Rain on the Gibb River Road

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After a week of relaxing in Broome, I was off yet again on another adventure. This time it was along the Gibb River Road, one of the world's best un-sealed roads!

The Kimberley is a large area in northern Western Australia, known for beautiful gorges, waterfalls, rivers, boab trees and ancient rock art. The people living in the Kimberly are cut off from the rest of the world during the wet season, and with my luck, it wasn't much drier in the dry season!

After being a bum in Broome and saying lots of goodbyes, I joined with Wilderness Adventures on their 9-day tour. Our group, lead by Scott, consisted of 9 people, 6 of which were Pommies (or Limies as North Americans may know them) and 8 of which were girls. Let's just say it was an interesting 9 days.

Our tour started off with Tunnel Creek, lunch at a beautiful waterhole, and Windjana Gorge. I have to say I was a bit worried about Tunnel Creek, as at certain times of the year it can be filled waist-deep or neck-deep with cold water, but it really wasn't so bad, and I only got wet up to my thighs (so knee-deep or calf-deep for the average height person?). Scott showed us these neat side-caverns that I definitely would've been too chicken to check out on my own (if I could've found them on my own!), and it was great fun getting to the end of the tunnel. Windjana Gorge was beautiful for sunset, and we saw a few freshies and heard the stories of Jandamarra, an aboriginal tracker who turned on the whitefellas and became a bit of a legend as he could not be caught for a long time. Unfortunately the whiteys won with a lot of aborigines dying in the hunt for Jandamarra.

After a wonderful camp-fire dinner near Mt Bell, we rolled out our swags and slept like logs. I was glad Scott recommended taking a camera to bed, because the sunrise over the landscape was beautiful.

The next day was devoted to exploring and swimming at Bell Gorge beneath the waterfalls, then onto Galvin's Gorge, where the waterhole was complete with a rope swing that only Scott could reach as he was the tallest! We then camped at Barnett River Gorge next to a big boab tree and had a wonderful fish dinner. Scott also tried cooking a fish in paper bark in the coals of the fire (traditional method), which turned out to be delicious!
Day three involved backtracking a bit to Manning Gorge, where we swam across (and on our way back found out there was a track that didn't involve swimming...cheaters!). The waterfall there was huge, and jumping off was too daunting for one of the group members (I don't blame him at all!) so he had to be coaxed back down. We then were on our way to see Mitchell Falls, stopping at King Edward River for the night to camp.

Then it started.

1am. The rain. (Hold on, I waited until mid-June to do this trip because it would be into the dry season. What's this rain?!). I helped Scott set up a make-shift shelter from a large tarp, but it was too late for my swag...it was soaked through. We decided to make the next day a lazy day as we waited for the rain and clouds to lift. We did get to see some of the mysterious Bradshaw rock art, depicting what looked like people dancing and having ceremonies but totally unlike any aboriginal rock art I had seen before or since then. We also found some of the Wandjina paintings showing the mouth-less creation-time spirits.

So we hoped the rain would clear but it soon became evident that it wouldn't. Other campers having come from the direction of Mitchell Plateau told us getting there would be impossible as the rivers had risen; others told us the rain would last a few days as it was a front from Indonesia affecting the whole area. So we started back down the road towards Drysdale River Station, where we were told the Gibb would surely be closed soon and it was probably a bad idea to continue onwards. But if we were to be stuck somewhere because the road closed, surely El Questro's campground would be a good place to do so, and would not leave us too behind schedule.
So we spent the whole next day driving to El Questro. The road was slippery, we saw trucks bogged in the mud, a trailer left behind with a broken axel, vehicles that couldn't cross the various flood zones. The only big stop we did was to see some more rock art, this time with carvings as well as painted scenes. All of the rock art shown to us by Scott was impressive; what was even more impressive was his knowledge of where to find it, as none of it was sign posted. It's as if the locals don't want tourists to see it, and I wouldn't blame them if they felt that way; I'd probably want to keep it secret and special too.

So we finally made it to El Questro, and sure enough the road was closed in the morning. There was no leaving the area, as it was a major fine (don't quote me but I remember a figure of $1200 per tire, including spares!) to travel on the closed road. So we were there for 3 nights instead of one.

El Questro was an awesome place to be stuck, as there was plenty to see in the area without needing to drive on the Gibb, and they had hot showers, toilets, a shop and a bar. What more could you want? Well, one of the ladies on the tour still wanted a tent (which we borrowed from Western Xposure to keep her happy) and wanted to leave the tour, but I suppose you'll always get grumpy people when the original itinerary isn't followed.
We spent an hour at the Zebedee hot springs, enjoying the warm water, the curious tadpoles and beautiful scenery. We also hiked to Amalia Gorge and did about half the walk to Champagne Springs (we had to turn back due to the end of daylight!). I chatted with the resident artist as well as the trail maker, who informed me Champlain Gorge was closed due to the presence of a 5-metre salty! He said he wasn't too keen on capturing it...I wouldn't wanna wrestle a 5m croc either! We also walked up the steep hill to Saddleback Point, which was a lovely lunch spot with great views. A camp-oven birthday cake was made for one of the girls on the tour and lots of games were played around the campfire, which we managed to keep going despite the intermittent rain.

By the fourth day, the last section of the road had opened again, and we drove west to Kunnunurra for lunch, stopping at a rock formation similar to the Bungle Bungles.

That's where my "group left me behind story" takes place. We were dropped off and told a time to be back at the carpark. The group split up but most of us got back together to have some cookies for "morning tea". Half decided to go back to the carpark and up to the lookout, while the other half decided to push on and see where the trail went. Being adventurous, of course I'd go with the later group! But I was the last one down the hill, stopped to tie my shoe and take a few photos, and before I knew it, the group was gone. Panic did not set in straight away though. There was only one path and they were slower walkers than me. Surely I could catch up to them.
So I walked and I walked. And I walked and I walked. And walked some more. No sign of them anywhere. I ran into a French guy (who'd I later meet again in the Red Centre) and asked if he had seen the group. He hadn't seen them since we had cookies, and he informed me that the trail went absolutely nowhere, as he had followed it for an hour and got nowhere. I tried calling out the bush cry, coo-ee, a few times, but no response except my own voice echoing back at me. I was very late. Slight panic. Where were they?
Thierry and I decided to turn around and backtrack to where the trail had originally started. I finally ran into Scott and he called off the search.
I got back to the vehicle rather pissed off at those who had left me behind. They had decided to bush-bash, or make their own trail, back to the rock formation and to the car park. But they didn't think to wait for me or leave me any signs that they had left the trail. I wasn't impressed.

After a quick lunch we drove on and crossed over into the Northern Territory, stopping at Victoria River to camp for the night. The tour was sadly over soon, and our last day included soaking in the Katherine hot springs (and I comically fell over the small waterfall, oops), swimming and lunch at Edith Falls, and stopped at the Didgeridoo Hut on the way into Darwin. After checking into hostels, a few of us went down to the wonderful Mindil Markets.

That was our 9-day tour through the Kimberley.

I'm going to have to go explore the region again. Perhaps later in the dry season, and maybe it'll actually be dry!

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Photos

Wandjina Gorge
The site of a shoot-out between the races

A big boab tree
Boabs are common in the Kimberley

Tunnel Creek
Near the start of the Gibb, this cave was another hide-out spot for Jandamarra

Manning Gorge
One of the first waterfalls we visited

Windjina Spirits
Some of the creation time spirits captured on rock

Amalia Gorge
One of the El Questro sights

Zebedee Hot Springs
A nice warm spot on the El Questro grounds

Rock Carvings
Found along the Gibb River Road

The Gibb Closed!
The sign at the end of the Gibb River Road

Comments

[kylie]

Photo
I love the photo of manning gorge - "one of the first waterfalls we visited". Would it be at all possible to get the original photo file from you? We got engaged here and I have very few photos of manning gorge as our camera was smashed during our trip. Thankyou. Kylie