Day 47 - Driving out of the GRR

Kate: We cancelled our next night at Mt Hart Station. We'd all had enough of long, rough access roads. So a long day driving back along the Gibb River Road. A final wonderful image - cattle being mustered across the road by helicopters.

Day 46 - Mt Elizabeth Station

Kate: a convoy of cars headed off to the gorge on the station. We'd been told the 10km road in was going to take one hour so we knew the road was going to be rough. ( see pics) After only a few kms, the leading car (a Britz rental) got a flat and it took the next hour and three jacks to change his tyre. (Steve  not only impressed me but everyone by taking charge and coordinating the "job".  Maybe he has been hiding his hidden practical "fix it" skills ... or maybe this trip is bringing something new out of him.......). 

The drive was worthwhile - the gorge, waterfall and huge swimming hole were spectacular. There was even a beach for Maddy to get in and out without us worrying about her "slipping in". There was beautiful rock art and the time just flew too fast as we swam and enjoyed the thunderous sound of the waterfall. Imagine having such a magical spot on your property. An hour and a half to get back to the station because we volunteered to follow the Britz car (a gorgeous Danish couple) back home. They were terrified as they now had no spare tyre!!

Jasper: the water hole was awesome and our blow up  body boards helped a lot.   Also I found the rock art. It was the best water hole ever!!!!!!! And the drive was insane because the flat tyre took 2 hours to fix but Steve was the hero leading the way ("I'm a natural" he said). While that was happening I went bush finding heeps of animals to put in Emily's bed.

On the station, drivingto a gorge, guy in front got a flat.  It took 3 jacks to fix!

The gorge - a gorgeous sunbaking rock

That's Kate waving!

The slow drive back to the station - 10km in 1 hour

Station scene

Day 45 - A real cattle station on the GRR

Jasper: Today we drove to Mt.Elizabeth Station, the first cattle station in the Kimberleys. On the way we stopped at Adcock Gorge. It had a hard walk to get in but an awesome waterfall and a good swimming hole. Then we went to Galvans Gorge which had an even better swimming hole and a freshwater catfish thing in it. When we got to the cattle station we saw that they had lots of dogs and a few wallabies and a red and grey Kangaroo. It was awesome!!!

Kate: more gorges and waterfalls. They are all starting to merge together in my mind - a bit like cathedrals in Europe!! Nevertheless all beautiful and the kids are loving swimming in each one. The road to Mt Elizabeth Station was really rough. Bits of it had been washed away. It was corrugated, had holes, rocks, river crossings. Harder going than we expected. But that's all part of the Gibb River Road experience I guess!! Steve is exhausted at the end of each of these drives. It's mentally a lot of work. No wonder he is desperate for that cold beer when we stop at the end of the day!

The Station was simple and peaceful. A communal outdoor eating area with baby kangaroos hopping around. Kids in heaven. Even Maddy got in on the action of holding and feeding the really little one. A communal meal that night with host - Pat. Learnt heaps about the hard life on a Kimberley cattle station where the roads are closed for 4 months and the only way out is by plane. Very isolated. You understood why her son is managing a farm near Katherine, closer to a town and has indicated he does not want to take over the family business. You can also understand her disappointment too. A familiar story I am sure.

Adcock Gorge

Adcock Gorge - Rockhopping Jasper

Picnic lunch along a bubbling creek

Kids snorkeling at Galvans gorge

Feeding an orphaned wallaby at Mt Elizabeth Station

Day 44 (27 May) GIBB RIVER ROAD

Jasper:Today we drove to Bell Gorge Wilderness Camp but first we went on a walk in a cave.(Tunnel Creek). It was awesome because it had big ponds that you wade through and it was pitch black in places. Em and I went through a pond at the end where it was almost armpit deep and on the way back I almost stepped on an eel. Also there was heeps of fresh water crafish and we saw lots of bats. It was all over awesome.

Kate: our journey down the other end of The Gibb River Road continued today. We left with anticipation of a really rough dirt road but were pleasantly surprised. Yes - it's a red dust road but not as corrugated as expected. Given it's just opened, it was probably graded yesterday!! A couple of stops at some of the popular spots. Windjana Gorge - where we walked past freshwater crocs along the river. The gorge is an ancient exposed reef with fossils from the Devonian Time (ie millions of years ago!!). Then onto Tunnel Creek. I thought this was going to be really dark, wet, claustrophobic and a bit scary going in with the kids but it ended up being so exciting. It was dark - pitch black in parts and you had to wade waist deep in black water you couldn't see but all worth it. Amazing cave formations, stalagmites etc, bats, and just the thrill of doing something like this. Jasper was in heaven!! Maddy, surprisingly coped really well - safe up on Steve's back!! Was relieved to be back in daylight without any torches running out!!!!

Stayed the night at Bell Gorge Wilderness Camp - safari tents, communal eating and gorgeous setting.




Passing an oncoming roadtrain on The GRR



Windjana Gorge - only 350 million years old

Maddy at Windjana Gorge - there is a fresh
water croc sunning himself on that sand bar! (Freshies are ok though!)

Ready for dark cave action at Tunnel Creek

Kids wading through waist deep water with torches

Walking through Tunnel Creek - bats, eels and all

Day 43 - Derby

Kate: Derby - the other end of The Gibb River Rd. Much nicer than Kununurra. We saw all the sights in 1 hr so an indication of the type of town! The Boab Prison Tree was interesting. Used to imprison aboriginals who had been "caught" in the early 1900's (mainly for killing cattle). It's huge with a hole in it's centre. The history of what the white settlers did to the local aboriginals in the top end is pretty awful. Worst story I learnt was aboriginals been rounded up and kidnapped, put in chains and forced to work as slaves in the pearl farms. You seem to feel everything more when you are here imagining how it must have been. Another site close by was a cement stock trough which is supposedly the longest in the southern hemisphere and can feed 1000 head of cattle at one time. (see pic) We finished the sights with fish and chips on the warf. Yum.

Prison Boab Tree - said to be 1000 years old

Myalls Bore - cattle trough

Derby warf - that's Steve waving off the back of the car! Tides range by 11 metres.  One of the
 top 10 tidal change places in the world.  Australia has 4 of the top 10.

Day 41 Kununurra

Jasper: today all we really did was relax and Steve bought Kate a pink argyle diamond which is only found in one mine down the road from there.



Em excited to be finally up to this one - note title



This is for Jess xx

Day 42 Fitzroy Crossing

Jasper: Today we drove the bitumen road, parallel to the Gibb. It was a really long 9 hour drive (to my friends: if you think it is awesome that I don't go to school then think that while your at school I'm driving all day). Our destination is Fitzroy Crossing which is just a van park.

Steve and Jasper trying to find a boab tree along the highway

A termite mound - most are this size

Roadtrain - very hard tp pass with a caravan!

Day 40 - El Questro back to Kununurra

breakfast by the river

El Questro - Saddleback Lookout

You just cant help photographing these boabs!

Kate: On our way out from the wonderful El Questro, we wizzed up a very steep 4x4 track to the Saddleback Lookout which was a wonderous view of El Questro's land mass as far as you could see.  It's now owned by an international tourism body, but I keep imagining it as the cattle station it once was.  Fancy owning such a beautiful piece of Oz with deep gorges, plateaus, ridges, waterfalls, hot springs, waterholes.... the list goes on.  Lucky for us they could never make any money from cattle and now the focus is tourism!!

El Questro - Emma Gorge

Kate:  Big walk up through Emma Gorge today.  Extremely rocky, climbing up along the river bed.  Particularly hard for Steve - the Maddy pack horse. The waterhole, waterfall and gorge at the end were very impressive.

On the way back to El Q (that's waht every one calls it up here!), we drove as far as we could along the Gibb River Road.  Steve was hoping the river may have dropped far enough for us to cross and check out the famous view from the other side - but it was just too high and we didn't want to risk it - especially as there were crocs in the river.  So this was as far as we got at this end.  Steve disappointed but also relieved.  The kids have struggled with the dirt roads and we figured if the road was just opening, the graders may not have been through in which case, the road would have been extremely corrugated. 

Jasper: The big thing for me that I went face to face with a taipan (The world's most venomous snake!) I'll say how it happened. There was a rock then a bit down then another rock, I jumped down the first rock then put my hands on the next one and when I looked up there was a taipan reared up and hissing. My fingers were 5 centemetres away from it.

Walking up Emma Gorge

Emma Gorge - worth the walk!

Maddy not quite ready to swim...



Steve assessing the Pentecost River crossing on the Gibb River Road



Steve just excited to be back on The Gibb River Road

Day 38 - El Questro

Kate: We have had to reassess the next week of our trip.  The Gibb River Road is closed just past El Questro so we won't make it to our next Station that we'd booked.  Feel sorry for all these properties who rely on tourism.  We just can't get through to them.  So Plan B is to drive back out to the Northern Highway, follow it to the other end of the Gibb River Road and go in as far as possible from there.  Have had to reschedule, cancel and try and work out where to stay.  Options are limited and obviously everyone else is in the same boat.  The good news is that we won't have to leave the van in Kununurra as originally planned.  We will take it with us, leave it at the other end of the Gibb River Rd and then keep going from there.  Steve won't have to drive back all the way to pick it up as planned.  I was a but worried about that.

A relaxing day at El Questro - visiting a hot springs.  I lay there for over an hour with the warm water just flowing past me......

Jasper: At Zebeedy Springs it was Awesome. We played in the warm springs and caught little frogs. Then I climbed up a almost vertical rock face that was huge (40 metres up I reckon). It was the one of my highlights.




Zebedee Springs

 

Day 37 - The Gibb River Road & El Questro

Kate: We made it out of the Bungles!!!  Yeh!!!!  Not that I had a problem staying there but I was desperate to see what all the fuss was about the Gibb River Road.  And now I know - it's not so much the road (although the big rough dirt road was pretty impressive) - but the scenery it follows.  Massive (and I mean massive) and expansive ranges with deep red escarpments (there's that word again!!). Boab trees, roaming brahma bulls, rocky river and creek crossings and gorge after gorge. ii now know why Steve was so desperate to bring us back here - and we were only at the start of the road.

First stop - the famous El Questro.  Another pinch myself stop.  Had been hearing so much about this Wilderness Park and it was so exciting to be here!  Stayed at the Township - a collection of bungalows, camp ground, reception/pub/shop building and staff quarters.  Oh and a cute open air restaurant overlooking the Pentecost River which gurgled past.

The Road was actually completely closed 2 days earlier - when we arrived

Chamberlain Gorge - El Questro

The turn off from the Gibb River Road to El Q - check out the scenery!

What you see driving along the Gibb River Road!

El Questro girl

Day 36 - Another day at the Bungle Bungles

Steve remembering his last trip here with his Dad

Cathedral Gorge - Jasper in foreground

It was a hard, hot walk, especially for Steve with Maddy on board

Today we did a walk into the Bungles. It was awesome and hot as hell. First we did an amazing cathedral gorge walk which ended in a cave type thing which had a really relaxing and shady part. Then we did a walk to a lookout which was stinking hot but we touched a Bungle and it had a great lookout. Then we walked along Picinnini creek that ended up at a waterhole that we a had a swim in. It was really refreshing. When we got back we had dinner at the restaurant again and Emily gave the staff a Kloss Family comment box and then we crushed more cans.

Day 35 Kununurra, the Kimberley and The Bungle Bungles

Jasper: Today we left the van in Kununurra and drove into the Kimberley range. Our destination is the Bungle Bungles, where there our big bee hive shaped rocks with stripes on them. We are staying in safari tents but first we had to get there through the toughest off road track Steve has ever driven. It had river crossings, endless bumps and a mud crossing so bad we almost turned back (we only just made it). When we got there we got our stuff in the tent and then went to dinner. At dinner, Emily and I crushed heaps of cans with a can crusher.

Kate: Finally in WA and the famous Kimberley area.  So, so beautiful.  Red range after red range.  Big fat Boab trees lining the road and river beds.  And wildflowers!!!  I am in heaven. We felt liberated leaving the van behind and a little apprehensive.  Would the famous Gibb River Road be open in time for us to venture from one end to the other???  First stop was the millions year old Bungle Bungles.  Still can't believe this geological rock formation was only "discovered" in the late 80's and declared a World Heritage Site in 2003.

Very very rough road.  Jasper was rght - we nearly didn't make it.  I am sure the pic does nothing to show how deep and thick that mud was!!!!  Steve didn't sleep that night worried that we would not get out!!!  Amazing place.  Safari tents in the bush.  Magic.

Boab tree

Steve assesses the road into Bungle Bungles

Our Safari Tent camp

One of the many, many flowers Kate keeps holding everyone up to admire!