Author: Mark Anderson

Author: Mr A

We absolutely loved our walk last night into the gorge – so it was up at dawn and in again – this time armed with bacon and egg wraps and a thermos of herbal tea. Very civilised. Even the crocs looked jealous. 

Then it was pack up the van (so easy!) and off to Derby. We were counting down to hitting the bitumen – first time for a couple of weeks – and mixed feelings about getting phone reception back. We knew there would be much to sort out after being offline for 10 days.  As it turned out, the world had pretty much carried on turning without us. Amazing really…

We rocked up at our caravan park in Derby and queued along the road outside to check in (it’s Australia’s last great wilderness, remember?) and got ourselves a lovely big site right near the front of the park. There’s more than two hundred sites here – so probably over 5/600 people. And they aren’t all grey….Catherine for instance is turning blond…not grey…she’s not amused as her gorgeous brunette hair lightens in the sun…I look on and smile…

We booked a table down on the wharf a 5 minute drive away and watched our first sunset over the ocean in Western Australia…finally it dawns that we have driven to across a continent. Feels pretty good. The lovely Mrs A chose the snapper and chips, and I went for the MASSIVE PORK RIBS! OMG – they were huge – so big I immediately lost 50% to my dinky wife and got in return a very small piece of fish. Not a good trade for me. This was our first BYO place since Sydney so we were excited to take our Saperavi from Gapsted Wines in the Victorian high country – a fabulous drop we think. 

With an enormous sunset flooding the sky all is again good with the world. 

Distance driven: 147km

Time:  3.5 hours

Author: Mr A

We packed up this morning and tackled the 2 hour drive out of the Mornington Wilderness, reflecting on what a great experience it had been to stay there. A quick top up of diesel at the Imintji Road House, $2’s a litre (ouch – but cheaper than they last fill! Two apples and a pallett of strawberries were procured, as our first fresh veg we’ve seen for weeks), and we were soon pullling up at the Slient Grove campground. This was where we left the van and headed up the short track to Bell Gorge, a short walk/rock hop (Kimberley classic walking track) and a climb down to an amazing swimming hole complete with a perfect waterfall framing the view.

We are privileged to be in these wonderful places. I can’t help but always wonder for how long humans have been swimming here and feeling the same simple pleasure. The latest estimate would say from the last Ice Age, around 50,000 years. Have we changed that much over those years in how we feel about taking a plunge in such a beautiful place? 

Back at the van its a lovely shower in the en suite and a vodka, soda and fresh lime al fresco, with the left over garlic damper from last night. Dinner followed…how about this…a chicken jalfrezi with a “Kimberley Aloo”. Now you might not find that on your local curry house menu, but after 3 weeks down the Gibb and no access to fresh supplies one needs to improvise. So the only fresh veg left at this point was kumera, and the freezer had some frozen peas, so in a unusually inspired moment I suggested a variant on Bombay aloo (peas and potato in a curry sauce). Mrs A being the wonder cook that she is, excited on this grand design and there it was on the plate…awesome. A Chocksotne Shiraz from the Grampians stood up nicely to the power of the spices. Dessert will be the strawberries bought today and some dairy free ice cream from the freezer. Who could want for more?

Interjection from Mrs A: 

Kimberley Aloo Recipe (serves 2-3)

Kumera (sweet potatoes) x 2

1 tsp turmeric 

1 tsp garam masala

1tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp chilli powder (more to taste)

1 tsp cornflour

2 bay leaves (fresh, dried or frozen ok – we had frozen)

250 ml/1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

• Boil a pan of water and add potatoes. Cook for about 10 minutes
• Meanwhile mix up spices, stock and cornflour in a separate bowl
• Drain potatoes
• Add spice mix and peas
• Cook up, stirring regularly
• Once sauce thickened, serve.

From: Barnett River Gorge

To: Manning Gorge

Author: Mr A

All gorged out? No not yet. This was a cracker again today. After navigating out of last night’s camp without causing damage to the mobile apartment…phew…we turned our nose westwards again on the Gibb. The road is in better shape on this section. Some corrugations but nothing like what we experienced from El Questro to the Drysdale Sation turn off. No sharp “cut your tyres as soon as look as you” rocks…corrugations still but sandier. We think the grader might have come through as well. 

We pulled into Mount Barnett Road House and got our day pass for Manning gorge (’tis privately owned), thinking we wouldn’t camp here given it was a mere 3.4 on WikiCamps (our cut off point usually 3.5), but after a longish walk into the gorge and then a swim and a bake, we found our fresh water tap was not spewing forth the good stuff. We decided to try changing the filter, and got so far, then stuck. A kindly neighbouring van man helped us get it off (I can do it next time!) and still the fresh tap wasn’t working. Ah he said “that will be a fuse then”. Sure enough one of our fuses had been dislodged. So all sorted. People are so friendly and helpful on these camps. It’s a great atmosphere. So after a few beers together we ended up staying here the night (or long term parking as our neighbours termed it). 

But back to the gorge walk. It was a hot one – no, not the ‘backpackers-walking-in-their-bikinis-and-boots’ hot, the temperature, of course. A fantastic swimming hole awaited us, framed by a picture-perfect waterfall. It was simply wonderful. A feta cheese and beetroot wrap (sheep cheese of course, given madam’s dietary needs), and a lovely cup of herbal lemongrass and ginger tea and we were set. 


So dinner was another magnificent concoction from Mrs A, a gnocchi based dish with a chicken and chorizo in a tomato, ginger and garlic sauce. A Barossa Shiraz just kept it company nicely. Now we will take the rest of the bottle down to our neighbour’s campfire and exchange travel stories, and tips of how to live and love life on the road. 

Author: Mr A

The road: hundreds of kilometres of corrugations with jagged rocks. Just under $500s this morning for a new tyre. If you’re towing a van there will be issues – cabinetry will rattle to pieces however well built. It’s punishing. The grader clearly hasn’t been around for a while and with this volume of vehicles that is a recipe for painful driving, and this morning on the Kalamburu Road from Drysdale was even worse!

The campsites: the air is constantly thick with choking dust from all the vehicles charging up and down oozing machismo.  Some of the campsites at the stations are OK, but don’t expect to find a quiet bush camp, everywhere we’ve pulled off there have been other campers. 

The scenery: so far hasn’t been very inspiring when driving, with days of low dusty scrub lining the road.

So why do so many people drive the Gibb? We are puzzling over that question, judging by our experience so far. There are so many more attractive parts of Australia with incredible wildlife and fewer visitors. The whole east coast Main Range from Brisbane to Eden for instance. Thousand of kilometres of trails where you will often find quiet camping and always awesome scenery. This is the Australia we know and love. Australians, I know, do like the idea of a vehicle based challenge. Driving tough tracks as an end in itself. There’s certainly plenty of that to be had up here. For us, we see the car and van as a means to get us somewhere beautiful and preferably with no one else around, where we can then get out amongst it on legs, bike or kayak. 

So why are we are doing it? Because we haven’t been here before is always our starting reason! Perhaps we got sucked in to the hype of the “Australia’s last great wilderness” tag line. It certainly hasn’t felt like that when you see a vehicle at least very 10 minutes. We can drive though National Parks 2 hours from Sydney and see less traffic. 

So what have been the highlights today? We decided not to drive up to the Michell Plateau to see the falls, but instead splashed out on a plane ride over them. The thought of spending another two days in a car top do a 4 k walk at the end to the Falls didn’t inspire us. The flight was brilliant (well better for me than Catherine who had to take advantage of the sick bags provided when we started circling over the falls). Seeing the country from the air gave us a whole new perspective on the sheer scale of the Kimberley. The pilot was a great guide as well and full of interesting facts on the landscape spread out beneath us. 

We then drove the excruciatingly corrugated 70km out of Drysdale and have found a quiet camp just off the road that we had to ourselves for around 15 minutes, before two camper trailers pulled up. Ah well, its a lovely spot by a water lillied river, surrounded by bird life and even a cow! We would have loved to get the packrafts out, but its still saltie country. Catherine whipped up some walnut damper and we stuck that on the Weber. Fabulous with jam and a Pale Ale! Followed by a pre-made meal from a couple of nights ago – chicken madras curry. 

Tonight’s dinner was accompanied by a smooth as….Leconfield Cab Sav. A couple of episodes of Good Wife on the iPad and then….WE HAVE WATCHED ALL 7 SERIES!!! OMG…what next to pass these dark evenings? 

Author: Mr A

Ever been shot at by a fish? No us neither…but today was the day….read on…

After a cracking nights sleep given the exertions of yesterday, it was time for our first lay in since leaving the Hunter. A luxury indeed to get up after 6 am! Pancakes were on the menu for breakfast at the Zoners Caff (the Zone RV caravan that we call home now), blueberries from our freezer and a pot of T2 lemongrass and ginger…oh the joy of glamping. 

We decided it was a clean up morning and did a bunch of washing, mostly in our on-board 2kg machine…so…many loads later we were done and off for a romp around. We had booked a boat trip on the property that would take us up the Chamberlain Gorge, but first did a little bird watching as we had heard there were Goldian Finches in this particular watercourse we drove to. Alas, none were about, but we saw lots of other birds and just loved their serenity of being on our own in the Kimberley bush.

The boat trip was fantastic – one of the guides in particular was so knowledgable on the flora, fauna and history of the place. He explained how El Questro had been initially purchased for a million dollars – a million acres! Since then its changed hands many times, and now is owned by an American hospitality group. Like the majority of Australian rural properties there is a violent history of conflict with the previous custodians of the land, and it was great to hear a tourist guide tell this story in a balanced way. The Lake Argyle guide didn’t even mention what happened to the local Aborigines when their land was flooded after the dam was built. 

We learnt about the geology of the area, and  why the sandstone is so red (the iron deposits) and that the staining on the rock is an algae that is the largest living organism, on the planet, and oxygenated our planet. Amazing…

We could see where the massive force of water during the west season carries huge trees down the river like matchsticks, and the river has been recorded rising up 20 metres! 

Reaching the end of the gorge we were handed some fish food pellets and told to hold our hands out over the boat…yes I’m getting to the being shot at by fish bit finally…and jets of water were fired at the pellets by angler fish. Massive cat fish circulated and barramundi were spotted as well.  A few rock wallabies were  bounding along the gorge walls, all in all a quintessential Kimberley afternoon. 

Before we left home for this trip I had started reading up about the history of the local art, especially the Gwion Gwion style (often called Bradshaw type,  after the European who “discovered” it). It has been hotly argued over in terms of its age and origins. It is very unique in its depiction of human figures with  very distinctive ornamental clothing, unlike anything else seen in this country. I asked the guide if there was anywhere I might see this type of art down the Gibb River Road. It’s often in very remote country on private property, but I had heard rumours there was some on El Questro land. He quietly said “look over my left shoulder”..and there it was up on a rock shelf. The property is in discussions with the local Aboriginal custodians to see if they can let visitors officially view it. I was really excited to have my first glimpse of this mysterious art that has fueled so much speculation about its original painters. 

All too quickly we were back at the pontoon and and back at the van for another Mrs A creation: gem fish curry in a sate sauce and veggies, a beautiful Hunter Shiraz kept it company. Marvellous…