Day 137–148 8th to 18th Aug; The Gibb River Road

We drove out from Kununurra towards Wyndham for about 55 km before we came to the Gibb turnoff. The road is some 660 km through to Derby of which about 550 km’s is unsealed and in various states of repair. We were bound for El Questro Station which is only 60 – 70 k’s along the road. For those of you who don’t know, the Gibb River Road is the “must do” legendary road if you wish to experience the Kimberley region of W.A. and it gives access to some of the most spectacular and beautiful scenery in not only W.A. but the whole of Australia! We were all pretty excited to be finally here and doing it. Just about everybody who has travelled the road has some story about what it did to their car or trailer. Tyres seemed to be the main problem with just about everyone experiencing at least one puncture.
El Questro: We arrived at El Questro station (ELQ) turnoff, with no mishaps and proceeded for the next 25 km to the station township, where there was a choice of camping and accommodation facilities and amenities. We booked in to an unpowered site for 3 nights and set up next to the Pentecost River which is one of the main rivers that flows through the station, which incidentally is around 1,000,000 acres in size. We spent the rest of the day having a look around the “township”, which is set up for tourists and has its own store, airstrip, heli-pad, fuel, restaurant, bar. Using the township as a base you can visit the numerous gorges, rivers and lookouts on the property, which we intended to do over the next few days. As sunset approached we gathered our drinks and nibbles and headed off in the cars to Saddleback Ridge Lookout, which has a viewing platform and table, to take in the view and the dusk light. The trip to the top of the ridge was strictly by 4wd only and the Millennium Pajero had to dig a little deep to make it to the top, but once there the view was spectacular. Jasmine and Daisy really set the scene up there in their Cinderella and Snow White dress up costumes as well.
The next morning (Sat), we decided to take off for a look at El Questro Gorge, which is one of the more challenging of the gorge treks that you can attempt, but does, however have various stages that you can attempt and if not confident to continue, you can turn back. This was really handy to know bearing in mind that we had Jassy and Daisy also walking with us. The track winds it ways along the creek bank, criss-crossing the creek at various times. The vegetation was lush with palms and ferns nestled between the sides of the gorge, which in some places was only 7 – 8 metres wide. After clambering over rocks and through the creek for about an hour, we reached the point at which we thought we should stop as the little ones would find it difficult to go any further. Our efforts at this stage were rewarded with a dip in the gorgeous little pool at the base of the falls at this particular point. After luxuriating here in the water and sunlight for about an hour, we decided to head back to the car and to the “township”. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the campsite and having a dip in the river. Our sunset drinks this evening involved a trip some 10 – 12 km’s away to Blanco’s Lookout. Once again only accessible by 4wd and requiring some reasonably rugged creek crossings and climbs to get there. Once there though, again the setting was absolutely superb. The lookout juts out above a sweeping curve in the Pentecost River, with magnificent views of the East Kimberley ranges. By this stage of the trip, Andrea and Rachel were getting very well acquainted with the Vodka, Lime & Sodas each night……DANGER!!!! Meanwhile back at the camp we had a stew simmering on the fire and Chook and Rachel and the kids, if they were good, were about to experience the delights of a camp stew cooked in a camp oven…..oooooooooohhhh yum…..look I’m drooling!!!!!!!
Sunday morning nobody seemed to be feeling the effects of the previous nights stew, too badly, so we got moving early so that we could get to Zebedee Springs to take in the hot springs for a few hours in the morning. After 12.00 noon they close these springs off to the “plebs”, so that the high-flyer clientele can come in and enjoy the area without having to deal with stinky, bogan-like campers such as ourselves. It was only a short drive and walk into the springs and we arrived at them at about 8.15 a.m. The springs are in rock pools nestled between palms and cycad plants. They were so relaxing that we didn’t leave until 11.45. They were just beautiful and it was great to give ourselves a good soaking in water that was heated to about 32 degrees and to get rid of a bit of the dust that was ground into our skin. After experiencing the delights of this area we headed back to camp to chill for the rest of the afternoon. That evening we (the 4 adults), had booked to go out for dinner at the El Questro Restaurant, with Ruby and Liv to babysit the younger ones. This we did and enjoyed a very nice meal in very pleasant surroundings. It was a fitting end to 3 fab nights at the station.
Monday morning we packed once again and headed out of the station back on to the Gibb Road. We planned to back track about 15 km’s to Emma Gorge, which has a resort and still part of El Questro. Once again we dragged the little ones out of the car and cajoled and bribed them along the 1.5 km track, until we reached the head of Emma Gorge, which contains a beautiful plunge pool at the base of the Emma Falls. The pool and the water cascading from the falls were surprisingly icy, due to the fact that it was in shade for most of the day, but I still couldn’t resist a swim as the water looked so inviting. I managed to immerse myself and started to swim the 40 or so metres across the pool to the waterfall, which although not running strongly, was still dropping from a height of about40 – 50 metres. It felt like little bullets trying to penetrate my scalp as they hit my head! I tried to stay under the waterfall for as long as possible while Andrea set up a photo, but the icy droplets hitting my head were that painful that I thought that my head was going to split open!!! I quickly made my way out and went to warm myself in the little thermal pool that was adjacent to the plunge pool, where the younger kids were playing. We made our way back down to the car park and had lunch on the lawn at the resort. Our destination for the day was Home Valley Station, some 60 km distant. It was now almost 2.00 pm so we pushed on westward and crossed the Pentecost River, which at this time of the dry season is an easy crossing. From here it was a 5 km drive to Home Valley.
Home Valley had only recently re-opened for the season after an $18 million refurbishment, and had lush grass, a new pool that was not yet opened, a restaurant and bar and a great set up, with stables and working areas, as it is actually a working station. However the prices were exorbitant. They were asking $65 per night for the campsite, if we included all our kids and had a powered site as well!!! As it was went for an unpowered site which saved us $15 and told them that we only had one child. Even this way we still paid $35 for the night!! The whole place was set up for families, but they had priced themselves way out of the family market. Quite ridiculous!! Anyway we only needed a place to stay for one night as we were moving on early the next morn.
Tuesday we were aiming for Mt Elizabeth Station, which was some 260and km distant. We managed to be on the road by 8.30 am with the McGrinders leading the way. We were gradually climbing in altitude as we travelled westward and passing through varying types of rugged landscapes. The road had a deal of loose rocky surface and although reasonably smooth a fair amount of concentration was required to avoid traveling over these rocks and damaging the tyres! After 2and a half hours we came across a sign saying “Ellenbrae Station: 5km ahead. Drop in for a cuppa”. “O.K”. we said and radioed ahead to Chook and Rachel to suggest a stop for morning tea. As we turned off the road for the 5 k drive to the actual station Andrea said ,”Wouldn’t it be great if they had scones and jam and cream?” I agreed but didn’t think it likely. As we approached the “homestead” we found a lovely “oasis” with beautiful shade trees and an open air “café”, which was actually part of the living room of the homestead and a sign that said “Fresh Scones Jam and Cream”. You can well imagine the screams of delight from within the M.Pajero when this was seen!!!! So we stopped….And it was great!!!
So here we were in the middle of the Kimberley, sitting in a beautiful open air, shady tearoom having morning tea. Quite surreal really. After this we pressed on again arriving at the Mt. Elizabeth Station turnoff at around 4.00 pm. The road had been a combination of smooth graded road, corrugated patches, washouts and river crossings, pot holes and soft sand. Now we needed to negotiate the final 30 km stretch along the station road to the actual station area. We camped in the basic bush camp area, but we still had access to flushing toilets and showers. We spent a very comfortable evening here and were all in bed by about 8.30 pm and awake by sunrise (6.00 a.m.) on the Wednesday morning.
After packing we decided that before we left the property for our next destination, which was Mt. Barnett Roadhouse and the Manning Gorge Campground, we would grab some homemade cakes and slice from the homestead kitchen and head out for morning tea, to one of the waterholes on the Hann River which is also located on the property. The road was pretty rough, so we dropped both the camper-trailers beside the road and proceeded for a further 10 km until we reached the river. It was another beautiful, secluded spot with its own private swimming beach that was great for the little kids to swim in. We then made our way back out of Mt. Elizabeth Station onto the Gibb Rd and continued westward. We stopped beside the actual Gibb River for a bite of lunch and arrived at Mt. Barnett Roadhouse about mid afternoon. Mt. Barnett is owned by the local Aboriginal Community and is the approximate midpoint along the road. It is here that you can buy fuel and food and also pay for your entry to the Manning Gorge campground. We paid for 2 nights camping and made our way along the 5km track down to the campground. There was plenty of room for us to find a spot which is well and good because there were plenty of people who came into the area to camp each day. It’s not surprising really because it was a beautiful spot. The camping area was a short walk from a large pool type lake on the Manning River, where you could cool off and was still enough and shallow enough for the children to have a swim. You also needed to negotiate this pool to get to the other side so that you could then walk the 2 km across a rocky escarpment to the Manning Falls. Once again this was a spectacular waterfall with a series of plunge pools and swimming holes attached. We spent several hours here, having packed lunch, snacks and water for the trip. Liv, Ruby Chook and myself spent quite a deal of time jumping off the waterfall ledges into the pool below, which was at least 20 feet deep and very refreshing. We had allowed ourselves 2 nights at this magical place, and were very tempted to stay for another night and just spend the day chilling out by the rock pool swimming area. However we decided that we had better keep moving on.
Friday morning we drove out of the campground to the road house and topped up with petrol. I also noticed that my radiator had sprung a bit of a leak, so I had a look at it and took some stop gap measures to make sure the leaking was controlled and then we pushed on westward once again. This time we were headed for Silent Grove and Bell’s Gorge. We stopped about 15 kms down the road at another swimming hole, called Galvan’s Gorge. There was a short 1km walk to this waterfall and plunge pool, so once again we stripped off and into the water we went!!! There was also a rope hanging over the pool so we made good use of it. The waterfall was also very pretty with the entire waterhole only being about 30m by 50 m and encircled by paperbark trees and palms. After this was lunch form the back of the camper and then back into the car for the push on towards Silent Grove. The road had improved markedly and most of the time we were able to sit comfortably on 80 – 90 km/h. By 3.00 pm we had arrived at another roadhouse at Imantji, which is another Aboriginal Community. As we drove into the car park we saw that there was an outdoor eating area with a T.V. set up and the Olympics were being broadcast for any of the travelers who wished to drop in and get a fix. They also served espresso coffee, which also brought whoops of delight from some of the inhabitants of both cars. So once again here we were in the middle of the Kimberley, drinking espresso coffee and watching the Olympics in the middle of the afternoon!! It doesn’t get much better really does it? Incidentally, that turned out to be the only vision of the Olympic Games that any of us saw for the whole time that they were on!! Next stop Silent Grove which is a camping area within the King Leopold Ranges National Park. We had collected some wood for the fire and reached our destination by 4.00 pm. Two nights were set aside for our stay here. The campground was beautiful. Very quiet and surrounded by the hills and trees. It also had fresh drinking water from taps pumped and piped straight from a nearby stream, flushing toilets once again and showers, albeit cold ones. Although in the Kimberley a cold shower usually means a temp of about 24-25 degrees. Ruby whipped up another of her dampers which we consumed after dinner and everything was sweet. Silent Grove is about 10 km from Bells’ Gorge which is the place everybody comes to see when you camp at this destination. The walk to the gorge is an easy 1.5 kms and the gorge is a series of waterfalls, cascades, pools and gorges that winds its way through the area. We did this walk on the Saturday and everybody loved the place. It was probably the best place for swimming that we had come across so far. The girls, Chook and myself had a great time as the photos attest to and we could have stayed there for most of the afternoon! However the younger children were getting tired, which is not surprising considering the amount of walking that they done over the past week. When we arrived back at camp, once again Ruby got back on the job and she whipped up another damper for afternoon tea and so we had damper with butter and jam with a cup of tea. Just wonderful!!!
Sunday morning we were all away by 8.30 am after 2 nights at Silent Grove and heading towards Windjana Gorge, a distance of about 100 kms. On the way we crossed through the King Leopold Ranges, which once again were quite spectacular, with rugged rocky peaks and outcrops and wide golden grassed valleys with river red and ghost gums lining the creeks, many of which were still flowing. We arrived at Windjana at 12 noon, which is pretty much the earliest that we have arrived at any campsite during the whole trip. We were all set up by 1.00 pm. Although the campsite was not as pretty as Silent Grove, it had the same level of amenities and so was very comfortable. About mid afternoon, after listening on the radio to the Tigers smash the Hawks, (yellow & black); we set off to explore the gorge. Windjana is a striking outcrop of ancient limestone that was originally 300 + million years ago, a coral reef, similar in size to the Great Barrier Reef. As a result is has thousands of fossils encased within the limestone, many of which are visible to the naked eye. The gorge is also home to several hundred freshwater crocodiles, many of which were sunning themselves by the waterholes with in it. On our walk through we counted in excess of 50 in the space of 5- 600 metres. After spending about 2 hours taking in the sights of the gorge we headed back to camp to prepare the evening meal and discuss tomorrows plan, as we were all heading for Broome. After 10 nights of unpowered camping, cooking and cold showers, we were all looking forward to reaching this town and hopefully securing a campsite at one of the caravan parks. Aside from this we were out of food and really didn’t have another meal left between us. Securing a site at a caravan park was something that we had heard would not be that easy, with thousands of grey nomads spending 4 – 5 months of the year there and monopolizing the available sites. We decided that we would aim to be on the road by 8.00 am and heading for Derby, some 140 km away. Then we would push to be at Broome by about 1.00 p.m., some 170 m further on! We were all in bed early in readiness for the quick departure in the morn.
We were all awake and moving by just after 6.00 am, and breakfasted, packed and in the car by 7.45. A great effort. The last 140 km off the Gibb Road into Derby were a breeze, with the sections of unsealed road very well maintained due to the proximity of mines in the area and the last 110 km sealed. By 9.30 we had reached Derby. By this time Rachel and Chook were able to get mobile phone reception and rang through to the Cable Beach Caravan Park, which they had stayed at previously. She was able to get them to hold a site for themselves and us, but if we weren’t there by 2.00 pm they would give it away. We were in…You beauty, the pressure was off. The rest of the trip into Broome was easy and we arrived at the caravan park by 1.30 pm and checked into the last available powered site. It had been a memorable 11 days on the Gibb road and we had had a ball with Chook, Rachel and their children Maddie and Lachie. Now we were really looking forward to some “down time” in Broome and a chance to soak up the sun on beautiful Cable Beach.