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| Windjana Gorge |
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Emma Gorge.
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| Cockburn Range |
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| Doing it hard on Cable Beach, Broome. |
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The Gibb River Road is one of those iconic 4wd journeys that we have in Australia, one that I'd only ever dabbled at the edges of, mainly because I always seemed to be up there in the wet season. On this trip we found ourselves kicking back on Cable Beach in Broome in early May, with a need to get back over to Darwin we decided that, with the road open, we would head across the Gibb River Road. This road is an old beef road, opened up to facilitate the transport of cattle, the 700 odd kilometres between Derby and Kununurra makes it actually shorter than the main highway. Distance is a little bit of an unreliable measure along the Gibb River Road though as most of the main attractions require detours off the main route. A lot of punters would treat this as a once in a lifetime adventure and spend weeks making their way from one gorge to the next, with the need to get to Darwin quickly we had to hook in, our trip was really just a recon for a future longer visit.
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Cable Beach
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| While we were in Broome we took the opportunity to head up to Cape Leveque and check things out, the weather was less than ideal though. |
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So what I'm getting at is this is far from definitive guide to the Gibb River Road, it's just another selfish post of mine to document a small window in my life. First up on this trip we had to check out Windjana Gorge, I'd been here years before but this was Sam's first visit. Apart from the geology of this place it's main claim to fame must be the number of freshwater crocodiles that live in the waterholes, I can't think of another spot in Australia that has the same concentration of toothy lizards smiling at you from the waterholes. Being freshies though there's not a lot to worry about, although it's best not to corner them, you can even swim in the waterhole if you are really keen.
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There is a very large population of resident fresh water crocodiles at Windjana Gorge.
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Late afternoon Windjana Gorge.
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Pushing on we checked out the Lennard River Gorge, named after the dorky dude on the Big Bang Theory....err actually that may be another Feral alternative fact. From here on the Gibb River Road passes a roll call of amazing gorges but we really didn't visit many of them, the big exception though were some of the gorges at El Questro. For anyone who's been living under a rock, El Questro is an old station that has been opened up for tourism, this place has some amazing scenery. The Cockburn Range is the reason for the great scenery around El Questro, if you've ever seen the Kidman/Jackman movie Australia then you will have seen a bit of what this spot in the Kimberley has to offer. We decided to set up camp at the Emma Gorge Resort for a couple of nights as we explored a tiny bit of the station.
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Windjana Gorge
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The Cockburn Range
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The Pentecost River is probably the dodgiest on the Gibb River Road, both in terms of water and crocs!
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| Late afternoon, Cockburn Range. |
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Emma Gorge was expensive though, from memory we paid well north of $100 a night for our tent, just as well we were here for the scenery and not the accommodation I suppose. Emma Gorge was the first spot we checked out here, the gorge being a daily short walk from the resort. Now I may have swum in cooler waterholes somewhere in all my visits to the tropics, but I really can't remember when! Apart from the awkward rocky entry and exit being very hard on my feet my lasting memory of Emma Gorge was the temperature, I just couldn't stay in the water for more than a minute or two, now from someone who has swum in the run off from the snow on the Milford Track and the GR20 that should give you a bit of an idea how cold this water was.
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Our somewhat exy accommodation at Emma Gorge Resort.
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Emma Gorge Waterfall.
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My two main memories of this plunge pool were how bloody cold the water was and how hard on my feet the stones were.
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| Emma Gorge is certainly a stunning spot to sit out the Kimberley heat for awhile. |
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Next day we headed over to the main El Questro station to check things out, this is the spot that features the famous homestead perched on the edge of a cliff way above the Chamberlain River, you may have seen it on Lifestyles of the Rich & Shameless. After a quick soak in Zebedee Springs we headed off on the walk into El Questro Gorge, this gorge makes for an adventurous half a day walk that one day I'll get back and do a proper post about. El Questro Gorge is fairly narrow gorge and there are plenty of opportunities for a swim as well as a lot of adventurous walking if you want to make it right into the gorge.
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Zebedee Springs
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One day I have to get back here, this is El Questro Gorge.
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| Chamberlain River Gorge |
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After a couple of days exploring El Questro we once again pointed the Troopie east and made tracks for Darwin, only stopping for a quick photo op at Wyndham's famous Five Rivers Lookout. Once the sun had set we continued on our journey, arriving at Darwin late the next afternoon we managed to rendezvous with our friends at Stoke Hill Wharf in time for sunset, barra, steak and chips washed down with a cold beer, you gotta love the tropics!
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Five Rivers Lookout, Wyndam.
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The Dirt.
The official distance for the Gibb River Road comes in at around 650 kilometres but you need to add another 60 kilometres to reach civilization at each end. There are plenty of opportunities for fuel on the road, you probably need a range of around 500 kilometres assuming that your not going too far off the main road on side trips. Speaking of side trips, they are what make the Gibb River Road the adventure that it is, there are so many beautiful gorges that demand to be explored you could easily spend a week or two doing the road, and then there is the side trip up to Mitchell Falls and Kalumburu, better save up your long service leave for that one! The main road is pretty easy in a 4wd, when we did it in May some of the river crossings were a little on the high side but apart from that you could bring a 2wd car through really, although some of the side trips ramp up the degree of difficulty substantially.
Relevant Posts.
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| I'm looking pretty relaxed with life. |
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| This might be the iconic Gibb River Road photo. |
It's a bit of a worry how little of the Kimberley is protected if you ask me, this place is one of the last great wilderness areas left in the world.
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