When the Cat's Away…

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: 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: 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.

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…

From: Kununurra 

To: El Questro, Gibb River Road

Distance: 102 (pah…I barely got warmed up stays the Cruiser)

It was tough to tear ourselves away from Kimberleyland Caravan Park in Kunnanaurra, would definitely recommend it if you’re planning a trip this way. This morning Catherine spotted a Rainbow Bee Eater hopping around on the water lilies on the lake at the front of our campsite.

I meanwhile had an early date in town with a mechanic. A stone had got lodged in our brakes and was making it prescience felt with squealing. So after the princely sum of $59’s all was sorted – wow I doubt miss Sydney prices. 

A pie and sausage roll brekky with a vanilla slice for later (OMG it was good) certainly set us for the drive down the first easy bit of the Gibb River Road (henceforth to be called the Gibb) Tarmac all the way to the turn off for our our next campsite at the famous El Questro resort. Still a working cattle station, its the most “up market” tourist facility on the Gibb with restaurants hot and cold running people (bless the tour buses), scenic helicopter flights and all the trappings of civilised glamping. 

We have a very nice pitch between several grey nomads vans, our neighbours advertising on the front of their van the fact that they are doing a ten year tour in it! Looking forward to picking their brains over the next few days. 

To get orientated on this massive property we went off on the bikes for a recon. There’s lots of four wheel drive tracks to explore and we did just that.

We are camped about 50 metres from the Pentecost river, Catherine captured some gorgeous reflections. 

Then it was back to the van for cocktails…Aperol spritzer…I know… we really rough it. 

Well you need a little something to cut through the dust! Counting Crows on the sound system, a Catherine spectacular curry coming later, and all is good with the world. Sigh of contentment…

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!

Day 12: Day 1 in Purnululu National Park – Saturday 10th of June

Total driven: 231km

Total hiked: About 2km

Author: Mr A

After putting the van into storage in Cunanurra, we stocked up on a few extra provisions for three days camping. Our next destination allowed only single axle camper trailers and vans and ours is a tandem axle. We were headed into the famous World Heritage area in the Bungle Bungle Range, containing incredible rock formations in the Purnululu National Park. The most famous are the beehive like structures that you are probably familiar with, but there’s so much more to see there. 

After around 170km drive down the Great Northern Highway (sounds grand but its actually a two lane road with the odd single track over bridges!), we turned off onto the dirt. It was 56kms of bone jarring corrugations until we checked in at the Visitor Centre. What must overseas visitors think when they are coming to such a famous tourist destination and they are confronted with this drive! One French couple I overhead talking to the National Park’s reception were incredulous, saying “We had no idea it wasn’t a proper road, everyone else had those big trucks”. Not sure what they drove in with but I bet their hire car company won’t be pleased with the result! Our car is definitely looking the part now covered in red dust.

We have a great campsite, not too busy in here, very quiet and lots of bird life. 

A short walk took us up to a sunset viewing spot and we watched the incredible display of light on the rock walls.

We (term used loosely) had pre-made a dinner of bolognaise, so that was just warmed up in the BBQ (our Weber cooks like an oven) and some spaghetti cooked up and we were in business – with a nice drop of red of course. 

It’s an early night for all the campers (including us) as the best sights are just after dawn (5.45am) when the sun strikes the rock and turn the sandstone a bright.

Day 13: Day 2 in Purnululu National Park

Total driven: About 40km

Total hiked: About 12km

Author: Mrs A

After a very comfortable night’s sleep in the tent, we awoke at sunrise and Mr A cooked up sausages, egg and mushroom wraps for breakfast, setting us up for a day of hiking. 

We drove to our first location, Homestead Valley, and were off walking by 7.40am, heading up a stunning valley, full of birds and overlooked on all sides by orange walls, vibrant in the sun. 

The walk weaved through palm trees and spinnifex, across dry pebbly creeks and up to a lookout point. The valley is apparently named after some Aboriginal artwork found here, depicting a local 1800s homestead. Cattle were run in these parts from about 1880 until the 1940s, by which time they had created devastating damage to the local fauna and degraded the river banks. The parks are working hard to remove feral animals still roaming here – including cattle and donkeys. Apparently there is a substantial population of feral cats here which they are still trying to tackle. We enjoyed the view at the end before heading back to the car and onto our next location.

Next was Echidna Chasm. We set off on our walk around 10am, aiming to reach the narrow crack around 11am, when the sun reaches the walls, bringing bright light into the narrow crack in the range. Again, many birds lined the track as we walked up, extremely hard to capture on camera as they ducked and weaved their way around the palm trees and undergrowth, hunting for insects. Upon reaching the gorge we were greeted by a narrow crack in the cliffs, a pebbly base to walk along and dark corridors, lit way above by blue skies and glowing orange rock. 

The geology around here is high in iron, giving the gorgeous rust colours, and takes the form of fossilised sediments from an ancient river bed. Many of the pebbles we walked upon were from this river bed, rolled many millions of years ago. The rocks in this fossilised river bed are even older, and are derived from an ancient, long since eroded, mountain range. It definitely feels spiritual, and a little eerie walking through a narrow path, sediments full of pebbles towering high on either side of us, looking as though they were still made of silt and likely to crumble and bury us alive. Mr A did not appreciate me sharing this thought!

As 11am arrived, we awaited the spectacle, and waited…and waited…perhaps 11am was a little early – it was more like 11:40am that the sun hit, by which time Mr A was giving me the impatient look of someone who was ready to get back out in the sunshine! I got some incredible photos though, and the change in light and atmosphere was well worth the wait.

After hiking up to a final lookout, we returned to the car and back to camp. 

About 9 years ago, we bought a gadget for our Land Cruiser which allows us to pump water through the hot engine, and have a lovely shower. To date we have never been able to enjoy this – the water either scalding hot, or not hot at all. Today, we finally managed to get it right and had a fabulous shower each and changed for the afternoon. Very civilised, and LONG awaited!

It is now beer o’clock. We accidentally didn’t bring enough booze (yes, I know, unheard of!) and therefore have a ration of 1 beer each tonight and maximum 1/2 a bottle of wine between the two of us. Last night we had no beers, and one glass of wine each! Shockingly sober for a camping trip, especially when the sun sets at 4.45pm and we have so much evening ahead! I’m sure we will be early to bed again though, the temperature drops to around 7 degrees at night, and we are not allowed fires.

Best get off to prepare dinner – chicken tikka (home made out of the freezer) this evening, and another early start tomorrow as we head to the opposite end of the national park for our hikes and viewpoints.

Day 14: Day 3 in Purnululu National Park

Total driven: About 55km

Total hiked: 13.5km

Author: Mr A

“This will make our top 10 best walks“…I said to Mrs A as we walked into the most incredible scenery amongst the rock dome formations that this southernmost area of the park is world famous for. 

The day had started early we were on the road by the 6.30 to catch the early morning light. An hour’s drive round the tracks in the park took us to the area where we had planned some walks. We booted up (the spinifex is fearsomely sharp) and set off into this surreal landscape. 

The banded sandstone formations towered over us, and again we had that feeling of being dominated by this ancient landscape. 

We explored all of the day walks and were rewarded with magnificent views round every corner. 

We had skipped breakfast to get away early so a lunchtime feast back at the car was anticipated and then realised!

Back at camp we each had a long shower thanks to the bore water tap provided and our shower system that runs off the engine and heats the water just right. C even managed to wash her hair. 

This is our last night here and its been a wonderful experience, but I am looking forward to getting out of the dust and into our luxury mobile apartment (van!) – soft I know 🙂 

From: Lake Argyle, NE Kimberley

To: Kununurra, NE Kimberley 

Distance: 70 km

Time: 40 minutes

Author: Mrs A

We had a leisurely start to the day before packing up and heading off, travelling a short distance to the nearby town of Kununurra. We set up our apartment on the shores of the lake, admiring our incredible view.

We then jumped on our bikes and cycled a couple of kilometres into town – we had to purchase some fresh fruit and vegetables to replace those we abandoned at the border, and buy a Western Australian national parks pass – Mr A was delighted to find he got $30 off for being a senior, making it just $70 – bargain!

We returned to camp and another lovely Mark, one of the campsite managers,  came over and helped us to switch our filter on the van – we now have full running water – enough for lovely hot showers and a couple of clothes washes in our 2kg machine! Hopefully he can help fix the new one when that arrives next week…

We decided to take our Packrafts out on the lake to check they were not indeed leaking. It was a stunning afternoon on the water, and we proved they were air tight and it was probably user error causing the issues yesterday. Such a relief. We enjoyed a fantastic sunset, followed by a spectacular full moon rising – just perfect!

This evening we ate at a local restaurant – fantastic quality food and wine in an old Pumphouse – originally built on the banks of the Ord River to help irrigate the local area for tropical crops. Crops nowadays are mostly cotton and chia seed, which is sent predominantly to China (a Chinese owned farm). The other main business here is diamond mining. Look up the Pink Argyle Diamonds – very rare and very special…

This is a great location and one we wish we could spend more in. We head off tomorrow to the Bungle Bungle range (Purnalulu National Park) for three nights, before returning back here mid next week.