port warrender

Hi one way ticket

We didn't include Pt Warrender in our tour. I expect that road conditions change after every wet season, so unless you can gain recent reports at the start of the season, it may be best to wait at the King Edward River camp in the hope that you will meet someone who has just been.

The only information i have is from Ron Moon's Adventurer's Guide to the Kimberley. He speaks about Crystal Creek then Walsh Point.

Extracts -

Crystal Creek: From Mitchell falls turn off can take anything from two hours to a day. It varies from very rough to completely washed out. Fresh water is scarce, sandflies are in plague proportions and there is little shade. Fishing is good but big salt water crocodiles are common.

Walsh Point: The last eight kilometres take anywhere from an hour to a day - it is not for the faint hearted! At times this track can become badly eroded and washed out, making it basically impassible to vehicles. The coastal scenery in this area offers sweeping views of islands and ocean. It is a fisherman's paradise. Sandflies and crocs are common.

Motherhen

We didn't go Port Warrender - Maybe not the best place to take an F250 and Bushtracker!

May actually be very different now.
This is second hand information, so don't rely on it................

Last year, we were asking this same question (we were at Kalumburu at the time) and were told that the Drysdale River mob had a contract to grade thru to Port Warrender and since they had a boat that they liked to launch there, the thought was that the grading job might be a pretty good one???????

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Was last there in the early 90's. The track in had been rebuilt, but it was a cert to have been washed out again since. The track goes around the bay (Pt Warrender) above the mangroves and goes out around to Point Walsh. Not a great deal there apart from some large middens of oyster shells at the Point. Was warned that it was the home of a 14' salty in the area. Some oysters on the rocks at the Point, but we weren't all that interested in getting them off, on the grounds of the croc's interest in the area. There was an abandoned 15' tinny there when we visited; something to do with some local community trying out fishing, but giving up on the idea.
Crystal Creek was more interesting and accessible.
The sign at the start of the descent off the plateau said "Crocodiles and sandflies abound". They were right on the second part, didn't test out the first part of the message.
Basically, try the track and if you get through, then fine. But don't bust a gut trying - not a great deal out there, and wouldn't recommend camping there. Because of the sandflies, wouldn't recommend Crystal Creek either for camping.
cheers, Gerry

Track conditons would not be relevant now ;-)) but we went out to Crystal Creek in 1985 and again in 1987 and if not a fisherman I wouldn't bother. There is no shade, the flat area at the end of the track is basically a big rock shelf above the creek where it drops off the plateau into the mangroves. When we were there we could look down into the pool at the bottom and watch the crocs floating in the water.
Sandflies abound and can imagine that the mossies would be horrific after sundown.
The drive in was interesting with lots of low range and wheels in the air in a 47 series troopy.
We did look at going into Port Warrender but the track was badly washed out and nobody had been in for a year or two.
Again apparently camping wasn't too flash, crocs and sharks etc abound plus sandflies and mossies.
As the wife was pregnant with number three we stayed under the big trees at the old mining campsite and did day trips around.

thanks to all, great info

The last 12 k is quite rough and will take you about 2 hours. The views for the ridge just prior to the rough section are attractive, otherwise it would be for the fishing that you go there.

We where there in 2006. I'd say it was on of the best places we did on our tour of northern WA. For me it was the solitude, good 4x4ing to get in, a feed of fish and crab and great views driving in.

Couldn't get intoCrystal Creek, tried but track was totally gone after the wet season. It just sort of vanished and couldn't find any trace through the grass and water.

The track in is very rough and takes many, many hours for the short distance. Like the post above the last drive down the mountain takes the longest. But the views and experience is worth it. There is a toilet that's kept pretty clean. Rangers turned up there to clean it and have a fish. We had fresh water running in the creek that enters the bay. There are three or so camp spots and that's it, then you have to camp in the sun on a rock flat. Saw one croc that was very used to humans. I'd say when it gets bigger it'll be moved, it showed no fear of us, in fact it stalked us a couple of times.

In my opinion for the above it was a fantastic place and if you're in the area well worth the trip in. If you hate it then at least you get to tick it off the list.