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Today we started the Gibb River Road trek. This trek is much talked about for its notoriously bad road conditions however I had phoned the road information freecall number and heard that the graders had been improving the road for the last few days. Sure enough, we passed the graders in the first hour but they had smoothed the road all the way to Jack's Waterhole. Graders still cannot cut out corrugations but at least they can soften the track a little. Our original plan was to make it to the Jack's Waterhole for our first night's camp however with the road conditions better than expected we arrived there at lunch time. We pushed on to the Durack River where we were planning to camp in the dry river bed but at 2pm the rain came down and we didn't even think we'd make it that far. The Gibb River Road is composed of blue metal and sharp rock and even though the rain was torrential we were surprised to find it did not soften the road significantly. Typical of what we'd seen in the tropics the storm was isolated and the Durack River had not received the rains we'd just driven through.
| The crossing itself was dry but we drove along the river bed to set up our camp a little further off the road. We were surprised to find another camper already set up and also to hear a bit of traffic passing the crossing. We spoke to our neighbour and learned that it had rained a little here before we'd arrived but we could see no evidence of dampness. Even the wood was dry enough to prepare a good fire to cook a camp oven roast lamb. |  |
About an hour before the roast was ready we sat down to watch a spectacular lightening display not far away. It came closer quite suddenly and we packed up our camp prepared to get out of the river in case it flooded. The rain put out our fire but we buried the camp oven to keep it cooking and dug it out once the storm had passed. It was our best tasting roast yet - and beautifully tender. Our neighbour was concerned about the rising water levels and shifted camp to the high side of the crossing about 10m above the river bed but we stayed where we were for the night.
What a lovely place to wake up - paperbark trees, bird sounds of all varieties, sand underfoot and remnants of last night's fire.
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We headed off towards Barnett River Gorge, 173km of more corrugations. We had a fair amount of muddy puddles along the track and just past the gorge turnoff Mark had to snatch us out of a mud hole we'd slipped into. |
We continued along a few more kilometres to a campsite beside the Barnett River and then over some rock steps to a rock plateau where we could drive no further.
| From here we followed cairns to the Barnett River Gorge itself - about an hour's walk rewarded by cool flowing water. |  |
That afternoon we explored more tracks and found a fabulous campsite with plenty of shade. This was the lower part of the Barnett River and was quite narrow at the point where we camped.
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Across the bank was a beautiful boab tree throwing its own reflection on the river. |
For dinner we cooked Lamb Rogan Josh curry.
We drove over more corrugations to Manning Gorge, which lies behind the Mt Barnett Roadhouse. We had swapped all our CDs with Mark and Sharon's collection and were enjoying hearing a different collection of musical styles. We are so happy with our 10 stack CD player - it has kept up the whole way, even on the roughest of roads.
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We arrived quite early, still morning and had the day to enjoy swimming, lazing about, reading and fishing. We chose the pick of the camp sites beneath a huge boab tree. |
For dinner we cooked spaghetti boglanaise. The night was still and hot so we set up the top level of the car for sleeping and I sleep there and David beneath. It was marginally better because we weren't getting the heat from each other.
We woke bright and early at 6am to get a head-start on the day before it became too hot to do anything. We walked with Mark and Sharon to the upper Manning Gorge, a rocky 1 hour walk, crossing the river and traversing across the rocky plateau to the top of the gorge. The walk was tiring and hot but the swim was refreshing and the views worthwhile. We returned by 10am, refreshed again in the lower Manning Gorge and set off in the cars for the next few gorges for the day. We had planned to stop at Galvans Gorge, Adcock Gorge and Bell Gorge where we would camp for the night. We changed our plans after a hot walk to Galvans Gorge where there the water had almost dried up for the season and the stagnant water was not inviting. We skipped Adcock Gorge and continued driving to Bell Gorge. We were disappointed to read the ranger's notice that as at 13th October camping was not allowed at Bell Gorge and we would have to camp at Silent Grove 10km away from the Gorge. It was too hot in the afternoon to attempt the steep walk down and back to the gorge so we spent the afternoon showering at Silent Grove. The camp sites were pleasant but we were stung $14 National Park fees but the facilities included flushing toilets so it was a treat. We cooked another roast dinner in our camp oven - this one a roast pork with crispy crackling.
Today was exciting.
Around 8am we left our trailer at the Silent Grove camp and drove the 10km into Bell Gorge. Here, we walked for one km down a steep, loose and rocky hill before following a small creek on our right.
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Finally, the gorge opened up before us - we were at rockpools above a large, running waterfall. This was definitely the best of the gorges we had seen so far on the Gibb River Road trip. The track continued over the rocksteps and up and over the steep rocky mountain and dropped down into the pool below the waterfall. |
David went ahead while Mark, Sharon and I cooled off in the rockpools. After a while David called out for us to come down - it was an "easy track". Mark went first and then I went alone 15 minutes later. Sharon stayed at the top. I followed the cairns the whole way but as I neared the bottom of the trail I feared I would never get back up. I also realised I had come too far down the gorge. In desperation, I called out but David could not hear me over the sound of the waterfall. I attempted to climb and swim back up the gorge but it was beyond my ability. Finally, I realised I'd have to climb back up the loose rubble and try to pick my way through to the upper gorge. I was crying when 1/2 hour later I found my way to where David and Mark were swimming. They were just about to leave, no idea I'd come down, so I got myself wet, and then we started the trek back up. Of course, there was a much simpler route and within minutes, we were back at the top.
After our morning exercise, we had showers back at camp and then drove to our next destination - Windjana Gorge.
Windjana Gorge |
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The drive through the King Leopold Range was spectacular and we stopped many times to take photos. It was still the heat of the day when we arrived at Windjana so we stopped just to have lunch and then continued to Tunnel Creek. This was the most popular attraction we'd seen along the entire Gibb River Road drawing 20 odd cars into the carpark. Wearing only cossies, and armed with our torches, we entered a huge cavern which meandered for 750m - in places sand, in places waist deep water which we waded through to get to the other opening in the tunnel.
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However, just before we ate our evening meals (seafood & pasta in a creamy pesto sauce), around 7pm, we saw a front of flames about 1km long and only 1km away. The wind kept changing directions and the whole camp ground began to feel a little nervous. A few cars drove out to the main road to investigate until the fire cut off the road. The ranger evacuated his home and began single handedly fighting the fire between ducking back to the camp ground to advise the campers of our options. We watched the front for hours as it steadily approached to within 300m of us until a storm came and put it out.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RICHARD JACKA!
Driving out of our camp site this morning, we could see the remnants of last night's fire. It had come surprisingly close and had unfortunately destroyed the homes of many animals, now wandering aimlessly across the road. The drive along the last part of the Gibb River Road was non-descriptive, our only concern being whether we had enough fuel to make it into town. Derby was meant to be a couple of nights stop-over for us but we didn't get a good feel from the town and collectively agreed to drive to Broome instead.
Mark and Sharon had not planned to even make it as far as Broome. Their plan was to stay in Derby a few days before turning around and going through Halls Creek, down the Tanamai Desert and into Alice Springs. It was their 8th year anniversary and for the sake of 200km thought the idea of a nice meal in Broome would be worth it. We were pleased too because it meant we didn't have to say goodbye so soon.
Arriving in Broome we noticed the temperature drop but not before our air-conditioner stopped working. Poor David had to fix both a broken exhaust and now the air-conditioner pulley bearing. There are a choice of 3 caravan parks, one in town, one in Roebuck Bay and one at Cable Beach. Cable Beach seemed the place for us so we set up and here we are! David and I went out to dinner tonight too - The Old Zoo Café at Cable Beach.