Gibb River Road

Posted by efloow on August 1, 2015 in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

The “Gibb” is a 657 km dirt road that was constructed in the 1960’s and crosses the centre of the Kimberley across barren savannah woodland and spectacular escarpments and plateaus that include the Cockburn and Leopold ranges. It was constructed to allow the remote Kimberley cattle stations to get their animals to the ports of Derby or Wyndham at either end.

 

   

In more recent times the pastoral stations along the road have opened up to tourists who want the wilderness experience providing facilities of every level ranging from bush camping to five star lodges. They facilitate access to the incredible gorges and swimming holes that are created by the huge volume of rain during the wet season that carves its way from the plateaus to the various rivers.

 

     

Our early experience of the Gibb has been truly amazing. The road is true dirt with corrugations and floodways to rival the best we’ve seen. Fortunately for us, a large portion of it is in the process of being graded (bulldozing out the bumps). The vistas also live up to expectations, and once again make you realise how vast and empty this country actually is! The stations also add to the experience, ranging from the tourist focused El Questro, to the functional Home Valley, and the cute Ellenbrae, with the most amazing scones, jam and cream!

We started the Gibb travelling East to West with our first stop being 5 nights at El Questro (August 1). We choose to stay in a private river side camp site that was absolutely stunning, beside the bubbling Pentecost River with not another sole in sight. It was made even easier by the fact that we could use the main campground facilities (showers and laundry) a few km down the road and avail of the fancy steakhouse (a real treat!).  
  

  

      

We walked and walked and did a lot of scrambling over rocks, climbed the occasional massive boulder, and waded along creek beds through the various gorges (Emma, El Questro, and Moonshine) with waterfalls and crystal clear plunge pools… a playground and swimming pool rolled into one for the kids and a good place for the adults to rediscover grazed knees and twisted joints to match those of the children. We tried the thermal pools at Zebedee Springs… a little too crowded for our liking despite the 28 degree water. We boated down Chamberlain gorge, the kids rode horses again (perhaps this is not one to be encouraged!), and we tried a few of the challenging 4WD tracks around the station… go Disco!

 

  
   
We then moved on to 2 nights at Home Valley and exchanged babbling river for the gentle hum of the generator (umm). It was much more functional, but with a great playground and swimming pool. In fact, there was a mutiny by the kids and walking “more gorges” was overruled in favour of school and staying put with the other kids that they met in the playground. Sadly, a big treat for us was Telstra 3G reception on a hill a short walk away.

 Next stop, an 8 day side trip off the Gibb River Road, to Mitchell Plateau and Kimberly Costal Camp.