Gibb River Road Hints

We travelled in the opposite direction in September 2002. There would have been no trouble towing, except up to the Mitchell Plateau. A great camping spot was at Bell Gorge on GRR. If you get to the camping area early enough you take a tag from a notice board at the entrance which gives you sole use of a camping spot. The one we were lucky enough to choose backed onto a deep swimming hole to which we had sole access. Beaut walk to the falls as well. Manning Gorge was another great camp spot. Would give Jack's Waterhole a miss - lots of dirt and dust (and bats!!) when we were there. Windjana Gorge camping spot was also a good camping area.

It's a great part of the world. If you have time go to Emma Gorge at El Questro. Beautiful walks and great swimming spot. There are hot springs called Zebedee Springs where you can work your way down from very hot, to warm pools of water - very picturesque.

We got 1 puncture on the GRR - at Bell Gorge. That was all. A plug up tyre repair kit plugged up the hole and was invaluable asset on many other occasions.

Have fun!

We travelled in the opposite direction in September 2002. There would have been no trouble towing, except up to the Mitchell Plateau. A great camping spot was at Bell Gorge on GRR. If you get to the camping area early enough you take a tag from a notice board at the entrance which gives you sole use of a camping spot. The one we were lucky enough to choose backed onto a deep swimming hole to which we had sole access. Beaut walk to the falls as well. Manning Gorge was another great camp spot. Would give Jack's Waterhole a miss - lots of dirt and dust (and bats!!) when we were there. Windjana Gorge camping spot was also a good camping area.

It's a great part of the world. If you have time go to Emma Gorge at El Questro. Beautiful walks and great swimming spot. There are hot springs called Zebedee Springs where you can work your way down from very hot, to warm pools of water - very picturesque.

We got 1 puncture on the GRR - at Bell Gorge. That was all. A plug up tyre repair kit plugged up the hole and was invaluable asset on many other occasions.

Have fun!

Too much pressure in your tyres will INCREASE your chances of getting a puncture so I believe you've been misled there. Adjust your tyre pressure according to the conditions eg the section from El Questro to Kalumburu Road is more corrugated than the rest (traditionally and I can't speak for currently) and has more rocks etc just waiting to penetrate your sidewalls. If sidewalls are too hard and have no flex then rocks will open up your tyres like a can opener. The one & only puncture that I received after 2 visits to GRR was in the first 5 km's thta I did as my tyre pressures were too high (I was given same tip as you).
Your camper will struggle in this particular section (around Jack's Waterhole - don't know if that's been resurrected either) as it is corrugated but you will get through okay. Might be a bit hard getting across the Penetcost depending on how deep that is at the time.
El Questro, Emma Gorge, Manning Gorges, Bell Creek (Silent Grove) & Windjana Gorge are all a must with a stop at tunnel creek on the way out. Old Mornington station was pretty good too. You'll pick up snippets along the way of what's hot & what's not but most of it is well documented in Ron & Viv Moon's Kimberley book.

Hope this helps

See post 13332 regarding tyre pressures.
Re camping sites - leave them cleaner than you find them.
It's a beautiful part of Australia - take your time and enjoy it.

Driving on corrugations, higher pressures are better (though not for comfort, I agree there). The thing that will destroy tyres is heat buildup due to pressures being too low. On the GRR you just don't have rocks attacking your sidewalls!

On a recent trip I did Great Central Road/Tanami/GRR on 50psi no problems. Travelling companion running 30psi exploded (not just punctured) six, yes six tyres. He was heavily loaded (as was I).

Lots of people won't agree with this and so be it, it's one of those enduring arguments, but it works for me.

Whoever told you to increase the tyre pressures has never travelled those roads.We travelled that road last year and ended up with 24 & 28 psi with no problems. If you run your tyres at 45 - 50 on those roads you will need to stop every 50 k's an tighten all the bolts on your vehicle and trailer(and your false teeth). We recently travelled the Carpentaria highway from Booroola to Woolagrang towing a boat. While there are nowhere near as many corrigations as the Gibb River road we ran the troopy at 26 & 30 and the trailer at 16. You will get a lot less flat tyres at these pressures than at the high ones.Since we learnt to drop our tyre pressures we have had only ond half flat due to a leaky valve. no more tyre fractures. Half the reason people have tyre problems is they take far too muchbleepwith them on their trip.Take only take what you need You don't need to take half as much as you think. You can buy supplies everywhere in the top end.
Enjoy the Kimberleys its a great part of our country. Doug

Whoever told you to increase the tyre pressures has never travelled those roads.We travelled that road last year and ended up with 24 & 28 psi with no problems. If you run your tyres at 45 - 50 on those roads you will need to stop every 50 k's an tighten all the bolts on your vehicle and trailer(and your false teeth). We recently travelled the Carpentaria highway from Booroola to Woolagrang towing a boat. While there are nowhere near as many corrigations as the Gibb River road we ran the troopy at 26 & 30 and the trailer at 16. You will get a lot less flat tyres at these pressures than at the high ones.Since we learnt to drop our tyre pressures we have had only ond half flat due to a leaky valve. no more tyre fractures. Half the reason people have tyre problems is they take far too muchbleepwith them on their trip.Take only take what you need You don't need to take half as much as you think. You can buy supplies everywhere in the top end.
Enjoy the Kimberleys its a great part of our country. Doug