Bell Gorge

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Well folks we are coming to the end of our Kimberley Adventure along the Gibb River Road and the last place on our itinerary was Bell Gorge.

Bell Gorge is touted as one of the best, prettiest Gorges on the Gibb and I have to say it certainly lives up to that reputation. We camped at the Silent Grove camping area, which we were pleasantly surprised to find not as busy as expected. Good facilities and Ron and I even got a haircut from a travelling hairdresser while here.

The drive to Bell is about 30 km along a pretty good dirt road, you pass the camping area on the way in and at the end you have about a 30 minute walk, which is pretty easy except for stepping around the river pebbles in places. You arrive at the top of the gorge falls where there are lovely shallow pools for relaxing in but don’t just stop here wade cross and take the path to the bottom of the falls. You have to negotiate a steep climb down the gorge walls to the bottom of the falls but you are rewarded by a very deep swimming hole. You enter the swimming hole by either sliding in off the slippery rock shelves or diving in. The better swimmers make their way across the pool to feel the cascading water from the falls, Ron and Bob enjoyed a massage from the cascading waters.

We all carried our noodles in and they came in very handy for floating in the pool even if they did hinder my climbing abilities. Nature has carved out a perfect “U” shape for the water to cascade over and the rock shelves have been polished perfectly smooth by water over the eons. After the climb back up we spent some time relaxing in the pools at the top of the falls. I was happily up to my neck in cool water when something moved on the rocks beside me. A Water Monitor was sunning himself on the rocks, I am not sure who got the bigger fright!

We were almost back at the camping area when Ron was flagged down. After all the rough roads we had been on he gets a flat tyre now. Punctured by a sharp rock, so next morning it was back to Imitji store for a tyre repair. We had stopped at Imitji on the way into Bell for a coffee and Bob sampled one of their Kangaroo Pies ( not as good as Heavenly Pies in Bayswater), they have a lovely grassed area, which makes for a very pleasant stopover. So Ron was back the next day to see ‘Neville” the local mechanic who is doing a roaring trade in tyre repairs and replacements. Ron was about third in line that morning, I read later that they are looking for a couple to manage the store for 12 months if anyone is interested!

So that’s it folks we can say we have done The Gibb, was it worth it? Definitely. The road was terrible in places and the dust really gets to you, with bits falling off both car and camper, a few tense moments were had. But we have some amazing country out here.

We leave Ron and Erica as they head off back to Kununurra to collect their caravan and Bob and I head off to Derby to see if we can arrange a few repairs. Keep checking the blog for more updates as we head off south down the WA coast.

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Photos

Bell Gorge
Cooling off those hot feet

Bell 10
Crossing the top of the gorge

Bell 1
Relaxing before the walk out

Bell 2
Water Monitor

Bell 8
The view upstream

Bell Gorge
Below the falls

Bell 7
Rons happy with his haircut

Imitje
Looking for Managers