Comment: Gibb River Road

Hi Hannah.
The Gibb is really not that bad. We've towed a camper and small van on it with no problems. If you ensure all the rack holding bolts are tight and things are well secured you'll be OK. Steel is supposed to flex better than ally but ours has always held up OK.
If travelling to Drysdale River or Kalumburu the road conditions can be much worse but as always moderate your speed and lower tyre pressures.
Take the usual tyre plugging gear and other emergency stuff (take Drysdale's phone number as well as they'll help in emergencies but will charge for their time which is fair enough) and enjoy yourselves.
Cheers.
AlanH.

If the boat trailer is robust, has tough tyres and you take it ''quite easy'' where required (plus adjust tyre pressures to suit terrain), there's a very good chance you will have a happy run on the Gibb. Just to add to the above - from the Gibb, the Kalumburu road up as far as Drysdale River Station is often as smooth as a baby's bum.. it's usually north of there that things get challenging for suspensions and other hardware. Also.....check the Drysdale Station website (Roads and Travel Tips), re their latest policies on assitance for roadside breakdowns etc..

We did the Gibb last year in July/August from Broome and the Gibb was in very good condition until the El Questo turn off. I believe that they either have or are sealing that section now, which is a bit sad.

It also depends on how many places you want to see on the way. The Gibb is only about 640 km long, we did 3,000 on it in 4 weeks, visiting all of the gorges etc.
The road to Drysdale was pretty corrugated when we did it, but driving to the conditions it was still OK. The road from Drysdale to Mitchell Falls was pretty bad and the road to Kalumburu was real bad. But again, driving to the conditions was the secret.

We have a alloy roof rack and the only problem I found when we got home was that some of the screws holding the rack to the roof had came loose. Probably because we had been on heaps of corrugations, so it does pay just to check them as you go.

Kevin

We have towed 2 different boats to Kalumburu and back without serious issue (one from Adelaide via the Anne Beadell and the other from Brisbane via the Plenty and Gary Junction Highways).
That said, I have seen lots of boat trailers suffering damage at Kalumburu. Mostly because they were obviously not up to the task.
Brocken boat supports, mudguards falling off, spare wheels falling off etc, etc.

I would not go back to Kalumburu without a boat.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

we just got back about 2 months ago. 2 Prado's and our GQ Patrol. Roads were very corrugated in some places with tyre shredding rocks all over the road.

My personal opinion is:
1. Prado not a problem
2. rooftop tent on alloy rack not a problem
3. boat trailer. No. wheel bearings, extra tyres to worry about and carry spares for. Not to mention the constant shaking of your boat that simply isn't designed for that. I'd expect damage on the boat so could be expensive trip if this happens

Travelling the GRR is not a problem, if you are perpared to just plod along, accordiing to the road conditions.
That is the clue, according to the conditions.
We towed out Trak Shak up the GRR, not long after the graders had been thru most of it, so 70 - 80 km/hr was the order of the day, and approx 25 psi in the tyres.
Had a dream run.

Chuck in no graders for a while, and bad corrugations, and it can turn into a nightmare real quick.


Remember
You are on holidays, and towing, so just slow down and enjoy it
CHeers
Bucky