Sealing the Gibb River Road?

Stop it Peter. Please

I will be heading up there in August for the first time and I am certainly envious when I read the stories of those who travelled that way decades ago and camped alone in the special places that are now visited by thousands and fenced off with bollards!

Cheers

Rocco

Sorry :(
In 1999, we were the 3rd & 4th vehicles into the Mitchell Falls camp area for the season (after 2 Heliwork vehicles who were setting up a fuel dump and base to operate from).
No fees, no national park.
The road in was a bit slow though....

We stayed 4 days though.....

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Yes 1997 just 4 other vehicles at Mitchell Falls .Adventure back then stopped anywhere to camp and explore .I feel like I really do not want to go there anymore even though spectacular place.I loved Jacks Waterhole beautiful place and go for canoe and explore .But heard closed. .

I'll second that Peter.
We have fond memories of the Gibb R. road as you have described.

All this could be said about all the OUT BACK TRACKS !! or so called tracks .
I vaguely remember traveling to Alice springs back in 1973 dirt road Pt Augusta to the NT border & corrugated the hole dam way :-( & birdsville track ... what track .
cheers

Nik b you make a good point .But why not leave the last of the frontier as is,we already have world class tourist attractions Kakadu,Uluru Alice Springs area etc etc So I think its fair to leave some tracks for adventure.

It's that kombi again.
This used to be a track, but that's progress.

Lazylux 16 ... i'm with you all the way brother !!!

GRR is one of those great treks that don't need messing with , there's a good bitumen road around ... for the townies ...hahaha
we luved our trip down the GRR & wld hate to see another go !!

cheers

I have spoken to people who did Darwin and Perth in Holdens back ye olde days .They said it was a nightmare but wouldnt have had it any other way.Bitumen can drive you mad whiteline fever put cruise on how boring ...

Now I'm feeling my age. My first job as a cadet surveyor in 1969 (almost 50 years ago) was working on the Gibb River road. The contract involved surveying the section from about Ingliss Gap to Gibb River station, which at that time was where the road virtually ended, with just a track continuing on to Wyndham. It was used purely as a road for the stock trucks and as such we virtually saw no traffic unless they were carting cattle to Derby. In the three months on the road we saw only one tourist type vehicle and at times would go a couple of weeks with no vehicles at all. In 2009 I toured the road and had a hard time remembering any of the features due to the huge changes. I did find at one of the gorges, that we had set up camp almost 50 years ago, the faint remains of a boabab tree that we had carved ( it wasn't known as graffiti in those days). Hopefully it will take another 50 years to finish bitumising the road.

Ken, you might just get your wish. News article from today.

"Projects that are expected to vie for funds include a marina in Broome, a deep-water port in Exmouth, and a $127 million upgrade of the Tanami Road from Alice Springs to the Kimberley, as well as building an Outback Highway from Winton in Queensland to Laverton in WA."

Foreign investors in line for cheap loans

Cheers, Ron.

WBS - I couldn't agree more. Mick Urlich, an old 'Slav prospector who lived next to us, on a gold lease at Higginsville, put it in a nutshell, back around the late 1970's - when the Coolgardie-Norseman Rd was fully upgraded to full width National highway standard.

Mick's exact words were, "You know, they reckon that new highway cost a million dollars a kilometre - and they're complaining about the cost! You wanna know something? It's WORTH EVERY CENT THAT IT COST!..."

"When I first arrived here in 1923, the 'road' was so bad, it was easier to drive through the bush, ALONGSIDE the road!!
The 'road', was just two deep rutted wheeltracks, full of bulldust, potholes and bogholes!! It took the best part of a day to get to Coolgardie! (120kms)"

Back in the "bad old days", it cost a fortune to get anything transported when roads were poor - and you had to rail anything even moderately heavy!
I can recall the transport cost on camels for the cement for the Niagara Dam wall was 400 Pounds ($800) a ton! - in 1897!

Any area lucky enough to have a rail line, was in clover - anywhere else, getting your heavy goods moved was a struggle.
Any road upgraded to National Hwy standard is a godsend, and a national asset, and no-one will ever regret building it, it's worth BILLIONS to the nation!

Cheers, Ron.

But then there are those who will never get the opportunity to have the experiences that we have had .... I feel sorry for the kids who have no idea of what an amazing lifestyle we had without all the comforts back then ... :-)

Yep, many thousands more tourists!
I am grateful we got to those places first.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

Hi T and V many people up at Mitchell Falls what's camping there like now I was there when free camp just plonked ourselves anywhere .cheers

Gday Lazylux,

Sorry, I didnt take a lot of notice about free camp sites at Mitchell.
We camped at King Edward River - nice spot - and did the run to Mitchell Falls and back in the same day. Not too rushed and we saw what we wanted.
There were a few other vehicles doing the same run but it was not too busy at that time. Plus the road was just recently opened due to rain in May.

I'm guessing there might be camp spots up the Surveyors Pool Road. Didnt notice much around closer to MF where one could set up. The several tracks I saw were restricted access.