It’s hard to believe but it has been 3 weeks since our last post; it has taken that long for us to drive the Gibb River Road and for virtually the whole time we have been out of phone and internet service.

The GRR leg of our trip has been great. The road has been very rough and often we have driven at 20 – 30 km per hour for hours at a time. Jo has decided that she has had enough of corrugated roads. As we mentioned earlier the past wet season brought less than 50% of the average rainfall so the whole area is very dry. Creek crossings are dry, water falls have only a little water, water levels in gorges are lower than normal and the roads and camp grounds are very dusty.

The Kymberly scenery has still been amazing. We have enjoyed lots of 4WD tracks, hiking in gorges, swimming in water holes, eating out at a couple of bush restaurants and meeting new friends. The GRR is officially 660 km long but we went into most of the stations along the way so we did about 1100 km, about 1000 km on rough gravel road. Some people do the trip quickly but we deliberately took it slowly. The car and caravan performed well, although one of our 3 water tanks did come loose because the nuts unscrewed on the corrugations. The tank dragged along the road and had to be tied up with rope for about 300 km, but not before the road scraped a couple of holes in the plastic tank, causing the loss of about 90L of water. Ted fixed it this morning so hopefully it will be ok now.

We stopped for 1 to 3 nights in:

El Questro – a large camp ground with a bar and a large restaurant and several hiking, 4WDriving and swimming options.

El Questro Gorge, after a 1 hour hike, clambering over large rocks

Home Valley Station, where we camped beside the Pentecost River, with salt water crocodiles.

Sunset over Pentecost River, Home Valley Station

Ellenbrae Station, famous for its scones, and with a very nice swimming hole.

A swimming hole on Ellenbrae Station

Gibb River Station, the least interesting of the places we visited.

Mt Elizabeth Station, 20 km from the GRR, swimming in a gorge a further 20 km away on a rough 4WD track.

Manning Gorge, probably our favourite spot on the GRR, with great swimming in a large water hole beside the camp ground.

Charnley River Wilderness Camp, 40 km from the GRR, with green grass and shady trees, managed by Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

Mornington Wilderness Camp, 80 km from the GRR, another favourite spot, with 4WD tracks and several places to swim.

Sir John Gorge, Mornington Wilderness Camp; good swimming

Bell Gorge, where we hiked for an hour to the stunning Bell Gorge, with some water flowing over the falls.

Windjana Gorge, 40 km from the main road, where we counted 70 freshwater crocodiles in the beautiful gorge only a 15 minute walk from the camp ground before walking through the amazing Tunnel Creek.

Entrance to Windjana Gorge

We counted 70 Freshies in Windjana Gorge

About to enter knee deep water in Tunnel Creek

A Freshie waiting for us in Tunnel Creek

A male Bower Bird, closest to the camera, inviting his girl friend into the bower that he built

The end of the GRR was at Derby, a small town where we saw the ocean for the first time since leaving home 6 weeks ago. Lunch at the cafe beside the jetty provided an opportunity to relax and enjoy the end of the red dust (for awhile).

Now we are Broome for 6 days, trying the get the red dust out of our clothes, shoes and bedding. We won’t worry about cleaning the caravan because we will soon be hitting the dusty road again.

Celebrating the completion of our GRR trip, beside the ocean at Broome

Love to all, hope everyone is safe and well

Ted and Jo

After leaving Katherine we drove over 2 days to Zebra Rock Mine camp ground, near the border between Northern Territory and Western Australia. This was the beginning of the Gibb River Road leg of our trip. We will probably spend 4 or 5 weeks traveling 1500 km to Broome WA so there will be lots of 2- or 3-day stops and short driving distances.

Zebra Rock mine is apparently the only place in the world mining Zebra rock, a fascinating brown and white striped rock. Once mined and cut it can be fashioned into a range of ornamental products as large as table tops and statues and as small as earrings. Once polished it looks beautiful. The mine, operated by a nice couple, their 6 year old daughter and their 3 employees, is not allowed to make money from tourism so visitors are there to learn about mining and to assist in production by polishing a few rocks. Sitting in the middle of a large pastoral lease the owners are constantly fighting the grazing company over their right to be there. We took an interesting 15 km 4WD trip to a Lake Argyle then a 2 hour sunset cruise. It was surprising to see that the lake is lower than it has been for the past 25 years or more. We drove across mudflats before cruising in creeks that would normally be several metres under water. We saw freshwater crocodiles and swam in 26 deg fresh water in Lake Argyle before having sunset nibbles and drinks and returning after dark – a good tour with only 7 passengers and 3 crew.

Sunset cruising on Lake Argyle

Bluey the pet Blue Tongue lizard at Zebra Rock camp ground

Keep River National Park was only 40 km away, along a very dusty road, our first for this trip but certainly not our last. Although a small (730 sq km) Park, it is very interesting. This year has been very dry so we couldn’t see it at its best. The park ranger told us that water levels in the river and creeks and the condition of the vegetation are currently as they would normally be in August. Sandstone formations are spectacular, similar to those in the Bungle Bungles, just not as big. We were pleased that we spent 3 nights here.

Sunrise in the Keep River National Park; parked in front of a sandstone rock.

Boab trees can be hundreds, even 1000 years old

2 metre high savannah grass in the national park; no cattle grazing to reduce it to stubble.

Amazing sandstone formations and Livistonia palms during a 2 hour bush walk

Only 40 km further and we arrived at Lake Argyle Resort. Yes, it’s called a resort but it’s really a caravan park, a few glam tents and cabins and a bush restaurant, with an infinity pool. The view over the lake is great. The lake is actually a man-made reservoir, built in the late 1960’s to provide reliable water for the Ord River irrigation system and the town of Kununurra that was built to support fruit, vegetable and sandalwood production. It was an amazing project, resulting in a lake 19 times the size of Sydney Harbour. Cruising on this vast waterway, with mountains around it’s edge and between other mountains that are now islands, is an unforgettable experience.

Infinity pool at Lake Argyle Resort, late afternoon

Lunch in luxury on the shore of Lake Argyle

Sunset over Lake Argyle

Then to Kununurra which we visited several years ago. This time we did a couple of long 4WD trips, one on a back road to Wyndham and one to the lower reaches of the Keep River where we saw several large saltwater crocodiles. Unusually the weather has been quite cool, with maximum temperatures in the mid-20’s and a strong south easterly breeze. It’s comfortable for tourists but the locals are feeling the “cold”.

We drove across the Ord River here, at Ivanhoe Crossing, north of Kununurra

Imagine the surprise when putting sandals on, after leaving them outside overnight

Tomorrow we start the Gibb River Road. Everyone tells us that the region virtually missed out on its annual wet season so this is not an ideal year to be doing the Gibb, but we are still looking forward to it.

Hope everyone keeps well and safe. We do enjoy your comments but we prefer to reply individually rather than publicising them.

Love to all.

Ted and Jo