Blog Review: The Duncan Road

Hi Baz

Thanks for taking the time to view my latest Blog.

For some reason, it is one road that you never hear much about and it is through my Blog that I might tempt other visitors to the area to drive and experience the beauty of the Eastern Kimberley.

The surprising thing that we noticed was the complete lack of other vehicles driving the road compared to other roads like the Oodnadatta Track, Birdsville Track or the Strzelecki Track where you will at least see other vehicles every half hour or so. In some way it reminded us of the Anne Beadell Highway where you have the area to yourself.


Cheers



Stephen

Thanks for great information Stephen

I have recently moved to Kununurra and had been looking at this one.

The information you have provided was very good and has now encouraged me more than ever to do this trip.

Thanks Stephen, Your contributions to EO are fantastic and certainly are interesting.for reading and research.

Thanks for taking the time to put your blog together Stephen. You put plenty of information in your article.

My wife and I travelled this road in the reverse direction a few years ago while travelling through the Kimberley Region with friends. The other couples travelled down to the Bungle Bungles from Kununurra. That wasn't an option for us because we were travelling with our dog at the time, so we went in a different direction and we planned to meet them in Halls Creek in a few days time.

From Kununurra we drove out to Lake Argyle. To this day it is still one of our favourite parts of Australia. We drove on to the Duncan Road and spent a couple of memorable days travelling through this remote part of the World.We only passed three vehicles on the entire trip and two of them were a road crew heading to Kununurra for the weekend.
Did you spot a memorial/grave site on the south side of the Negri River? Just before we came to the river there was an old Aboriginal fella sitting under a tree in his good clothes with a bottle of water. We pulled up to see if all was okay and he said it was all good. On the other side of the river I spotted a memorial set high on the river bank with majestic views over the river and lands.

We camped along a creekbed somewhere south of there. While I was gathering firewood I noticed a tree stuck about 8 metres off the ground in the limbs of a large tree. When I saw that I got an appreciation of the huge volumes of water that flow through that region during the wet season.

As you stated, the section nearer to Halls Creek has some beautiful gorges. This part of the road deserves at least a couple of days to really appreciate the beauty and solitude of the area.

Thanks for your blog.
Steve.

Always interested to read about the Duncan Highway, Stephen. It's on the bucket list, so good to read your blog, and check out the great photos.

Below is a photo taken 45 years ago. Not much has changed apparently, except the sign, the style of transport and the breed of dog!



When the main Ord River Dam was being built in 1970-71, they changed the alignment of the highway from the Behn River north, as the water level of the dam would cover parts of the old road. The old road used to junction with the Victoria Highway, probably where the quarantine station is now.

Where the Duncan crosses Hicks Creek is where we used to have dinner camp when mustering the Newry Station Bullock Pdk. Think there was water there most years, and would have been a good place to camp. We'd muster the cattle to there for dinner, then walk them back to Glenarra Bore, where we'd spend a couple of days drafting out the fat ones on horseback, before they went to the meatworks, in either Katherine or Wyndham.

Just need to find time to go back there now,
Thanks,
Bob

I Agree,It's a Great Drive,Traveled it 3 or 4 Times Over The Years. One Time I got Invited in To Camp at a Road Crews Camp just Near Forrest River,a Good Night having A Yak and Few Drinks Around The Campfire, Very Enjoyable.

Well done Stephen! What a great report!
We drove the Duncan Road in the same direction in May 2016 and really enjoyed it (with the Ultimate in tow, of course). The isolation is amazing - we saw only two vehicles between Halls Creek and the Victoria Highway!
Barry

Hi Stephen
Excellent blog - thanks for writing it. It's that kind of blog that gets people interested in exploring places that they hadn't previously thought of!
I have been thinking about exploring the Duncan Road ever since we did the GRR a couple of years ago. With any luck we might be able to get around to doing in mid-next year.
How many days would you suggest allowing to travel between Halls Creek and Victoria Hwy?
Cheers Nick