The Kimberley

Plenty to see and do without the Gibb

Hi Julio,

When are you planning to do this trip? It is getting late in the season now, so unless the graders have even over the roads, it can be pretty rough leading into the wet season.

There is a lot to see in the Kimberley, and you will miss quite a bit if you do not travel the Gibb. What towing vehicle and caravan do you have? A well prepared vehicle and caravan driven to the conditions should be OK, depending on how rough the road has become.

A lot of the reason why corrugations develop is that people do not let their tyres down, and drive at too high a speed. This causes the suspension to “bounce” and helps create the corrugations. Of course, you need to be careful when letting your tyres down that you do not go too far if you are carrying a lot of weight, and you need to reduce your speed as well to avoid the tyres from overheating.

Good luck with whatever you decide, safe travels.

Macca.

Depends on your rig & your tolerance of rough roads vs not seeing some of the Kimberley's best jewels.

If you choose not to travel the GRR there is still much to see in the Kimberley.

First time we visited the Kimberley, in 2009, we drove just the first mainly sealed section of the GRR from Derby to visit Windjana Gorge in our motorhome. Since then we have returned in a more suitable vehicle to see all that the GRR offers.

Morning Julio, there is a fare bit to see aroundHalls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Kununurra, Wyndham, Broome & Derby all accessible by bitumen roads.El Questro is only a short dirt road drive to get in and this will give you a good taste of the waterfalls typical of the Gibb.Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek are similarly accessed via a short gravel road drive.

If you are concerned about corrugations and your van you can leave it in one of the close by towns and day trip into the spots mentioned above.

You can see both ends of it (El Questro, Windjana, Tunnel Creek) without going off the bitumen of the Gibb River Rd itself.

Though the tracks into the stations, gorges and campgrounds themselvesare often quite rough and may include water crossings.

April to September is the season generally and a lot of places are closed now until next year.

Having done the GRR and Kimberley 3 times - the first time in 1988 - I feel it would be a shame if you did not do it. I recall all of the many gorges along the way as each being different and it was their separate "uniqueness" (if there's such a word) which encouraged my wife and I to re-visit about 10 years later and again a further 10 years later.

Do not miss the GRR.

Other responders have mentioned tyre pressures and speed and they're 100% spot on with their advice.

We drove the GRR about 7 or 8 times between 1995 and 2008, towing a boat on 3 of those occasions.
I don't put the GRR into any special road category. If it is open to public traffic it is just another graded bush road and its condition varies with the grader timing, the weather and the traffic.
Drive too fast for the conditions and your vehicle and you will break something.

The Kimberly is possibly the most spectacular part of Australia and the GRR provides access to many of its gems.
Some of our later Kimberley tracks.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

I must say that of all of the places we visited on our "big trip" to Australia the GRR was one of my three highlights, and so I suggest looking for a way to explore as much as you can - perhaps leave the caravan at one end and head up and back, with tents perhaps.