Gibb River Road

I apologies in advance for this blog, it could be a little long and probably full of a lot of photos.  It was a big few weeks.  After we spent a night at Fitzroy Crossing we cut back onto the Gibb via Tunnel Creek.  Along the way we saw some pretty nice Boab trees, I especially liked the one growing up on top of the cliff faces.
First stop Tunnel Creek, which is this really interesting natural cave creek rocky area.  You have to take torches and you do get your feet wet wadding through the water.  We really enjoyed walking through the cave, that was until I saw the fresh water crocs.  Luckily we had Craig's fancy head torch and could see them well.  They were only small and we figure they weren't hungry.  So we waded through the water near them to cross to the next section.

We pulled into the camp ground and got a shock at all the caravans.  Everyone had secured the shady spots but we found an area to set up camp in.  The next morning we set off to walk the gorge.  On the way I asked the kids what they knew about croc safety, and they replied “never smile at a crocodile”!  Made us laugh.  We walked down to the gorge and straight away saw a few crocodiles, just freshies though.  We were a little nervous but the crocs just ignored us.  One of the guys pointed out some brown shapes on the other bank.  But I thought they were tree roots, until I zoomed in with my camera and saw that it was about 20 crocs all laying together!  We hiked along the gorge for ages, well it seemed ages, it was so so hot.  We wanted to reach the end of the hike, well Vicky did anyway! We eventually reached the end and started walking back.  We stopped and  had lunch sitting watching the crocs.  By then it had got hotter and we ran out of water.  Lesson learnt there, we were very thirsty by the time we got back to camp.  At camp there were lots of Pelegrine Falcons soaring about.  They are pretty awesome to watch but a little freaky when there's a few of them circling.

We set up camp at Silent Grove and the kids straight away started climbing the rock faces.  Jake and Charlotte both managed to tear a pair of shorts.  That afternoon we did the hike into Bell Gorge.  Was a magic spot and we loved the swim at the end.  That was until Marks traumatic experience.  Mark and Jake decided to jump in with their cowboy hats on.  Jake held his Mark didn’t.  Marks hat sunk to the deep dark depths of the gorge.  The look of devastation on Marks face was priceless, he was so sad.  Then he spent the next  hour duck diving trying to find his hat.  This is his hat he has worn basically everyday one this trip.  As he will tell you, theres a lot of history in that hat.  This was over a month ago and tonight he declared that at least the finally resting place of his beloved hat was a beautiful gorge!!  My thoughts were its only a hat.  But I was very supportive and cracked a few hat jokes, “Hats off for trying to find it”.  

We left Silent Grove and headed to Manning Gorge to camp.  We stopped at Imitji Roadhouse for morning tea as it was Viks birthday.  Then we went to Adcock and Galvins gorges.  Both lovely pretty little waterholes and we had a swim at each.  Saw our first snake, Vik was very brave and watched where it went and I raced back to the children to ‘protect’ them, plus I was a little nervous! 

Adcock Gorge

The very large scary snake

Galvins Gorge

Another busy camp ground, but we understand why its so popular.  It’s a magic spot and we ended up staying three nights.  We walked over to the falls and had a wonderful day playing about.  Everyone had a go at jumping off the tall rock ledges, of course Mark had to have a go at the really high one.  I was pretty impressed with Zane and Jake, they jumped off almost the tallest one.  We swam over to the falls and swam behind them.  Its moments like these you realise why you travel, its because you get to swim under waterfalls and not go to work everyday!  Was such a magic day.  We also had a lot of fun playing in the boat that is used to get across the river.  We spent some time catching up on school work.  Swam a bit more in the river near the camp.  Made a rope swing and the kids and men jumped about.  Was just nice to chill out and relax for a couple of days.  Except for the horrible horrible crows, they insisted on sitting in the tree above our tent and screeching at 5am!  Basically they followed us on the Gibb and woke me charmingly every morning.

We left the Gibb road and turned onto the Kalumbaru road (very corrugated, the worst yet) and headed to King Edward River camp for the night.  With a stop off at Drysdale Station for a yummy burger for lunch.  We set up camp and had a swim in the river and then the next day we went to Mitchell Falls. 

At the Mitchell Falls camp ground there is a helicopter company.  You can pay to be helicoptered back from the walk.  It kinda made us over estimate the walk and we were expecting something hard.  It turned out to be a nice walk into to the most spectacular water falls.  They cascade down these four tiers and look amazing.  Had some fun taking photos until Mark made me climb up high on a cliff with the kids, not fun for someone who hated heights.  Great photo but I didn’t like doing it!

After leaving Mitchell Falls we stop at an aboriginal art site.  Lots of wonderful pictures here, some of them very old.  We tagged along and listened to a tour group with a guide who knew all the dreamtime stories, very handy!

We've seen a couple of dingoes lately

We drove back along the retched corrugations on the Kalumbaru road back onto the Gibb.  We camped at Ellenbrae for a night for Mark to repair the Cruisers wheel bearing.  We had the most delicious scones the next morning sitting in a rustic pretty garden at Ellanbrae.  Had a chat to the managers who are lovely people and were really sweet to the kids.  Was amusing watching the kids try to eat scones.  Apparently they have been deprived and didn't know what to do.  Jake put the jam and cream on top! Then we explained you cut them in half, so he did that, then put the two pieces together like a burger and ate it!

On the way we stopped at the viewing area for the Cockburn Ranges.  They are a pretty magic sight.  Then we went and set up at Home Valley Station.

If you ask the kids especially Charlotte she’ll tell you the best thing was the horses.  She was up early everyday to race over to the fence and the stables.  She was devastated when she was told she wasn’t old enough to ride.  She had to be happy with a cart ride, she was a little disappointed!  She and Jake did look cute being towed around by a Shetland!  The best bit was afterwards going into the stables and patting all the horses.  The head cowboy was lovely and had a great talk with the kids.  He even wrote out all the horses names for Charlotte.

We also did a few of the walks around the place.  Not very exciting and pretty hot with no freshwater we could swim in, darn those crocs! At least the homestead had a fabulous pool.  We also had a yummy meal at the restaurant.  It was a nice place for tea, kitted out in old farming equipment and saddles.  Jake was extremely concerned when he read they had crocodile balls on the kids menu.  We had to explain that it meant croc meat not testicles, was amusing!  Mark particularly enjoyed the live music, he played a lot of good songs.  

One of my favourite times at Home Valley was going down to the river on sunset and watching the sunset over the Cockburn ranges.  The colours were amazing and it was so relaxing and enjoyable. We saw a few fisherman who had caught a few nice size Barramundi.   On the way home we came across a large bull.  Mark of course thought he’d get out of the car and say hello.  Jake was horrified as Mark was wearing red.  I was a little amused until Mark got very close trying to pat the bull, then it backed up and started pawing the ground.  Mark soon hightailed it back to the car!!

After Home Valley there is the Pentocost River.  At times its pretty deep, but at the moment its all ok.  We sat and watched a group of trucks hauling gear across then went over ourselves.  Mark and to go back and forth a few times to get the action photos.

 Onto El Questro we went, with much anticipation.  We had heard mixed opinions……well we loved it.  It’s a great relaxed camp ground right by the river.  We pulled into the camp and spotted our friends the Hardfurms set up in their Jayco caravan (identical to ours).  It was fabulous to spend time with them, but made me miss my van.  It was only an hour or so back to Kununurra but Mark declined to go back and get our van for our last few nights.  Bugger, I was well and truly over sleeping on an odd shaped lilo, in a tent with birds waking me at some awful early hour!  Luckily there are so many positives about camping!  First job was to see about Charlotte having a horse ride, or we weren’t going to hear the end of it.  Luckily the age limit was ten and we booked her in!

That first afternoon we went for a 4wd around El Questro with the Hardfurms to Explosion Gorge, Brancos Lookout and Chamberlain Gorge.  We found Branco’s pretty spectacular, you could see for miles. 

The next morning we went to Zebedee Springs.  Now that is a very beautiful spot.  Imagine lush tropical forest with a small river cascading down into little pools surrounded by rocks.  Plus the water is warm, such a wonderful place.  We ended up going twice as we liked it so much.  The last time we were there Jake and I were in one of the pools when a snake crept past on the rocks.  I made Jake move back and I watched where it went.  It started heading towards the rocks to go down towards some other people, so I yelled out to them that there was a snake.  The snake started coming back towards us, so Jake and I quickly jumped out of the water.  But the snake must have changed his mind because we suddenly heard screaming from down below us.  The snake had slid down the waterfall and landed on a lady at the bottom!  We still loved the place, not sure how she felt.

Then we went for a hike with the Hardfurms through El Questro Gorge.  Another of my favourite places.  Its another lush ferny foresty area, with a creek running through it.  You walk into a small waterfall and swimming hole and then have the option of climbing the rock on the side and continuing on through the gorge.  We decided we wanted to, well Mark did and I followed.  Seemed like a good idea until about half way up the rock and I got scared.  But I couldn’t get down, so I had to go up, luckily Mark was there to help.  I couldn’t have got half the places we have been without a little help from Mark.  We continued on got a bit hard and took a bit of rock climbing in some spots but we had a lot of fun.  Found a lovely quiet little waterfall at the end and had a swim.

We were all up early the next day for the much anticipated trail ride for Mark, Charlotte and Jordan.  They were all so excited, especially the girls.  By the sounds of it they had a wonderful ride, apparently the guys running it were characters.  It was also Tons birthday so we bought her a little pressie from the gift shop.

Had a lazy day for a while.  Then decided to go to Amalie Gorge for a walk.  It was late, it was hot and the walk was ok but nothing great.  We have high levels of beautifulness (Cam's word) now… the water wasn’t running and the pool at the end was pretty stagnant.

We went 4wding again to Pigeon Hole and Saddle back.  Both fun drives, even when Mark almost slipped of one rock.  I was guiding him, but a little badly!  The views again were pretty amazing.  Such beautiful country out here.

We took the kids for a walk into Emma gorge.  A good walk into a very large and pretty waterhole and waterfall.  We jumped in but it was freezing and  mean Karijini cold (that’s our scale now).  We swam over to a small thermal spring on one side of the gorge and warmed up, but then it was so cold to get back in again.  Really we have been so spoilt lately with all these lovely fresh water swimming areas we have been to. 

Boab water!

We went out for tea that night to the café and had some yummy burgers and a few drinks.  We sat around our camp fire for a while.  Then we could hear someone playing the guitar.  Next thing we lost Mark, he went and joined in the neighbours campfire.  Cam and I ended up following (Ton had gone to bed).  What followed was a really fun night of far too much alcohol, lots of music, singing, guitar playing and even some spoon playing.  We met Leo, Amy, Wayne and Jodie that night.

The next day we packed up for the last time, I even threw  the lilos in the bin!  That felt good, but the rest of the day wasn’t so pleasant, I appeared to have some sort of sickness (hangover).  Made a not so fun day to travel to Wyndam I can tell you that!  We had a look at the big croc, the jetty, had a yummy lunch at a café, looked at the view form the top of the hill and got some welding done on the cruiser.

We stopped at Moonshine for a swim on the way out

All in all the Gibb was a lot of fun, and a few harder times as well.  We loved all the magic scenery of the waterfalls and gorges.  Charlotte loved all the horses and Jake loved jumping off all the high rock ledges.  We found it a lot more civilised than expected.. a little disappointing.  I enjoyed camping for the most part, but got well and truly sick of setting up and packing up by the end of it.  Our caravan was such a luxury, was ever so pleased to see Travelling Long.