El Questro/Home Valley/Kununurra

G'day Mick.
From Kununurra to Home Valley you drive past the El Questro turn off so it doesn't matter what order, turn left of straight on.

Caravan parks in Kununurra are very popular in the school holidays so avoid if possible. The school holidays finish for WA schools on Sunday 15 July.
The road to El Questro turn off is bitumen. The road in, is rough in places and has numerous creek crossings with a couple having a steep exit.
The road the Home Valley is gravel and was in pretty good condition July 2017. Again, avoid the school holidays. The Pentecost River crossing was about 50cm deep and quite rocky but slow and steady will get you thru.
It's beautiful country up there so enjoy your holiday.
Cheers, David

Mick, WA school holidays finish on 15 July, so if you're arriving in Kununurra before then, definitely book well ahead....the sooner the better. The worst part of what you're proposing is actually the Pentecost River crossing towards Home Valley. It's just rocky and will be slow going in an on road van. Not impossible, just slow. For ELQ, it's 17kms from the bitumen into the station and again, you'll have a Pentecost River crossing there to cross as well (a much smaller crossing than the river crossing on the Gibb). No dramas here either, just take it slow. So what to see...heaps to see around Kununurra, Hoochery, Sandalwood Factory, Kelly's Knob, Mirima National Park, Ivanhoe Crossing - head towards Wyndham and take the old road to Parrys Lagoon for something different. At Wyndham head up the Bastion to the Five Rivers Lookout (especially at sunset), check out the wharf and the excellent museum. On the way back to Kunnas, check out Moochalabra Dam, the old prison tree, and the grotto. That's plenty to see before you even hit ELQ and Home Valley! LOL. You can easily spend a few nights at ELQ to see all the sights (and tours if you wish), and Home Valley doesn't have a lot of natural attractions, but more tours. They're both great places, but different. Is that enough to keep you occupied for a while? :-)

There is a heck of a lot on in Kununurra in June-July and if you have not already booked a site you may not have a lot of choice. During peak periods then can be booked out before the travel season starts. As the Kimberley has had a very big wet this year there's a good chance water levels will be well above 2016 when we were there last. Same applies at ELQ and HV8.

Strongly recommend you have a chat to the friendly and helpful folk at the Kununurra VIC sooner rather than later.

If you have not then we recommend Lake Argyle for a few days but once again this is the peak travel season in the Kimberley. The stats say an average of 300,000 people visit the area over the 3-4 months of the "dry" season

Rob

Hi Mick

Dave and Rob give some good advice.

It’s been a good wet season to date in the Kimberley so the state of the river and creek crossings will not be known for a while yet.

When we last crossed the Pentecost in June 2015 the water depth in the main crossing area was about 70cm at the deepest part. Was happy to have the snorkel on the Prado. The rocks are big and rounded so a lumpy but hard base. See photo.

Some of the El Questro creek crossings had steep entry and departures. We have a high clearance off road van but one still had to take care choosing entry and departure lines.

The clearances , overhang you have on your van will be a factor.

Depending on the amount of time you have you could check it out yourself not towing. About 140kms round trip off the main road including El Questro. It’s a nice drive anyway. There is often a queue to cross the Pentecost so you can observe how others go.

Cheers John

All crossing will need care in onroad van. If you can get to the river camp at Home Valley make sure you do the sunset drinks and watch the colours of the Cockburn ranges change. Great facilities at the river also with pure water and hot/cold showers. Road into EL Questro will test the van but as others said it depends on the wet and how the rivers and road recover.

Kununurra can get very busy. You should book well in advance. Can highly recommend the Kununurra Rodeo. Not so much for the events but for the variety of spectators that come to watch.
As mentioned in previous posts the Gibb River Road is bitumen to the turnoff to El Questro. The road in is gravel but when we were there they had a grader working on it almost constantly.
When we stayed at Home Valley we noticed a Falcon car pulling a standard caravan. So it would appear that taken carefully the GRR could be done that way. Needless to say it would depend on when the GRR was last graded and of course how fast you drive. Remember those tyre pressures, lowering them makes such a difference.
If you are travelling only as far as Home Valley, with care you should not have any problem.
Argyle Dam and Wyndham are well worth a visit. Suggestions by previous posters also highly recommended.

I won't add to what others have already said, simply it will be busy.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the Gibb track/road will probably be getting alot rougher by this stage so tyres need to be good condition and they will get a hammering.

The jumpup just west of QV8 (home valley) has telstra mobile reception, or did at 2014 on the 3G system can't comment about the newer 4GX system.

Not sure how long how long you have time wise but why just the eastern end.

Is it possible to do west end winjana gorge and tunnel creek as well. and then you have Bungles gieke gorge and bit of a hike wolf creek carter in the middle on the blacktop

As thery say when in rome !