Derby to Kununurra
28 August – 9 September
Entroopy Log, Day 116
Derby to Windjana Gorge
We left today on our much anticipated trip along the famous, if not a little infamous, Gibb River Road – a road which was constructed by Pastoralists last century to give access to their homesteads. These days it is a tourist hotspot during the ‘dry’ and has hundreds of vehicles travelling it during peak times. Thankfully we come after peak season, so it is a little quieter.
I get an uneasy feeling driving along the first 100km which is sealed, and apparently being upgraded, the clouds both before us and behind us look a bit menacing, much like they did in Broome early this morning when we got drenched. Oh well, no turning back now.
On the dirt now, and the rain has started, heavy enough to have the windscreen wipers on the second to highest setting, though there isn’t much difference to that and the setting up. We’ve got 30km to go until we get to Windjana gorge campground.
The road is starting to get slippery; this clay which makes up the road is rubbish in the wet. Have been a bit sideways a few times now, so have slowed down greatly, I’m wondering how the four vehicles with the trailers who passed not so long ago are going, but pulling in to the campground we find them there discussing the drive and their next move, sounds like it was pretty hairy for them too. We settle in for the night after moving the vehicle out of the slowly forming lake.
Entroopy Log, Day 117
Windjana Gorge
It’s still raining this morning after heavy rain during the night. We’re really glad to have put the fly on the tent during a lull in the rain, otherwise we would be drenched right now. Over breakfast we met the ranger for the national park, a young guy with a young family, driving around each one of the campers letting them know that due to the 30mm of rain last night we’d probably be spending another night there. The rain continued for most of the day, only easing at about 4pm.
After a day around the vehicle, doing odd jobs, baking a carrot cake, reading our books we took the opportunity to go for a walk down the gorge. This gorge is known for two things, the first is the 100 or so fresh water crocodiles or ‘freshies’ which inhabit the permanent pools in the gorge, and the other is the tens of thousands of flying foxes, or fruit bats, which live in the trees. We walked down the side of the gorge under the Leichhardt Trees filled with bats, experiencing first-hand the stench they manage to produce. After a while we came to an area down the other end of the gorge which we dubbed the ‘bat cemetery’ strewn with the carcasses of dead bats, some still clinging to the branches they died on. Creepy.
The day culminated with the exodus of bats out of the gorge at dusk, an absolutely amazing sight to behold. The bats flight is very quiet, it’s a shame they can’t keep their mouths shut.
We also tried out our rear awning for the first time this trip. A bit more of a pain to put up than our side awning, but it gives us a great space out the back to shelter from the rain and sun while keeping it off the back of the vehicle. Will definitely use that again when we’re in a spot for more than one night.
Entroopy Log, Day 118
Windjana Gorge
Bad news, the roads are still closed, so we are stuck in the Windjana Campground for another 24 hours. In stark contrast to the day before however the sun is out and it is getting hot.
We spent the day again doing odd jobs on the car which have needed to be done for a while, like fixing one of the mosquito screens in the tent. A very productive day in the end, if not very eventful, hopefully we can get out tomorrow.
Entroopy Log, Day 119
Windjana Gorge to Silent Grove
So, the roads are still technically shut, but the ranger drove them yesterday on an emergency mission to get some ice for some of the other campers who didn’t have fridges, and advised that if we stayed on the hard single track in the middle we would get out ok and not do any damage to the road. Time to make a break for it with everyone else in the campground.
Windjana Gorge cuts through the Napier range which stand vertically, up to 100m above the surrounding plains. It is the remains of a fringing reef which extended around the north west of what is now Australia when it was below sea level. The reef growth kept up with the rise in sea level, allowing it to survive for millions of years and build up the fossil rich limestone which we see today. The area was uplifted and the surrounding plains eroded leaving the range. Faults in the rock allowed water to very quickly erode some sections allowing Windjana gorge to run straight through the 750m wide ranges. A similar, but different feature on the Napier Ranges is Tunnel Creek.
We visited Tunnel creek on the way out of isolation and were incredibly impressed. A natural tunnel which runs straight under the ranges. Being the ‘dry’ we could walk from one end to the other, only having to wade through one freshie crocodile pool. The cave is also home to the ghost bat, Australia’s only carnivorous bat, but they are very shy and we couldn’t find any.
Back on the main Gibb River Road now. Got through the wet parts and are cruising along at 60km/hr. I don’t particularly want to get another puncture, and this road is notorious for them. The landscape is gradually changing from the large plains with grasses and low trees to more low mountainous terrain, punctuated with exposed rocks and small amounts of water. We found a shady spot for lunch amongst the striking King Leopold Range.
The final activity for today prior to arriving at silent grove was a walk to Lennard Gorge, yet another beautiful example of a gorge, with the special part about this one being one side is Dolomite rock and the other side is Sandstone. It is so hot and humid, and the water at the bottom looks so refreshing, there is just the small matter of sheer cliffs stopping us from finding a solution to this situation. Damn.
Entroopy Log, Day 120
Silent Grove to Manning Gorge
The Highlight of today would have to be Bell Gorge, 19km up the road from Silent Grove. We managed to find ourselves the first to be there in the morning, which was cool to be alone in such a breathtaking landscape, even if only for a few minutes.
The approach to bell gorge along a dry rocky creek bed, sparsely vegetated by gums and palms which opens out into a large rocky landscape with the sheets of rock inclined up to the left. The river flows through this from a hill on the left and disappears down into the gorge straight ahead down a stepped waterfall cascading down five levels. There is a scramble down the rocks on the far side of the waterfall to reach the beautiful water at the bottom of the falls for a refreshing swim. With only a small proportion of its maximum flow coming over it at this time of year, the water moved from one side of the falls to the other with each step down, making it quite an interesting sight.
On the road back out, we stopped for a couple of guys on the side of the road with the bonnet up. Turns out they were the guys we were chatting to down the gorge. Their engine had stopped dead while they drove along, and we helped troubleshoot it for about half an hour using our combined knowledge of the Toyota 1HZ diesel engine, eventually narrowing it down to the fuel cut-off solenoid on the fuel pump, worked out how to rig it so they could continue, and left them to it. I do wonder what will stop us on the side of the road one day, hopefully we get some good Karma out of stopping today.
Eventually we came to Mt Barnett Roadhouse, which Estelle was understandably excited about. We got the obligatory fridge magnet. In behind the roadhouse is an Aboriginal community and a campground close to Manning Gorge, our stop for the night.
Entroopy Log, Day 121
Manning Gorge to Gibb River
We’re here, it would be rude not to walk the hour into the gorge and have a swim. Its 9am and already stinking hot. The track was so well signposted that I’m not sure how I’m ever going to follow a track again without a large white arrow on the ground every 10m. Do you think maybe some tourists got lost once?
Wow that gorge was worth the hot walk. Again there weren’t too many people down there, and we had the main pool underneath the showering waterfall to ourselves for about half an hour. While Estelle swam around I got distracted with the camera, climbing to the top of the falls to get a better view. This gorge is reasonably shallow, but no less beautiful. The falls in the wet roar over a 20m wide face, but today there was only a couple of showers coming over the edge. The waters here have an amazing abundance of fish, drawn to anything which is dropped into the water. I reckon there would even be some which would be big enough to have a good feed.
After paying an exorbitant $2.05/l for Diesel, we moved on to Barnett River Gorge for our second walk of the day. This less visited gorge along the road is beautiful in its own ways. A long deep permanent pool was great to cool off in after the walk along the cliff edge to the northern end of the gorge where the river flows slowly from shallow pool to shallow pool.
On down the road to a roadside camp on the banks of the Gibb River – lots of birds around and a fire to keep the worst of the bugs at bay.
Entroopy Log, Day 122
Gibb River to Mitchell Plateau
The journey to Mitchell Plateau is a side road, off the side road, off the Gibb River Road, and is most commonly described as “Atrocious”, quickly followed by, “but worth the 500km round trip of the worst corrugations you have ever seen”. Funnily enough we didn’t see too many other travellers on the road up there, just the APT Kimberly Experience Bus, which was one step ahead of us the whole way, and a few other cars.
The first 130km was easy enough to the turnoff onto the side-side road (side2), so smashed that out in a couple of hours and crossed the King Edward River after the turnoff to get to the swimming spot on the other side. No flow in the river was disappointing, but the water in the permanent pool was clear enough to swim in.
Along the side2 road are a couple of aboriginal rock art sites displaying come good examples of Bradshaw and Wandjina styles. Bradshaw shows the human form in ceremonial dress, often elongated bodies and limbs and ‘pin jointed’ at the joints with large dots. The Wandjina style focuses more on the heads in depicts ancient spirits who used to inhabit the land, their eyes are large with small lines radiating out from them.
Eventually we got to the turnoff to side3 road, which would lead us down to Mitchell Falls, our destination for the night.
Entroopy Log, Day 123
Mitchell Falls
Mitchell Falls is the crown jewel of the Mitchell Plateau and is usually super busy when water is flowing over the falls. We were a little surprised to find that there were only four other groups in the campground built to cater for over a hundred. I guess that what we get for being so late in the dry season. Fortunately for us there was still some water flowing over the cascading falls from pool to pool. I remember thinking this place must be truly impressive in the wet. By the time we had stood at the top of the falls for a while and made our way around to the other side of the falls to the lookout clouds had started to roll in and dump rain on us, maybe we will get to see some more impressive falls? In the meantime though we are hiding under a rock, still getting mildly wet waiting for the rain to pass to get the picture postcard view we were hoping for. I thought this was supposed to be the driest part of the year! The rain passed after an hour or so and having taken at least 100 photos of the same thing we headed to the chopper pad for our 6 minute flight back to the camp ground.
Having splurged to get up in the Helicopter we were able to get a real appreciation for the surrounding landmass of the plateau, well worth the $22 per minute to get our first chopper ride.
The road the day before had highlighted an oil leak in the transfer case, so while I had a look at that, Estelle watched the clouds gather around us again, this time looking a whole lot more ominous. Within no time the rain started again, but I was just thankful that we got our flight in when it was dry, that was until it really started bucketing. Any rain up until that point pales in comparison to this rain, there was a solid inch or so of water flowing under our vehicle threatening to take my Jandals away. I wish we had put the fly on the tent…. oh well better late than never.
Entroopy Log, Day 124
Mitchell Plateau to Ellenbrae Station
Waking up to clear skies this morning was nice, but we fully expected to either have the ranger tell us that the roads were closed, or find a sign to that effect. Lucky for us neither happened, and we got out, though we did spend the next 3 hours along side2 road wading through puddles up to half a meter deep and a couple of hundred meters long.
Once back on the Gibb after an epic drive back from the plateau, we made our way to Ellenbrae Station to relax in their fire powered bath.
Entroopy Log, Day 125
Ellenbrae Station to El Questro Station
Puncture Day. It’s probably not fair to characterise this day as the day we got another puncture, but it’s what springs to mind. I was just thinking that we had almost got away with doing the whole Gibb without one, while we drove past the carcasses of tyres past on the side of the road. The puncture was large and quick, but we managed to stop before destroying the whole tyre.
We were in the last 200km of gravel road with the scenery dominated by the grand Cockburn Ranges and the Pentecost River flowing below them as it makes its way out to Cambridge Gulf. It was an absolutely spectacular sight with will stick with me for a very long time.
Unfortunately when we finally got to the mighty Pentecost River it wasn’t flowing, so it was just driving across a bed of rocks. Not quite as exciting as it could have been, but at least there was water to the sides making it picturesque. The road into El Questro Station also crosses the Pentecost, but they are good enough to dam it, so (we figure) travellers get the feeling that they are really in the wilderness having to do a 400mm deep river crossing. It was fun.
What was more fun was the river crossing to get up to El Questro Gorge that afternoon, getting the bonnet under water for the first time. A little bit nerve wracking, but the door seals held and we didn’t get any water into the cabin. The gorge itself was pretty cool. Thin and steep sides covered in ferns and fig trees, with the rocky gorge floor covered in palm trees native to the area. Another chilly swim in halfway pool made the 38 degree day a little more bearable.
Entroopy Log, Day 126
El Questro Station
After deciding to spend another day at El Questro we set to work early to see some of the attractions. This started with Zebedee Springs, a thermal spring which permeates out of a fault and runs down a valley in between a lush palm grove. Natural rock pools allow visitors to lounge about in the 30 degree water, but only from 7am to noon, at which point it is shut to the plebs, presumably for the high value ticket holders on the various tours. We made a good effort at it and spent a good hour submerged.
The Gibb takes a toll on vehicles. Most vehicles come out the other end with one or two problems, others shred a number of tyres, others don’t make it at all. We had a number of small issues of our own arising from the corrugations and dogging countless rocks for 1000km. I feel like I should list them:
- One tyre puncture
- A damaged Dual Battery Isolator
- ‘Rooted’ rear suspension bushes
- Problem with water pump wiring
- LH Low Beam Headlight stopped working
- Failed Rear Exhaust Mount
- Bracket for coolant reservoir fatigued
- Minor Oil Leak from the front seal of the transfer case
- Hose came off the windscreen washer reservoir pump
Most of this was reasonably easily fixed (except for the bushes, tyre and oil leak) so I set to work in the 39 degree temps to try and rectify as many as I could. The isolator took some soldering, the exhaust got wired up until we can get a new mount, the water system pulled apart and put back together, and all grease points pumped full.
When it started to cool off, we continued our tour of the attractions hitting a couple of the lookouts, both requiring low range 4WD to get up. The first, Saddleback Ridge, gave us a great view of the Pentecost River flowing through the station past the camp site. With the sun setting we headed to Pigeon Hole lookout, known for the great sunsets with the light hitting the bluffs above the curving Pentecost River below as it meanders to the coast. In the distance we could see the grand Cockburn Range in the distance. What an amazing way to end the eleven day trip through the north Kimberly.
Entroopy Log, Day 127
El Questro Station to Kununurra
Standing in Emma Gorge, the last attraction on the Gibb Rivre Road, surrounded by small Black White and blur butterflies, green ferns and clear blue water flowing through the rocks under my feet it is sad to think that our journey is almost over. The pool at the top of the gorge is replenished by water raining down into it from the sandstone above where it filters through to the surface. There are a lot of people around, but we don’t care as we savour our last swim in this part of the world.
M