The Gibb River Road (Derby - Kununurra)

1. The prison boab tree, Derby. Used to house prisoners in the old days.

2. The beautiful beaches of Derby (haha).

3. Geike Gorge .

4. Freshwater croc seen on our boat cruise of Geike Gorge.

5. Tunnel Creek.

6. Tunnel Creek.

7. Tunnel Creek.

8. Brolgas at Windjana Gorge .

9. Freshwater Crocs at Windjana Gorge - we counted 21 on our walk up the Gorge and 26 on our way back down.

10. Brendan in Windjana Gorge - all beautiful and green

11. And then the rain starts. The Windjana Gorge campground is underwater and we have to leave. (Note the clean car at this point).

12. The road from the campground has also closed. Leaving Windjana Gorge with Brenten and Michelle.

13. The very muddy roads getting out of Windjana Gorge

14. The Fairfield-Leopold Road has closed. This road leads from the Gibb River Road, past Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek and onto Fitzroy Crossing. When we had driven part of it the day before it was dry and hard packed. This is 24 hours later.

15. Turning onto the Gibb River Road to head back to Derby. With Brenten and Michelle.

16. A not so clean car now.

17. On the Gibb River Road heading back to Derby.

18. Clear views out the windscreen along the Gibb River Road.

19. Time to have a clean up at the Derby campground.

20. And then the Gibb River Road closes too. Stuck in Derby.

21. The next day it is open again. Time to make our escape!

22. On the Gibb River Road in convoy with Bridgitta and Maus and Tara and Damien.

23. Brendan, Damien and Maus swimming at Donkey Hole, Charnley Station

24. Grevillea Gorge, Charnley Station. (This was a croc free swimming hole, but thanks to Damien it now has a croc in it. Read the story below for more info..)

25. The top of Bell Gorge, King Leopold Range National Park.

26. Bell Gorge

27. Bell Gorge

28. The Gibb River Road, now dried out.

29. Lennard River Gorge, King Leopold Range National Park.

30. Lennard River Gorge.

31. Looking down the Lennard River Gorge.

32. Brendan jumps at Manning Gorge.

33. Manning Gorge.

34. Linda floating back down Manning Gorge - playing the game "Is it a croc or is it a rock?" on the way.

35. Brendan busy relaxing at Miners Pool, Drysdale River.

36. The King Edward River.

37. Camping by the King Edward River, one of our favourite spots to camp. We are now sleeping in the tent as it has warmed up so much.

38. Our waterfall and swimming hole at the King Edward River.

39. Our very own croc on a rock in our King Edward River swimming hole.

40. An even more dangerous croc on a rock.

41. Brendan under the waterfall at the King Edward River.

42. The road to Mitchell Falls.

43. Little Mertens Falls, on the walking track to Mitchell Falls.

44. Little Mertens Falls.

45. Linda at Big Mertens Falls, getting closer to Mitchell Falls.

46. River risk area! (Nearly at Mitchell Falls).

47. Mitchell Falls.

48. Looking down the Mitchell River from the top of the falls.

49. The track to Surveyors Pool, Mitchell Plateau

50. Surveyors Pool - unfortunately no swimming allowed - Saltwater Crocs.

51. The dry Gibb River.

52. The Pentecost River and the Cockburn Ranges along the Gibb River Road.

53. Crossing the Pentecost River.

54. Zebedee Thermal Springs, Al Questro.

55. Emma Gorge, Al Questro.

56. Water Monitor at the Grotto.

57. Five Rivers Lookouot, Wyndham. Looking over the joining of the Pentecost, King, Forrest, Durack and Ord Rivers.

58. Marglu Lagoon, Parry Lagoon Nature Reserve between Wyndham and Kununurra.

59. Warning signs for the Ivanhoe Crossing into Kununurra.

60. Our amphibious Troopy, crossing over the Ivanhoe crossing.

61. Looking back over the Ivanhoe Crossing.

62. Mirima National Park, Kununurra.

63. Brendan in the beautiful swimming pool at Lake Argyle.

The Gibb River Road (Derby - Kununurra)

July 2010

It’s now exactly three weeks since we left Broome and in that time we have travelled across the top of WA and are now at Lake Argyle, just outside Kununurra, and not far from the border with the NT. After leaving Broome with our cupboards packed to capacity and food supplies overflowing into our aisle way, ready to be away from civilization for a few weeks, we headed first toward Fitzroy Crossing and Geike Gorge. Here we took a very expensive boat cruise down the gorge to spot freshwater crocs (and luckily found a few accommodating ones!)

We then took the Fairfield Leopold Downs Road, which is a dirt track connecting Fitzroy Crossing with Tunnel Creek, Windjana Gorge and eventually the Gibb River Road, our planned destination for the next few weeks. We checked out Tunnel Creek (part of the Devonian Reef National Park) on our way past, walking through a 750m tunnel of water, rocks and sand in the dark while trying to keep an eye out for lurking crocs with our torches…(only Freshies so it was ok). Moving onto Windjana Gorge we set up camp for the night and ran once again into Brenten, Michelle and the kids. It was this night that the rain started and we listened to it rain on our roof for most of the night. The next morning, with a break in the rain, we headed into the Gorge to walk its length and spot more freshwater crocs. We were luckier this time and managed to count 21 on our walk up the gorge and 26 on our way back down – this was on a cloudy day too where the crocs aren’t so keen to bask on the banks (no sun for them to lie in), so there must have been many, many more crocs hidden below the water away from our prying eyes and cameras!

On our return to the campground after our walk, it was time for the real fun to begin, as we were given a taste of the Kimberley wet in the dry season! As we walked back to our site, we noted that there weren’t many people left in the campground, but thought they must have just moved on for the day and more would be arriving in the afternoon. We were soon accosted by the Ranger, who informed us that the campground had been closed due to the heavy rain the night before and with more heavy rain forecast for the rest of the week. The road out of Windjana had also been closed, so we had to move quickly and he advised us that we should head back to Derby rather than further onto the Gibb River Road as road conditions further on were uncertain. Promptly after speaking to the Ranger, just as we started to pack up camp, the rain started again in earnest, only taking about 10 minutes to virtually flood the campground! Brenten and Michelle had headed to Tunnel Creek for the morning, back down the track and hadn’t yet returned to camp, so we decided to wait, to make sure they got back off the now closed road and then travel together back to Derby. We didn’t have to wait too long for their return and shared the bad news about having to leave the campsite. They told us that the Tunnel Creek road was already really muddy and they had spoken to a couple of guys who had to snatch each other over and over again to get themselves down the road! This wasn’t sounding too good! After they had packed up their camp (in the continuing to pour rain and even muddier now campground) we headed off together – Brenten and Michelle towing their pop top caravan to add to the fun.

It was definitely an interesting drive, with the road (which the day before had been solid, dry clay) now turned to thick, black mud! At times we were travelling sideways and looked into the rearview mirror at one stage to see Brenten and Michelle’s car and caravan spread sideways across the road (they reported seeing the caravan coming up beside the car at one stage!) The worst part was a dry creek crossing which had turned to a mud bath down the hill and back up the other side. While driving up the other side and around a corner, a bank of mud had formed on the right hand side and Linda watched helplessly (while Brendan had a very firm grip on the steering wheel) as the car started to slide down towards the mud bank. Brendan had it all under control though (Linda wasn’t so sure at the time…) and we straightened up on the road and stopped to watch Brenten and Michelle with the caravan attempt it!

Reaching the Gibb River Road, we very sadly turned left instead of our planned right and doubled back the approx 120 kms towards Derby. Here the road was still very wet, muddy and slippery and it continued to rain all the way to Derby, with us arriving cold, wet, tired and hungry at about 5:30pm, just as it was getting dark. As all the roads in the area were being closed due to the rain (even the Derby to Fitzroy Crossing Great Northern Highway route had been closed due to a section of roadworks becoming impassable), crowds of stranded and frustrated travelers were descending upon the towns. The two campgrounds in Derby were already full and nearly overflowing. The guy at the campground was very understanding however, and he wasn’t turning anybody away, opening up an overflow section of park (which was nearly underwater at high tide) and even letting people camp on the lawns around the toilet blocks and on the sides of the campground roads! We ended up with a place to park in the underwater section but who were we to complain as we cooked dinner and enjoyed nice hot showers – finally being free of the mud (or at least for a few minutes before we had to walk back through it to get to our car!)

The next morning was filled with a lot of confused travelers, as people tried to get information on various road closures and make plans about how to proceed. We called Mt Barnett Roadhouse – midway across the Gibb River Road – and they advised us to come on in as they hadn’t had much rain there. Just as we were packing up to leave Derby and get on the road again, we heard on the radio that the Gibb River Road between Derby and Mt Barnett had been officially closed due to two road trains and a 4WD getting bogged in a section of roadworks after Imintji Roadhouse. It was not clear when it was going to reopen again. We drove out to the start of the track anyway, with our fingers crossed that we may still be able to go past, but no luck, the signs were very clear that the road was officially closed – so back to Derby campground for another night it was. (By this time we had also started to eat through our food supplies so it was back to the supermarket too and also a stop for fuel as people were being warned that fuel supplies were going to run out because of the numbers of travelers in town!)

Late that afternoon, we got word that the road had reopened, so we planned again to set off the following morning, in convoy with Bridgitta and Maus and Tara and Damien (another two couples also caught up in the dramas of the Kimberley dry season!)

This time the road was open, and to our surprise had dried out remarkably over the previous 24 hours, since we had last driven it. The rain had actually seemed to smooth out some of the corrugations too, so all was good. We were also cheered by the fact that as we left Derby further behind us, the sun was coming out in front of us. We were hopeful for a better run of luck this time (and yes our luck did hold!) After the shaky start and a real life experience of how conditions up here can change so quickly, we could finally begin enjoying ourselves again. (We later heard that it continued to rain in Derby and Broome for the next week or so and that Fitzroy Crossing had more rainfall for the month of July than they have had for any July in the past 50 years (possibly longer, but that’s as long as the records show).

As the King Leopold Range National Park (Bell Gorge) was still closed due to the road conditions, we spent our first two nights on the Gibb with Bridgitta, Maus, Tara and Damien at Charnley Station, where we spent a day visiting Donkey Hole, Grevillea Gorge, Lillie Ponds and Dillie Gorge where we were able to have a short paddle of a canoe partway down the gorge. Despite the recent amounts of rain, most of the Kimberley had experienced a poor wet season so there wasn’t much water in these gorges but we enjoyed the walking and a couple of dips anyway. Damien works as a reptile handler at Melbourne Zoo, and finding a small freshwater croc slowly starving itself to death in a rapidly drying up pool of water, he picked it up and moved it into one of the larger waterholes (travelling with our very own Steve Urwin is full of surprises! )

We then said goodbye to the others who were going to head straight onto Mitchell Falls, as we had heard that Bell Gorge in the King Leopold Range National Park had reopened and we decided to retrace our steps to check it out. We were glad we didn’t miss this gorge, as despite the large numbers of people (who were now coming along the Gibb after its closure), it was a beautiful spot. We camped the night there and in the morning also checked out the Lennard River Gorge which had been shut on our way past the first time (climbing down the rocks to swim in the hole at the bottom) and then further along the road we stopped at Adcock Gorge and Galvans Gorge before pulling up at Manning Gorge near the Mt Barnett Roadhouse for the next two nights.

From the camp spot near Manning Gorge, we walked along the path skirting the edge of the gorge to the waterfall and spent the day swimming in the falls and jumping off the rocks around the hole. On the way back we decided to make our way to camp by swimming, floating and rock hopping back down through the gorge. This took a bit longer than walking the path, but meant that we were able to explore parts of the gorge without anyone else around and swim in all the different waterholes on our way through. We kept our eyes peeled for freshwater crocs as we floated on down but didn’t see any.
From Manning, we turned off the Gibb River Road for a week and headed due north, crossing the Gibb River itself and going past the Drysdale River Station, heading towards the Mitchell Plateau. We camped the first night at Miners Pool on the Drysdale River and the next day passed over some of the worst corrugations since Steep Point and camped at our favourite spot of the whole Gibb River crossing, the King Edward River. This used to be a free camp spot, but this season has come under the management of the National Parks due to requests from the local Indigenous communities. It is now very well looked after with green and grassy sites – a welcome break from all the dust and dirt! We had a beautiful view over the King Edward River and a swimming hole with a waterfall, shared with our very own freshwater croc. We also met Brenten, Michelle, Bridgitta, Maus, Tara and Damien here again and caught up on our various comings and goings around the camp fire at night. It is funny how everyone goes separate ways, but all to end up at exactly the same spot at the same time all over again!

It was then onwards and upwards to the Mitchell Plateau and Mitchell Falls for the next couple of nights. This proved to be a dust bowl of a campground (Michelle, you were right!) but the falls were spectacular. We considered taking a helicopter ride over them, but for the small price of $100 each for six minutes, we decided to skip it and walked in and out of the falls, spending the day swimming and lazing around at the top swimming hole. By walking around the side of the falls, we were able to get a fantastic view even without the helicopter. We also drove on a bit further from Mitchell Falls and checked out Surveyors Pool, a very picturesque pool and falls, but unfortunately no swimming due to Salties (salt water crocs) in the water (we couldn’t spot any but decided to take their word for it). The track up to Surveyors was a lot rougher than the rest of the road and we didn’t meet one other car coming or going, but it was an interesting drive. It was then back to the King Edward River for another night to recover from the dust of the Mitchell Plateau before heading back down towards Drysdale Station. We were given a pleasant surprise on our way south again, as we found that the grader had just been over the 30kms or so of the worst corrugations from our trip north, so we were able to make better time, until we came across another vehicle (carrying Anna and Brad) with a broken tail shaft about 40kms north of Drysdale. We stopped to see if they were okay and ended up giving them a tow back to Drysdale where they were going to have to wait a couple of days for parts to be ordered and repairs to be made. To thank us for the tow, Anna and Brad shouted us delicious Kimberley Burgers for lunch from the bar at the station – all the more appreciated because of our rapidly diminishing food supplies. Yum! We left Anna and Brad to wait for their car repairs and drove further south, free camping by the Gibb River that night.

Joining back onto the Gibb River Road early in the morning, we then continued heading east to Home Valley Station which was another oasis from the dust and spent the afternoon relaxing by the pool (trying to soak the black dirt out from under our toenails) and enjoying the green grass. (Linda had a dream the other night that we were camping on a freshly laid section of lush green lawn – the small things we dream about now…). The next day we checked out the gorges of El Questro in a day trip (Amalia Gorge, the thermal pools of Zebedee Springs and Emma Gorge) and then hit the Great Northern Highway at the opposite end of the Gibb River Road, being very proud of ourselves that we had completed the trek without even a flat tyre (after being warned of the absolute worst!) We turned north on the highway, heading up to Wyndham for the night, checking out the Grotto and Crocodile Hole on the way (no crocodiles – not even any water present!)

In Wyhdham the next day, we checked out the Five Rivers Lookout, which looks over the joining of five rivers – the Pentecost, the Ord, the King, the Forrest and the Durack – as they flow into the Cambridge Gulf. Wyndham, like Derby, was another town with a back drop of mud flat beaches. We decided to take the back road route into Kununurra (it seems we can’t get enough of these dirt roads!) and stopped to look at the Ord River, Black Rock Falls (with no water), Middle Springs and the Ivanhoe Crossing. The Ivanhoe Crossing (a concrete causeway) was constructed as part of the original road connecting Wyndham with Katherine in the NT. It is closed during the wet due to consistently high water levels but can be crossed in the dry (it seemed like the water levels were high enough in the dry!) The water on the crossing was probably only about half a metre deep over a 100m section, but was very fast flowing, dropping over the side of the causeway as a waterfall – and driving over it definitely required a two handed grip on the glove box by Linda as Brendan laughed! A sigh of relief was breathed when we reached the other side safely without being washed off down the river to meet with all the Salties for lunch.

In Kununurra for a day, we stayed at the Hidden Valley Caravan Park and treated ourselves to a night off by going out for pizza at one of the local pubs. (Something we can’t cook for ourselves at the moment). We also checked out some of the sights of Kununurra including Mirima (Hidden Valley) National Park – supposedly a mini version of the Bungle Bungles, Kelly’s Knob Lookout, Lily Creek Lagoon and Diversion Dam. We were surprised at how green everything in the surrounding area was, but this can be attributed to the Ord River Irrigation Scheme which provides 14000ha of irrigated land for the growing of melons, mangoes, pumpkins, sandlewood and seed crops. Currently, they are working on increasing this irrigated area by adding on another 8000ha of irrigated land. It is still a very arid area, but the green provides welcome relief from all the red dirt and dust that we have been battling with lately. Kununurra also provided us with a chance to restock our now very empty cupboards and fridge with food and to give our poor bushcamper a good wash down. (We don’t even recognize our own car anymore!)

We have now arrived at Lake Argyle, 70 kms out of Kununurra towards the NT border, where we have stopped for two nights. Lake Argyle was created by the damming of the Ord River and forms a storage reservoir for the Ord Irrigation area. It is the largest man made lake in the southern hemisphere supposedly covering over 2000 sq km at flood capacity. We are enjoying it for the beautiful (but freezing cold) swimming pool which overlooks the lake and will head out for some more exploring tomorrow.

From here we double back to Kununurra again and then start heading south east, through the Bungle Bungles and Halls Creek and down the Tanami Track (post Wolfe Creek) and into Alice Springs where we rendezvous with our parents on the 1st August, and prepare for our final crossing of the Simpson Desert back into QLD. (We are actually lucky that the Tanami Track has reopened, as the WA end of it was also closed due to the recent dry season rains!) At least we can say that we have really experienced the Kimberley!

Take care,

Love Linda and Brendan. xox.