Author: Catherine Anderson

Author: Mrs A

Well, sadly not every day can be adorned with beautiful birdlife and stunning scenery, one must clean up at some point. Today was that day…and we’re not quite there yet!

The first wash in our 2kg washing machine went on at 7am, and we pretty much chain washed (each wash is 36 minutes) until 4pm this afternoon….someone with more energy than I can do the maths on how many washes that worked out to be, but it was a lot, I can tell you! 

Mr A also spent the day turning our Landcruiser and two mountain bikes from red dusty dirty things to modes of transport we can safely use without turning ourselves red.

Yesterday afternoon we were very excited to see another ZoneRV pull into the caravan park – the first one we’ve seen on the road. So we spent the morning comparing notes with the lovely Vonda and Greg from country Victoria – who proceeded to help us fix up a couple of little issues we’d had after those hundreds of kilometres of corrugations. There’s bound to be something work loose – and we escaped lightly compared to many we’ve met. Again we are loving meeting people on the road who otherwise we would never cross paths with. Just lovely people. We are seeing a very different side of Australians – and they aren’t all grey either!

I note there has been a request or two to know where on the planet we are right now, so I have produced a map showing our route to date – we have gone from east to west, and now we see sunsets over the water instead of sun rises! 

Now preparing for roast potatoes and fresh barramundi on the BBQ with a pea purée…back to home cooking tonight. Mr A is selecting a wine from our ever depleting cellar….

We’ll be off line tomorrow as we are spending the night on a boat out at the horizontal falls – more adventures ahead! 

Location: Silent Grove to Windjama Gorge

Distance: 136km

Time: 3 hrs 15 mins

Author: Mrs A

We left our crowded camp at 7am, eager to put the crowds behind us and get back on the road. It had been a sticky hot night and we hadn’t slept that well, despite retiring early.

Soon we were back on the Gibb, heading west towards our final destination, Windjama Gorge. There we found a great camp spot and unhitched. After some brunch, we jumped back in the car and drove to Tunnel Creek, about another 33km further along the road.

Tunnel Creek sees a 1km stretch of limestone hollowed out by the creek over thousands of years, making for an interesting underground walk, through water and surrounded by bats by torch light. It was certainly a novelty and an interesting hike, but rather busy with tour groups and families enjoying the ‘adventure’. 

We headed back to Windjama and headed off on a walk from camp. Much more spectacular. The gorge surrounding our campsite is spectacular – huge black pillars, quite unlike the red sandstone we have seen along the Gibb, and bringing forth thoughts of Mordor and Game of Thrones.

We hiked for about 6km in total, enjoying a real walk along real paths, rather than rock hopping. The Lennard River which flows through the gorge only during the wet season, is now a series of waterholes, teeming with fish and many freshwater crocodiles. It was not hard to see these crocs, they were everywhere!

The sun dropped low in the sky as we completed our walk, making for some great views and photographic opportunities, and then we headed back to the mobile apartment for hot showers and cocktails as the sun set. A lovely evening, fitting for the end of this leg of our trip – tomorrow we head back into civilisation and mobile reception – finally we can Google our burning questions and do some research for the next stage! We are also looking forward to getting things fixed (a few things that have rattled loose along the way) and removing the red dust from our possessions!

Distance: 149km

Time: 3.5 hours

Author: Mrs A

We departed from Manning Gorge early and filled up the Landcruiser with $2.05 a litre diesel at the Mount Barnett Roadhouse as soon as they opened at 8am, plus topped up with water. Our intention for the day was to try to get into Mornington Wilderness Camp, but failing that, head to Silent Grove, near Bell Gorge. 

We had low hopes for Mornington, given we had originally booked for three nights and then changed our minds – the new dates being already fully booked. Everyone we spoke to along the Gibb told us it was constantly full and they had given up hope of getting in. Ironically, our punctured tyre and flight over Mitchell Falls rather than driving up had gained us a few days, and we called in to Mornington on the radio at the top of the road just one day past our original arrival. They looked up our records and it seems an error in communications on their part meant they still had our booking – we were in, and they were willing to shift our dates by one day to allow us the three nights we origianally paid for – great! 

We drove the 80km down to the camp elated, and enjoying the fabulous scenery, quite different from our standard Gibb-Kimberley views. Two hours and three or so river crossings later and we were checking in. The Mornington Wilderness Camp is owned and operated by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. They only allow 25 vehicles/50 people to stay here in total, meaning it is a pretty exclusive location.

We immediately signed up to a birdwatching walk tomorrow morning (meet at the office at 5.45am!) as they have several threatened species here, including the Gouldian Finch (which we failed to see at El Questro) and the Purple-Crowned Fairy Wren. The research they do here is groundbreaking – a few years ago they discovered a frog completely new to science.

A short walk along the creek close to our camp allowed us to see our first Buff Robin (also endangered), Crimson Finches and a Pheasant Coucal. We truly feel we are in the Kimberley now. After birdwatching in the morning, we plan to take our pack rafts onto the Fitzroy River down into Diamond Gorge, one of the key stunning attractions here. We’re really looking forward to that.

A couple of mobile apartment casualties today – we opened up the van to find one of our speakers had fallen off the wall – the screws which held it up having rattled undone – fortunately no damage and easily fixed. Less easily fixed is one of the rear caravan legs which seems to have cracked and will not come down – possibly a rock flying out of the rear wheels (other caravanners tell us it’s a fairly common occurrence) – makes for a squeaky caravan when moving around now.

Cooking roast chicken and sweet potatoes on the Weber BabyQ tonight accompanied by peas and broccoli. Should set us up for a good sleep and prepare us for the alarm clock in the morning!

Author: Mrs A

Distance: 92km

We left camp by 7.30am and almost immediately were crossing the Durak River – absolutely still and stunning in the early morning light. Apparently it is inhabited by crocodiles but unfortunately we didn’t spot any on our drive across. On the other side of the river, we were following the grader, a large truck smoothing the road. Such a shame he hadn’t done the piece of road that tore up our tyre yesterday afternoon, but that’s fate. Our first destination for the morning was Ellensbrae Station, a large cattle station which also offers camping, accomodation, scones with jam and cream (!!) and most importantly for us, a tyre repair service.

As we drove off the dusty Gibb River Road, it was like seeing an oasis. A building shrouded in borganvillia flowers among green grass and leafy, shady trees, and flocks of birds everywhere. We chatted to the tyre repairer who took a look at the tear in our Mickey Thompson Tyre (we thought were invincible!) and told us firstly, he had no spares to sell us that were the same size, and secondly, that he thought it was too big a tear to repair – his usual size being about 1cm wide, and this being about 4cm!

We retired to the veranda for scones, cream and jam (Mr A) and a ham and tomato toastie (me) while he took a closer look. Unfortunately he confirmed that the tear was unrepairable, and called ahead to the next cattle station, Drysdale, to see whether they had a tyre they could sell us. Fortunately they had, and put it aside for us. We farewelled Ellensbrae and set off for another 3.5 hours drive to the next station, their closest neighbour! 

It’s so interesting chatting to people in these parts. During the wet season (October to April) most of these cattle stations are completely cut off from the rest of the world, the Gibb River Road being completely impassable by multiple floods. Often the only person they would see would be the Australia Post delivery man who flies in via light aircraft and lands on their property once a week to deliver the mail and parcels – it sounds like they do a lot of online ordering to ensure he arrives regularly!

We drove on relatively sandy roads to Drysdale Station, but they were hard going, being extremely corrugated. Everyone gives you different advice – one couple we met suggested we should dive no faster than 55km/hr on these roads and we are sure to come to no grief…meanwhile the folks who tried to repair our tyre yesterday (and perhaps inadvertently made the tear worse…) told us they drive at 110km/hr! We took the slower option, which is perhaps bumpier, but ensured we arrived in one piece.

Arriving at Drysdale we again met up with a couple of other campers we had met before at El Questro, and had lunch at the bar – Mr A opting for the ‘biggest burger in the Kimberley’ – beef, tomato, egg, bacon, cheese, pineapple, beetroot and iceberg lettuce in a bun. And he managed it too!

We purchased our new spare tyre, not the same brand, but the right size at least, and should see us through if we had another issue, and also decided to book on a flight out to the Kimberley coast and over Mitchell Falls tomorrow morning. It’s expensive, but around a 2 hour flight with only two other passengers, we feel that $450 a head is worth it, and much less stressful than another 160km drive each way on corrugated roads to see the falls on foot. 

We are now showered (temporarily clean and not covered in orange dust!) and settled in for another early night – the sun sets early in these parts (by 5pm) and the dust makes your eyes sting – it’s not too hard to turn in by 9pm!

From: El Questro Station

To: Durack River Crossing

Distance: 135km

Author: Mr A

Forever to be known as “puncture Sunday” – yup – bound to happen to us – as it did to so many others we saw by the side of the road. More of that in a minute, first the positive things. Catherine spotted some Brolgas (large storks with red heads) and went to investiagate with camera, only to find a tree full of cockatiels as well! 
The bird life up here is stunning. Hardly any mammals though, which means limited road kill so we like that. 

After the first 50kms the alarm went off on the tyre pressure monitoring system (bought after the last puncture!) – this time it was a rear car tyre – our faithful Mickey Thomson’s had let us down – literally. 

The Gibb is a brutal road on tyres – full of corrugations and sharp stones – we had a massive rip in the tyre. So we set to work and got the spare off and the car jacked up and the dud tyre off. As I was trying to lift the new one on a couple of trucks pulled up and asked if we were OK. They helped lift on the new tyre and tried to repair the old one. Sadly it wouldn’t hold a bung – we tried 5. So we are going to try and get it repaired at a small cattle station tomorrow who have a specialist tyre repair guy. if we can’t…well lets face that when it comes. We now wish we had spent the extra money and got interchangeable tyres between the van and the car. Then we would have 3 spare tyres as we have 2 on the van. Never pays to scrimp in the tyre dept. 

So we pull up to camp and open the door of the van – its full of dust! Clouds of it everywhere. I then recall on the handover the guy from Zone RV saying something about vents that legally had to be put in for ventilation – but a lot of people block them off. Now I understand why. So we have taped them up now.  

After a clean up, a shower in the van, and a couple of beers the world seems a brighter place. 

We are seeing a few small issues in the van, like handles falling off and bedside lamps coming to bits, but it’s understandable given the punishment this road dishes out. We went round with a screwdriver and tightened all we could see. We both are sure we made the right decion to move up from a camper trailer though for this trip. We love the “pull up and pull open a beer” lifestyle that comes with minimum set up time. Then there’s more time for all the exploring type things. 

We are camped close to the Durack River, which looks so tempting to get the packrafts out and go for a paddle. However, reports say salties have been seen in the last few weeks, so we will give that a miss! It’s dark at 5.30, preceded by a beautiful sunset over the river (memory card not reinserted so use your imagination). 

Dinner tonight: a chicken madras with fresh veggies, accompied by a 2009 De Iuliis Shiraz from the Hunter. The wine cellar still looking strong despite concerted attempts at running it down. Will we make it last until the Margaret River? Such troubling questions haunt us…

Author: Mrs A

From: Kennedy Creek river crossing campsite

To: Barnett River Gorge (on the map) – locally known as Jigngarrin

Distance: 55km

Time to travel: 3.5 hours (including an hour’s stop at Gibb River Station)

Airline travel sick bags used: 0

Well, feet were firmly on the ground today as we continued our journey west along the Gibb River Road. Mr A was even in a vaguely positive frame of mind about our surroundings, given the road was slightly smoother than yesterday’s vibrating corrugations. After around 50 minutes of driving we pulled into the Gibb River Station, about 1km off the road. The station is also the hub of a lively aboriginal community, with a sparse store selling essentials, like cans of Coke and ice creams. They also sold fuel from a single tank and offered camping, fresh water, and when the right elder is around, tours up the creek to see the rock art.

We filled up with water, tried calling Mount Elizabeth Station (Mr A had read they have some ‘Bradshaw’ Aboriginal art on their land and do tours) but no answer, and went on our way.

When we arrived at the turn off to Barnett River Gorge there was no sign, not even a road name, just an orange single sandy track heading off on the right of the road. With no passing areas, we did wonder what would happen if someone came the other way, but fortunately didn’t have to find out. We drove 4km, the road steadily getting rougher, with the odd washout and large rocks to negotiate. I walked ahead of the car for the last bit with a walkie-talkie (essential caravanning kit!) to help guide Mr A safely down.

After seeing nobody on the track, or in fact the Gibb River Road for the past 45 minutes, it was a shock to see about 12 4-wheel drives all parked up at the end of the road! There was one turning circle, beside which was a large, level grassy camping area with our name on it. We negotiated our way in and were soon parked up and putting on our hiking gear.

As we commenced the hike in, we saw the owners of the 4WDs hiking out – a whole bunch of backpackers on a tag-along tour. We had the remainder of the walk to ourselves. As seems to be the way up here in the Kimberley, it was more of a rock hop than a hike, requiring navigation via cairns left by previous hikers, and the odd arrow provided by the Aboriginal community. It was great to be out of the car and amongst nature again, and soon we arrived at a lookout on top of the escarpment. Funnily enough, the sign pointing to the lookout read ‘Look out’, and as we admired the incredible view of the gorge, we spotted a huge crocodile in the water beneath us! Argh! Look out! 

The hike continued on, climbing down the escarpment walls down to a rock platform with idyllic pools leading to waterfalls and more pools, surrounded by pandanus palms and white sand beaches – a landscape designer could not have done a better job. We avoided the big deep pool with the crocodile, and instead ate our lunch and enjoyed a swim in the shallower rock pools – heaven.

We returned to the car and mobile apartment for hot showers, and briefly had the whole spot to ourselves. Briefly. Three more campers have arrived for the night…should we warn them about the crocodile or not? That is the question…

Now chilling out as the sun goes down with a refreshing rose (me – bringing back memories of Provence and our time with Colin & Di last year) and a James Squire Pale Ale for Mr A (again, he says!)

Author: Mrs A

Another early morning, and out and on our way by 7am, sandwiches made and water bottles filled. We commenced our day’s activities at Zebedee Springs, a permanent thermal spring (28-32°C) in a beautiful orange sandstone gorge, the water coming out of rocks and flowing through a series of little pools through a creek.

We drove about 8km from camp on 4 wheel drive tracks, across two water crossings and parked up. A short 2km hike saw us arrive in the main gorge, surrounded by palm trees and a gorgeous stream bubbling down, already some visitors sitting in the water enjoying the warmth. We found ourselves a private pool, changed into swimmers and settled in to the water. It was great scenery, and reminded us of our fabulous New Year’s Eve with John, Ev, Chris & Karen spent floating in the Nymboidia on that 41 degree day! Unlike that day, it was a cool 16 degree start to the day here, and the warm water was more than welcome.

After about 40 minutes we changed and hiked back to the car and drove to our next destination, El Questro Gorge. Accessing the parking area was an adventure in itself, with quite a wide, deep water crossing to tackle, before leaving the car and setting off up the gorge. The following 4 hours could not really be called a walk, as we were more or less following a river the whole way, rock hopping or wading through water surrounded by tall palm trees and sheer sandstone cliffs. It gave us quite a workout, and at one point we had to change back into our wet swimming gear and wade/swim across a pool and climb up a waterfall to reach the next section. It was certainly an adventure, and the scenery was worth it.

We returned to camp at around 2.30pm for showers, and I did some painting while Mr A read. Tonight we ate at the campground bar – they had a good musician playing and it was a great atmosphere. More adventures ahead for tomorrow – we are hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful and endangered Gouldian Finch which lives alongside the Pentecost River nearby.

From: Purnululu National Park

To: Kununurra, NE Kimberley 

Distance: 231 km

Time: 4.5 hours

Author: Mrs A

We set off shortly before 7.30am, as has become our habit, all packed up and cup of tea made for the road. We drove the corrugations more confidently on the exit than we had on the journey in, slowing at the wild buffalo which decided to amble across the road in front of us as we travelled…all in a day’s work!

We arrived back in Kununurra to hitch up the van and move to a site at around 12pm, and set about doing our washing – about 4 loads! Fortunately the combined warm days and gentle breeze means everything dries in about 30 minutes, so it was not too much of a chore. 

We then jumped in the car to buy fresh fruit and vegetables ready for the next couple of weeks on the road. Tomorrow we commence our journey on the Gibb River Road – first stop El Questro for four nights. We stocked up at Coles and the local bottle shop, and returned to camp. 

As we drove back into camp we noticed an awful noise on the car – oh no! As seems to be the case in these parts, people emerged from everywhere to offer help and advice, quickly identifying that we had a stone caught inside our wheel. We were unable to remove it on site, so will need to go to a tyre shop tomorrow and get it taken out there, before it damages our new brakes. Such a pain, but good it happened here and not somewhere remote. Mr A has already identified a shop and intends to be there at 7am when they open to seek help!

We had a lovely evening chatting to our neighbours over a bottle of wine, writing down tips for our upcoming journey and ideas of other spots to visit across Western Australia. Friendly people and again, a fabulous location. 

On to pastures new tomorrow, and our last bit of internet access for a while too!