Kimberley Trip

you are smart taking the time and travelling with your kids now, wished we had of done it when our kids were young, now 21 and 23 and not cool to go up north, with mum and dad, they think it is for the oldies!!ha
we did the pilbara 2 years ago with some friends (actually 3years agao see the mind is going already ,can understand what the kids mean now!) 2 years ago did the gibb river went as far as kunnurra, bloody beautiful..make don't know what your time limit is but try to see as much as you can , can recommend a few places if you are interested.
cheers for now

back again,places to go
kunnanurra,sorry about the spelling before, make sure you do the triple j tour of lake argyle,really good also in kunna zebra rock,burra burra(best icecreams and mango smoothies),also tunnel creek,geike gorge.
while in the pilbara newman mine tour is worth going on.
back on the gibb river drysdale station is a must(best beer garden) and also home valley station,really nice people,elquestro(great).
hope this is helpful
cheers
for now

Heather, we (wife and I) are heading that way, leaving Gold Coast in early May. We are traveling with other friends by bitumen (they tow a 5th Wheeler) over to Broome, but we are hitting the Dirt (GRR, Mitchell Plateau, Kalumburu etc etc on the way back. We will be leaving Broome around 20th June (give or take a few days). Taking our time. Don't expect to be home until end August / early September.

If our paths are likely to cross, happy to link up for a few days. We are in an 05 Hilux with Odyssey Off Road camper in tow (see rig details)

Heather,
We are doing a 17 000 km trip to some of those areas at a slightly different time. You may have already thought of this but have you factored in services? I have booked in for services in the Alice (x2) and Broome after the penny dropped that our Patrol was going to need an 80 000, 85 000 and 90 000 service while on the trip. Both workshops said it was amazing how many tourists lobbed up each day during the season wanting a major service done that day or the next day.
Just a thought.
Jon W

Heather
Our family will be leaving for the Kimberly in May. We will be heading straight for Broome and leaving on the 31st of May to start the Gibb River road, I have 8 weeks leave so we will be spending plenty of time at the attractions along the way. We are travelling in a 120 series Prado with Jayco Offroad Eagle camper. We are also setup to swag it a few nights for the Mitchell Plateau and Bungle Bungles etc. We also have 2 kids 5 and 3.
Sounds like we might cross each others paths.

Leith

Heather
We are going up around the same time but we are going for about 3 months we drive a mitsabishie triton with a Deluxe camper trailer .I no the area well as i lived in Tom Price most of my life so if you c us your welcome to join us .My wife has never been that way before but evan living there every time you go out touring it is always difrent and never get boured in going again and again .If we dont catch up Have a great time .

A ha, the GRR. Corrugations, will test your patience. Don't look like dolts and forget spare U bolts. Old shocks will leak and tyres get shredded on that road where you're headed.

Or if you are lucky and fluke it just after a grade you will think you are on a highway ( a dirt one that is ! )
I have done dozens of trips to Kununurra or Derby and back and never had a flat or done a shockie. Other trips people are right it's rough and I have done several tyres and over the years a couple of shockies.
I recall one trip, on my own, old troupie with back seat droped and loaded right to roof with stores- groceries and spare parts etc, only spare still where it was on the way in, on the very bottom behind drivers seat. It had a back door spare holder but I never used it as the one thing I couldn't do was lift the big tryes up high enough to get them on or off it. So got a flat and had to unload the whole B vehicle to get at the spare. I unloaded the entire back, got spare out ,changed the tyre, re loaded everythin, just ready to get back in and go again and along comes vehicle with 4 strong young blokes saying ' Can we give you a hand '
It's the luck of the draw !
( was more careful where I put spare after that)
cheers, Anne