Gibb River Road, Must see Gorges

Hi Greendog

The Kimberley, in particular the Gibb River Road trip, has to be the best of the best Australia has to offer. Check out my blogs here for 2008 for a taste. My favourite camp was on the King Edward River on the Mitchell Plateau Road. We camped right at the water's edge and the flowing river was lovely for swimming. Many of the other gorges involve a walk to the waterfalls and swimming holes.

How's this for a perfect campsite?

Image Could Not Be Found

Motherhen

Greendog,
We too are also planning to do this trip, maybe we will come across each other so will be watching this thread also
barb

We camped at Manning Gorge for a few days and loved it. There is an amzing swimming hole right where you camp and heaps to explore. Then you do the walk into the actual gorge.Image Could Not Be Found
Tunnel creek is a must. Winjana is a great spot to explore and amazing to see the colour at sunset.
Mitchell falls in a must see.
We found they were all great in there own way so see as many as you can.
Will your car make....depends how you drive and if the graders have been there recently. We got over taken by a comodore with 4 black fellas in it doing about 100 km/h when we were there.
We also met a guy who said it was the roughest road he'd ever been on and turned around and went home. My point is if you have the time and take it easy you will make but if your pushing for time and don't slow down you will have trouble now matter how you prepare.
Drop your tyre pressure as well to help with the little bumps..

Josh

Well well well,,,,The pretty boy of the truckies world....
In my opinion every gorge is worth seeing but after a while they do get easier to drive past,,, but having said that i didnt drive past any and enjoyed each and every one for its similar but quite often different reasons....

As stated Manning Gorge is very interesting and a must stop.
Elquestro is a nice place....

Just allow plenty of time to turn at every point of interest.

You old Paj will be fine,, but dont make the mistake of trying to surf the corrugations or you will be sorry...
Just plod along and let the millionaires spend their coin on un-neccessary repairs.

Take a spare front and rear shocker, just standard second hand are fine....

We turned at Alice and saw Wolfe Creek on the way and also took in Tunnel creek and Windjana gorge.....

Mitchell falls is amazing but quite a walk to get there....

Cheers Big Ears... Your friendly driving instructor...

Hi GREENDOG,
We've recently returned from there.
We thought that Elquestro was expensive & over rated when we were there in 2001.
Emma gorge was absolutely magnificent but a long walk in with stone & boulder hopping. Well worth it!
I agree with Mother hen as far as the camp site on the King Edward River.
Manning gorge camp-site was really good. The walk in to the gorge is easier than the walk out.
We did the trip from the other end this year, we did it to where we stopped in 2001.
Holidays with some long service leave.
I found the walk into Mitchell falls difficult , I have crummy legs. A lot of boulder hopping( in my case crawling!).
The rocks in the crossing to see the actual Falls are so slippery I wished I had taken 2 sturdy walking sticks.
You can get a chopper back to camp.
The roads weren't too bad many had just been graded because of the huge floods this year.
Too be continued....

This is not a swimming nor gorge spot but.

I suggest that you go for a drive around the Cockburn Range on the Karunji Track. I was told that part of the movie Australia was filmed around the northern edges. The scenery certainly looks the same as in the movie. We got permission and a map from Emma Gorge resort near the El Questro turn off. It took most of a day. If you time it you could start in the morning with the sun shining on the eastern side and finish with a cuppa near to the Pentecost River, watch the crocs, with the sun shining on the western, most spectacular side. Worth a trip while you stay at Home Valley. Lots cheaper than El Questro ($66 to camp for one night - Ouch).

Karunji Track photos, map and information

The link includes a map, instructions and some photos including one photo of Baz Lurhman standing close to where we stopped for a photo shoot of our own.

Phil

Hello GD.
East to west:
El Questro station black cockatoo campground - Short easy 4x4drive & easy walk to El Questro gorge **** (wet & lush). Short easy 4x4 & easy walk to Moonshine gorge & backwater ***. Short easy 4x4 & easy walk to Zebedee springs (bathing) before noon ***. Short 4x4 drive to no walking to nearby Chamberlain gorge accessable by boat but close enough for a distant look. Short hard 4x4 engaged, no walk to Branco's lookout over Pentacost river ****. Day trip back out to Emma gorge and falls (52km return drive) long medium walk (c c cold swimming) ****.

Back out on GRR/Kalumburu road: Mitchel falls. Short swim & meduim walk Manning gorge & falls **** (swimming). Barnett river gorge, easy 4x4 access, medium walk (swimming) **. Galvan gorge & falls (swimming) right on GRR, short walk ****.Adcock gorge & falls 5km side trip, easy walk (swampy) *. Silent grove NP campground, Bells creek gorge & falls, short drive & walk (swimming) *****.Lennard river gorge, short easy 4x4 side trip, hard walk (swimming if game, shear cliffs (unnerving) ***. Fitzroy/Lennard road :Windjana gorge NP campground, short easy walk to gorge (freshwater crocs, no swimming) ****.Tunnel creek, short drive, cave water walking ***. Depending on your direction of travel, backtrack to GRR & Derby or continue to Fitzroy crossing & Geigie gorge, medium walk or boat trip ***.

We did everything but Mitchell falls because that track was in need of a grade and had broken several 4x4's & trailers at that time.
Enjoy your trip
Regards: Grant

Hi Greendog,

We did the Gibb River Road for around 4 weeks earlier this year. Many people do it in a lot less time given the whole leg is only around 640kms, but there are so many gorges to see you really need to give them time (in my opinion).

Just some comments:

Roads:
The road was like a highway this year (we did west to east) - the worst spots for corrugations were around El Questro.

We sat on 80kms per hour (average) - there were many others that would fly past us. Actually, I thought a lot of drivers were really selfish, I think they forgot that "it's all about the journey, not the destination", and would belt past you like they were driving at Bathurst.

It's not driving on the GRR that is difficult, it can be some of the roads into the gorges and/or stations which give the car a bit of a workout, and as road conditions change from year to year, who knows what it will be like when you get there....

Also each person's interpretation of what road conditions are like is an individual thing - what I think is easy you may not or vice versa.

Camping:
I wouldn't recommend basing yourself at any one particular gorge, I loved every single one that we could visit and stay (not all were open given the wet wet)...it really depends on how much time you have, but you really want to take your time if you can.

We have done plenty of travelling this year and the road to Cape York was 10 times worse than the GRR.

This was my third trip up that way, and whilst wanting to use Ron & Viv Moon's book to find campsites, unfortunately just about every single spot we chose had been washed away from this year's wet and the tracks to campsites they wrote about no longer existed. So whilst some information in the book is useful, don't count on using their book for free camping.

Whilst I could write absolutely heaps about the Kimberley (my absolute most favourite place in Australia), I wouldn't know where to stop! You're welcome to read our blog at Grant and Linda which has stories of our travels including the GRR, and if you have any questions from what you read, don't hesitate to ask.

It's an amazing place, and although we haven't even finished our around Oz trip yet, I'm already in the planning stages of a trip back up there next year....just don't tell my other half!!!!

Hi Greendog,

Have a look at this website here. There are a couple of publications mentioned at the bottom. We had an early version of these and it was very helpful.

You could also have a look at our blog from our 2008 trip here.

There are many wonderful things to see and do in the Kimberley. Some of our favourites: Mitchell Plateau and the King Edward River campground and going on the the Mitchell Falls. The helicopter is really worth the $$$ even if you just do a short flight. Mornington was also great - we loved the scenic drive in with lots of boabs to see, and the swimming holes on the river. Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek are "must see". I could go on but all the gorges are different, but as others have said, if you try to do it all too quickly you will find yourself becoming "gorged out".

Cheers,

Val.

Yep, the Kimberley.

Gods Country, proud to be born and bred here.

Gibb Road is fine mate, long as the right preperatio on vehicle is taken, keep speeds to about 80km/h, drop tyres slightly, not too much if loaded up though.

Chances of getting a flat are the worst from Wyndham end to the Pentecost river. Mainly because of volume of traffic to El Questro and the amount of grading it receives sheers the rocks and leaves them very sharp. Had many flats in this area over the years.

Free camping is pretty non existant these days.

Just make sure your vehicle is up to scratch and you'll be fine mate. Unless of course you beat the grader there, then its a totally different story.