run out - $55 gets us 20L !

We see lots of clouds about 70% coverage and wonder again will it rain ?  We encounter the rain at the same place near the turn off to Mitchell Falls and could see that more than a drizzle had fallen between yesterday and today.  Slippery and sticky, puddles and ....., dips and waterways holding water that was not there 2 days ago.  Now we wonder about the vents open on the top of bus, and how wet we may be inside !  You can see why they get cut off up here in the wet season - it doesn't take much to ruin the top layer on the road and it wouldn't take much more to get bogged.  The children are enjoying taking photos out of the window of the water flying up beside the car as we go through the water.

We stay in Drysdale for two nights, we do some more school, washing etc and Jurg fixes the car as it has decided to be only 2 wheel drive instead of 4WD ! We discuss our best option regarding travelling with no spare tyre on the bus, as there is none available for 150 ks ??? 

The road south of Drysdale, we had conveniently or inconveniently, forgotten how bad it was on the way up, of course the concern is doing another tyre, the speed is slow, in oat cases it is ideal to be at about 60kmh however it can be a bit scary to get up to that speed ! The corrugations are bigger than on the Tanami and the road  is generally much worse. We won't expecting 'a Sunday picnic drive' but we still don't want anything to go wrong !

We hear on the travelling grapevine that several places are burning with out of control fires, that includes Mt Elizabeth so we drive slowly on and make it to Mt Barnett Roadhouse Jurg quickly checks the tyres and is happy ! We buy a day pass to Manning Gorge and a "We survived the Gibb River Road  from Mt Barnett Roadhouse" (Jurg says he is going to hide the sign until we finish - just so as not to jinx us !) We get back to the bus and discover ...... A flat tyre ! Oh joy ! But some good news is it is in the shade ! Jurg isn't able to successfully patch it - it doesn't hold so we swap it to one of the dual tyres, we need to get to Imintji Community 88 ks away for a new tyre and a better patch.  

Galvan Gorge

Galvan Gorge

We camp at Galvan Gorge for two nights and walk in and then drive back to Manning Gorge, it is a 2.5 k walk into the gorge, worth it though, water is still good to swim in and the view is good too. We first had to cross the river in a boat self propelled.

The drove back some more to get to Barnett River Gorge, heaps of water here. 

I forgot to mention that we picked up two Boabs in a Kununurra nursery, they are rather large and one sits beside Jurg while he is driving,  are hoping that because they are still dormant they will survive the trip, we also worry about them being shaken to bits !

We saw our first Frillneck Lizard on the road - it took off running on its back legs. As we were in the bus there was no way we could stop fast enough to get a closer look.

We make it to Imintji Store and Community and line up for our tyre repair and hope he has a spare  too ?! There are 2 Germans, 4 Swiss, 2 locals and a couple just pulling out ! $100 later and still looking for a spare - fine one, good tread but need a patch too another $100, back to the car and what do you know the a car tyre has a slow leak - off it comes, another $60 and $40 to dispose of the bus tyre that had to be taken off the rim.  We had the best burgers and the children shared a Barra and chips, at the store in between tyre repairs. We end up having a beer with them and enjoying each others company.

We drive back a k to Saddlers Spring. There is a rope swing however there is also a dead cow - so we don't swim and only stay a night. We head off to see Bell Gorge 30 ks off the main track. Hot walk in but reasonably short walk, for a change.

Off to find a new camp we drive up the Phillips Range.

We find the best one on The Gibb called Dog Chain Creek, plenty of shade and park the bus 4 m's from the water, we set up our own rope swing - the kids had a ball, we stained for 3 nights.  

We made one trip to Lennard River Gorge hopping for a swim, however water a bit too green and it is a long way down to the bottom of the gorge ! We were relieved to get back to our little bit of paradise.

Best keep moving, always conscious of water and gas usage - let alone stores of food we are been going for 16 days by now.  Off we go and enjoy the view from the King Leopold Range National Park

 and a small lookout point and then head to the Napier Range.  We make camp at the Leonard River.  We speak to a couple of Germans just leaving, he caught a 1.2m Barramundi and she didn't want to cook it just for two he let is go.......here's hoping (fingers crossed it is still hungry!)

Day one no fish for us, can see the Archer fish spitting on their insects to eat, can see the freshwater crocodiles at night with a touch -they can really move fast, were about 2 to 6 foot long, there were a few.

Day two off to Windjana Gorge to explore the 350 million year old reef that runs 2 k's deep but only a portion of it is exposed.

Then we head to Tunnel Creek -this I feel is also a highlight of the trip. We walked through the tunnel, in some patches, knee deep water with fresh water crocodiles - mostly small.  Ghost Bats were living in the tunnel too.

One last night on The Gibb, back at Leonard River

 

Gian-Luca is hard at it fishing for the elusive barramundi - he gets one, yehaaaaaaa we have fish for dinner, it is just over legal size at 56cm.  See the proud look on his face !! 

Dad still at it !

After 18 days we leave The Gibb River Road and head for civilisation - Derby.  Phone reception brings my phone going berserk with messages ! We call all important family to say we are still alive !  We made it across before they close the road because of another deliberately lit fire after Imintji Store.  

We head straight for the wharf to watch the tide scream in. We visit the Derby Boab Prison tree and the old prison cell. We decide to stay in Derby -lucky we did we had no more water ! and the gas on its last leg, the water pump not functioning properly - the shower had rattled out of itself. 

I think they mean us !

Off to Broome.