The Gibb River Road

In 2007 we towed our previous van across the Gary Junction Road from Alice Springs to Marble Bar. We then camped on the cliffs at Barn Hill Station before continuing north to Broome. 
From here we ventured as far as Bell Gorge on the Gibb River Road before running short of time. We then returned home via the Tanami Road and Plenty Highway.

Now it was time to complete the remainder of the Gibb River Road (GRR) and to explore parts of the Mitchell Plateau. The GRR was originally constructed to transport cattle from the surrounding stations to the Derby abattoirs in the late 1960's and was gradually extended through to Wyndham. Road conditions vary depending upon when the road was last graded and how much traffic has been over it since this has occurred. The entire road and the majority of the gorges are all on private property so camping is really only allowed at official camp grounds. 

Leaving Derby it was just 5 km south of town that we turned east onto the GRR and for the next 100 km traveled along a bitumen road. For some unknown reason we then came across a 10 km stretch of dirt road before again continuing along the bitumen. The start of the dirt proper began 24 km before we turned south onto the Leopold Downs Road. 

The most direct route from Derby along the Gibb River Road to the Great Northern Highway near Kununurra is 647 km. Our plan was to increase this figure to 1347 km by taking side trips off the GRR. 

 Information we received at the Broome Visitor Centre and what we read on Wikicamps and information told to us by fellow Bushtracker owners Wendy and Peter, indicated that the road into Windjana Gorge was badly corrugated and the road into Bell Gorge could best be described as atrocious.

But to our surprise as we turned off the Gibb onto the road into Windjana Gorge we came across the bulldozer grading the road. We sat comfortably on 60 km/h for the 20 km trip into the gorge.

We made our way into the non-generator campground at the Gorge. We spent two days here in 2007 and completed the 3.5 km gorge walk and visited Tunnel Creek so this is just a brief one night stop before continuing on tomorrow. There was another Bushtracker parked nearby and Martin and Regina who we met later were exploring Tunnel Creek.

We were surprised at the number of people camped here for the evening. 

Distance covered 149 km

Elapsed time 03:07, Time moving 02:39, Avg speed 56.3 km/h, Max speed 84.4 km/h

After coffee and before breakfast we walked into the gorge and took some photos just after sunrise and before the crowds arrived. The 3.5 km gorge has been carved through the limestone of the Napier Range and in places the gorge walls rise 100 metres above the Lennard River. The amount of rain received over the past four wet season's has been very low and this was reflected in the size of the pools remaining in the river.

We were surprised how few people were camped in the generator campground. In future we will check out the generator area before deciding where to camp.

After leaving Windjana campground at 8:30, it was just 20 km north until we turned east onto the GRR. 

We crossed the Lennard River Bridge before stopping briefly where the road passes through Yammera Gap. Here we took a photo of the rocks above, that look like the profile of Queen Victoria's Head. 

Obviously too many corrugations.

Our plan for the next two nights was to camp in the Silent Grove campground at Bell Gorge. We left the GRR heading north to the campground.

After just 9 km we stopped and turned around. Our van tyre pressures were down to 22 psi and the 4wd down to 28 psi but the corrugations were unrelenting and there was no possible way to gain any relief.  We would have persisted with these conditions by dropping our tyre pressures even further if we hadn't previously visited Bell Gorge.   

We stopped at the now closed Imintji Roadhouse for a coffee break before deciding where to head for next. We spoke with two car loads of people who were heading back to Derby. They had just spent two days camped at Charnley River Station so we thought we would head that way. 29 km later we turned off the GRR and headed 43 km north to the station homestead. 

Just over 7 km along the access road is a boab tree with the initials of FH carved into the trunk. Frank Hann was an explorer who covered large areas of  Northern Australia in the 1890's.

Distance covered 216 km

Elapsed time 06:35, Time moving 05:16 Avg speed 41.1 km/h, Max speed 64.7 km/h

The station is now part of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy as is Mornington Wilderness Camp. The property is a 300,000 hectare sanctuary. There are many self-drive roads on the property and on our second day here we explored just over 106 km of these as we drove around looking at the many gorges and waterholes. 

Camping is $40 per couple and there are generator and non-generator areas. Drinking water is available along with hot showers and flushing toilets, however no fires are allowed. Here again the poor wet season and our travelling later into the dry season has meant that many of the waterholes were starting to dry up with the exception of Dillie Gorge.

Grivella Gorge:

Dillie Gorge:

We photographed the Kimberley Rose here which only flowers in the dry season.

Kapok flower:

Once back on GRR after spending two nights camped at Charnley River, we drove through rugged hills for the next 49 km. Eventually we crested the Phillips Range before descending for the run into Mt Barnett Roadhouse and to our destination at Manning Gorge. 

We decided to bypass Galvans Gorge's and visit it later without the Bushtracker in tow.

We paid our fees at the roadhouse before taking the heavily corrugated and stony track the 7 km into the campground that lies on a lovely waterhole on the Manning River.

Distance covered 98.1 km/h

Elapsed time 02:46, Time moving 02:19, Avg speed 42.3 km/h, Max speed 71.6 km/h

The campsite itself has some boab trees scattered around but the whole site is really just a dust bowl with the majority of the people who come in here driving far to quickly and covering everyone with dust.

Unfortunately the facilities offered are well past their use by date. The showers and toilets are housed in demountables with only 3 showers and toilets for women and the same for men. The site is quite large and on our first night there were over two hundred people camped here. The best part about camping here is being 100 metres from an amazing waterhole where we spent a considerable amount of time each day.

The Manning Gorge Falls walk starts from near the campground. You first have to cross the Manning River and in the past this was done by placing clothes and cameras in styro-foam boxes that were supplied and swimming across, but now there is a dingy to pull yourself across while remaining dry.

Unfortunately we were unable to walk to the gorge because Ros has a swollen knee which she hurt while we were at Charnley River Station. This particular walk involves climbing up and over large boulders but we are not too upset because we still have the lovely waterhole close by.

Later in the day, minus the Bushtracker we headed back along the GRR to view Galvans Gorge. 

Our plan was to have a dip after taking some photos. After taking several from one location I moved to the other side of the pool and bent down near a pandanus palm beside the water. I heard a rustle and thought it may be a water monitor but to my surprise a snake reared up on the rock beside me ready to strike. I made a quick retreat and any thought of a swim quickly disappeared as we made our way back to the 4WD.

After two days, we negotiated the rough track back to the roadhouse before heading further east on the GRR. 

From here we travelled through flat grasslands with forests of eucalyptus trees all the way to the Hann River crossing. 

The road surface for the first 40 km included quite bad stretches of corrugations mixed in with stony sections. We crossed the numerous flood-ways at walking pace because the surface of each one was down to bare rock and could be best described as rough as guts.

Just before heading north on the Kalumburu Road we encountered large stretches of deep bull dust. 

We stopped for morning tea on the northern bank of the Gibb River crossing:

The remainder of the road to Drysdale River Station consisted of some very rough and unpleasant corrugations: 

Distance covered 175 km

Elapsed time 04:31, Time moving 03:30, Avg speed 50.0 km/h, Max speed 68.7 km/h

Our tyre pressures on the van have been checked each morning and we have driven the entire journey to date with just 22 psi cold in the tyres. The 4wd cold tyre pressures have been 28 psi all round and of course speed has been reduced to cater for the reduction in pressures. 

A check of the van after this morning’s run revealed that the drinking water pump had come adrift from its mountings and we suspected that they were broken. On closer examination we worked out that the mountings weren’t broken. The mountings slide in and out of brackets attached to the pump so all I had to do was reconnect them and tighten the screws and we were all back in business.

Our campsite is a huge area and in imperial terms about 5 acres. There are thin eucalyptus trees spread throughout the site but none of these provide any form of shade. The whole area has been mowed at one stage and there is dead grass laying in patches with the majority of the area covered in good old fashioned dirt. Thank goodness for our CGear mat which helps to keep the area under the annex dirt free.

Even the Corellas are dirty in this part of the country:

Maureen and Colin who camped next to us at the caravan park in Derby in their Lotus Freelander and then again near us at Manning Gorge are once again camped nearby at Drysdale River Station. This is there first extended trip away in their van. 

Most of the serious off-road makes have been here including a Kedron, Trakmaster, Free Spirit and Explorer along with numerous camper trailers, tents and swags.

Today was a rest day with a short drive to Miners Pool on the Drysdale River 5 km north of the station. Camping here is $10 per night with drop toilets as the only amenity.

Debris showing last years flood level on the Drysdale River Crossing:

We are paying $15 per night per person which includes lovely hot showers, flushing toilets and washing machines. Powered sites are available for $25 per person per night but we just used our Honda genie to give our batteries a boost and to charge our Ipads, laptop and camera batteries.

On our last night we had one of their famous burgers at the homestead. Ros and I started with a beer each before buying a bottle of Merlot to finish off our dinner. 

Angela and Chris who met Maureen and Colin at Barn Hill joined us for a drink after returning from Mitchell Falls. 

Our intention was to leave our van at the King Edward River Crossing and spend an evening at Mitchell Falls. But there are no longer camp hosts at the campground and we were reluctant to leave our van there with no one to watch over it. Chris also explained that the falls were now just a trickle and the swimming holes above the falls that people use to cool down in after the walk had become stagnant. The 84 km access road took them four hours to complete with their 4WD.

After two nights we left Drysdale River Station at 8:30, heading south towards the GRR 59 km away. We traveled over the very rough corrugations we had experienced two days earlier. Her we headed east towards Ellenbrae Station. 

The road surface consisted of grey shale like rock and the ever present corrugations that never ended but just became worse the further east we traveled. The country was flat to begin with but then we drove through a series of hills with many twists and turns that kept our speed down and made the corrugations seem even worse.  

We stopped at the homestead to try their famous scones, cream and jam which was very enjoyable before paying our camping fees and setting up camp at the Ringers Campground. We were told that the nearby waterhole was safe to swim in and that there were the occasional freshwater crocodiles, but the dark water and pandanus palms didn't appeal. 

Distance covered 134 km
Elapsed time 03:26, Time moving 02:36, Avg speed 51.6 km/h, Max speed 70.1 km/h

Next morning we drove the 5 km back to the GRR along their rough entrance track before turning east again. We continued over the same road surface as yesterday except the corrugations became much worse and continued this way for the 111 km until we reached Home Valley Station. 

We stopped briefly as we crossed the Durack River to take photos of the pools of water laying downstream. Nearly all the trees in the river bed were leaning over so we can imagine the force of the water during the wet season.

We passed a Jayco pop-top van with its suspension on the left hand side of the road with the remainder of the trailer and it’s A frame about 40 metres further on the opposite side of the road. 

We found out when we arrived at Home Valley that the trailer belonged to a young family who were camped near us at Manning Gorge.

Looking towards the Pentecost River from east of Home Valley Station.

On arriving at Home Valley and before booking in we checked the inside of the van expecting there to be some damage from those absolutely horrid conditions we had just experienced, but to our great surprise everything was intact.

Home Valley Station is now tired up with Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia. The station provides programs for Aboriginal's from the Kimberley and some of the courses include welding, fencing and horsemanship. 

The station lies several kilometres from the GRR and provides many levels of accommodation. Apart from the campground near the homestead, there was another camping area on the banks of the Pentecost River a further 4 km away. We opted to stay near the homestead with its swimming pool and restaurant a short walk away. We had intended to camp beside the Pentecost River, but after checking out the area I’m glad we camped at the homestead even though most of the sites had very little grass.

Distance covered 111km

Elapsed time 02:43, Time moving 02:31, Avg speed 44.1 km/h, Max speed 71.0 km/h

One of the tours on offer at Home Valley was a sunset tour. The tour included a forty minute flight in a jet ranger helicopter. The flight included several swoops beside the Cockburn Ranges and down along the Pentecost River before landing on a hilltop several kilometres west of Home Valley with un-interrupted views of the Cockburn Ranges. 

The Pentecost River Crossing on the Gibb River Road.

Bindoola Gorge:

We chose Little Creatures Pale Ale to have with our cheese platter which was the perfect end to the day:

Leaving Home Valley at 8:30 after spending four nights, we soon arrived at the crossing over the Pentecost River just 9 km away. 

We could see from our helicopter flight yesterday that there was very little water over the crossing. One can only imagine what this crossing must look like during the wet season. 

Ros waited on the western bank and I dove across to the other side so that we could have a picture with the Cockburn Ranges as a backdrop. The remaining 24 km until we reached the EL Questro turnoff were badly corrugated just like the road has been since leaving the Kalumburu turnoff.