Gibb River Road - Part 2 (East to West)

Our whole Gibb River Road adventure

And back we go...

El Questro

We ended up leaving Kununurra in convoy with Ross, Barb and Daniel and we also saw Rachel, Simon and their crew heading the same way as us. It was an easy journey along the bitumen to the El Questro turnoff, where we stopped to let our tyre pressure down to 28psi as we hit the dirt roads again.

About 100m onto the corrugations the car suddenly lost its mind, and alarm systems went off for a dozen different systems, all of which had apparently failed at the same time.  We had warnings going off every 5 seconds and the dash lit up like a Christmas tree.  The car was still running fine and none of the systems were the critical ones but it was a big concern and was extremely annoying as we couldn't turn the alarms off.  We drove the remaining 15kms to El Questro with dinging and ringing and flashing lights.  

Luckily, the road had just been graded so it was in pretty good condition.  There is a great river crossing just before you go into El Questro - the Pentacost River again and this time it was a reasonable depth, although still only to the top of the wheels. 

Crossing the Pentacost into El Questro

There was a queue of cars waiting to go across into El Questro and when we got to the front a constant stream of vehicles crossing from the other direction kept us sitting there for ages.  Nobody coming the other way seemed to have any idea that they should wait and take turns so the line behind us banked up.  Jenny was very cranky about it and was giving people sprays over the UHF radio until Lou took it off her.  The incessant alarms and warnings from the car continued and weren't helping anyone's mood.

We eventually crossed the river into El Questro and found it jam packed with tourists, thanks to the school holidays again.  It was tricky finding a good campsite but we eventually set up near the shower/toilet block (unfortunately right between 2 dusty roads) with Ross and Barb's caravan providing shade for our tent.

Simon and Rachel's van was set up nearby and we popped over to see them on our way to explore the campsite and in particular the 2 swimming areas on the river.  We were intrigued as to how they can say it is safe to swim in the Pentacost River when there are saltwater crocs throughout all the other sections.  It turns out that there are rocky sections before and after the El Questro site and they believe that crocodiles don't like rocks rubbing against their tummies. The river spots were murky with mud banks but plenty of people were in the water.  It didn't really appeal to us though.  There is a bar here so we went up for happy hour before dinner.  

Jenny and Barb at the Swinging Arm Bar

We hadn't had time to collect any wood for a campfire so we scavenged what we could from near the river.  This slightly damp fuel resulted in a really crappy fire with lots of smoke - a very poor effort from our ordinarily excellent fire makers, Jenny and Ross.

The next morning Jenny worked at repairing our patch job on the front sensor cover on the bullbar.  It had come loose again and we thought this was the cause of the car system alarm conniptions.  As soon as you lift the bonnet of crawl under your car in the outback, you get at least a couple of people come over with offers of help and on this occasion we were lucky enough to have a mechanic offer assistance.  Not only did he help us to secure the sensor he showed us how to reset the system alarms, which were obviously a glitch and not really problems.  By mid morning we were back to our usual state of sensor being held on by cable ties and hose clamps and cruise control not working (but no alarms).

There are many gorges and trails to explore at El Questro and we visited Zebedee Springs.  They are only open from 7am til 12pm, when they close for the exclusive use of the homestead guests.  School holidays is a terrible time to come here as it was jam packed.  We walked through lovely trees to the hot springs which are a series of pools filled from small cascading waterfalls.  There were people everywhere and every pool was full.  We kept a close watch for people leaving and nabbed their pool before moving to a lower one as the crowds thinned out.  It was nice to be in warm water as all the gorges we have swum in recently have been quite cold.

Palms and a tropical setting in the middle of The Kimberley.  Unexpected!

Beautiful warm pools.  A nice change from swimming in cold gorges.

That afternoon was spent at El Questro gorge which was surprisingly awesome.  We didn't really know what to expect but the drive in had a long deep river crossing and the walk through the gorge was shaded and surrounded by lush green ferns and foliage that looked like the Dandenong Ranges.  We climbed over rocks and stepping stones across the stream as we made our way to a cool pool which once again was full of people.  It was part way along a lengthy a trail and most people just walk in the couple of km to this point, have a swim and then return.  Jenny, Ben, Ross and Daniel all went for a swim in the cold water and then climbed up over a big boulder to see what the trail ahead looked like.  Lots of big kids were jumping off that big boulder into the small area of water and it looked like a bad accident waiting to happen.  We adopted Ross and Barb's 'Friday night is pizza night' rule and had a much better campfire that night.

A lush green trail.

A tricky, rocky trail.

Swimming hole and boulder.

The following day we went to Emma Gorge which was also fantastic.  The walk was again very rocky but good fun (aside from when Daniel slipped and grazed his face on a rock).  Good shoes were definitely necessary.  There are two swimming areas along the walk - Turquoise Pool which is near the end of the trail and there is another swimming pool at the gorge itself.  We admired but didn't swim in Turquoise Pool on the way into the gorge as we thought we would do it on the way out.  

Turquoise Pool

Emma Gorge itself is sensational.  The high walls are topped by a huge overhang and water drips over the edges into the pool.  It is currently like light rain drops but in the wet season it would be a torrent.  Here is a pic of it in the wet season that Ross found in a book at the El Questro store.  Like many places we have seen along the Gibb, we would love to see it after the big rains but, it too is rendered inaccessible by the very weather that would make it the so spectacular.

Droplets falling from the top of Emma Gorge.

Emma Gorge when we were there.

It is like this in the wet season (photo of a book in the shop)

The water at Emma Gorge is super super cold and it took a lot of self talk to get in the water.  Most of that self talk was 'get in, you are sweaty and smelly' and it did the trick.  Natures way of compensating for the freezing main pool is to provide two small side pools fed with warm water from a hot spring.  Most people there were gathered in this warm area and that is where Jenny, Ben and Daniel spent their time.  Lou swam out under the raindrops in the main pool and although it was insanely cold for the most part the hot springs must leak throughout the pool as there were warm patches every so often.

Jenny, Ben, Daniel and 2 random kids in the hot springs.

We had lunch at the pool before setting off back home.  We were all a bit shivery so moving and climbing again was welcome activity to warm us up. The walk back seemed quicker than the walk in.  We were still pretty cool and didn't swim at Turquoise Pool after all so just admired it's beautiful waters and kept moving along.

A number of the walks into the gorges here are too long for Ben in this heat (30-35 degrees each day) but there was one more that we wanted to do before leaving El Questro.  Amalia Gorge is another challenging walk.  Much of it is along a rocky river bed and you really have to concentrate so you don't turn your ankle on the loose rocks.  The trail guide warns that you shouldn't do the walk if you suffer from vertigo so we were interested to see the part of the track that inspired that warning.  Ben had done so brilliantly with the high precarious climbs at Karijini that we weren't worried about his ability to do it.  

It gets hot really early here.  The sun is up at 5.30am and as soon as it breaks through the trees around 8am the temperature rises rapidly.  By 8.30am it is too hot to be in the tent unless you want a sweat house experience.  Simon and Rachel were leaving that day and Rachel was going to give Ben a much needed haircut so by the time that was done and we said our farewells to them it was around 10am.  This meant that we set off on the gorge walk in 33 degree heat and there was very little shade on the first part of the walk.  We really enjoyed the varied nature of the trail.  The rocky river beds became well trodden dirt paths which became enormous boulders to climb over before carefully picking our way down steep, slippery slopes.  We had to rock hop through mud and shallow creeks and shimmy around narrow cliff edges (the boys crawled - this was the vertigo bit).  There is a swimming hole a bit over halfway to the gorge and it looked ok but a bit grimy, with leaves and some algae floating around in it.  We thought we would wait until the main gorge pool to swim even though some people at this pool (Ochre Pool) said the main pool was really cold.

Lots of climbing on this hike.

At Amalia Gorge.  No water flowing and a murky pool.

After more rock climbing we eventually made it to the main Amalia Gorge pool where there would usually be a waterfall.  There hasn't been much rain at all though so the waterfall is dry and the pool is really stagnant.  We didn't want to swim in it even though we were all really hot and sweaty so we had some energy snacks and headed back to Ochre Pool for a dip instead.  The water was cold but it wasn't as cold as Emma Gorge had been and we found it really refreshing.  The boys found spiders and ants to play with on the shores and there were lots of little fish swimming around.  Barb saw what she thought was a water snake and that was motivation for us to get out and continue back to the cars.

As always, the walk back seemed to take far less time that the walk in and we were back at the car having a cool drink by early afternoon.  We had collected enough firewood the day before so we were able to head straight back to camp.

El Questro has several areas for tourists.  We are in the area for the plebs, the campground.  You can also pay extra for secluded private campsites along the river and for a cool $2000 per night (min 2 nights) you can stay in the cheapest room at their exclusive homestead.  We plebs are not allowed to go to the homestead as was clearly pointed out to Ross when he asked where it was.  The staff member paused, pointed down a road and said "that's the road. But you aren't allowed to go there." 

We decided that we would check out the private sites instead and headed down the 4WD only track that leads there.  We saw turnoffs to a couple of the sites but were more interested in venturing along the narrow, sandy track up the side of the ridge ahead of us.  It was a great drive with sandy, steep inclines and tricky corners.  It is called Saddleback Ridge and the track takes you a viewing platform with  spectacular views of the beautiful land around us.  We could see to the main El Questro camping area far off and also see glimpses of the closer private campsites along the river below.

Great drive up Saddleback Ridge.

Amazing views!

That night we were all exhausted and decided that instead of departing the following day we would have a lazy day to recharge.

Our lazy day started early thanks to a 6am low flyover by one of the sightseeing planes here.  There are 2 fixed wing light aircraft and every day we were there, one of them flew really low over the campsite around 7am.  Everyone is usually up  by then so it isn't such a bit deal but 6am was just plain rude.  When we were up at the bar/cafe area later in the morning Ross complained to the staff and told them in no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable, that flying over the campground was totally unnecessary (let alone flying so low) and they were the actions of a 'cowboy' pilot.  None of us expected them to take any notice but we did note that there was no flyover at all the next morning.  Go Ross!

That afternoon we wanted to do another of the 4WD tracks so we took the track out to Explosion Gorge.  The track starts at a massive Boab tree called the Durak Tree and immediately crosses the Chamberlain River.  The crossing is rocky but again, not too deep and about halfway across we got a glimpse of the exclusive Homestead up on the cliffs above the river.  We looked for, but didn't see crocodiles and continued along the long track to eventually arrive at Explosion Gorge.  The cliffs and ridge tops are gorgeous, and bathed in late afternoon sunlight they were a vibrant orange.  There is a jetty at Explosion Gorge and as we arrived a small boat pulled out into the river to go sightseeing.

Explosion Gorge.

We made Damper on the campfire again that night and experimented with the recipe.  Our previous attempts had been nice but a bit too dense and slightly bitter.   A lady we had met at Manning Gorge recommended using lemonade instead of water so we tried that and it worked a treat.  We couldn't get through the whole thing though and it doesn't really keep so I gave some to the French backpackers camped next to us.  I don't think they quite understood what I was telling them though so I probably seemed like a weirdo giving them a big chunk of warm bread in foil for no reason.

We left El Questro the next day, sad to part ways with Ross, Barb and Daniel for now.  The boys are best friends and were very unhappy about traveling separately.  We promised to keep in touch and try to meet up again once we got back to our caravan.

Drysdale Station

We were off for attempt number 2 at the road up to Drysdale Station.  We hoped it would be in better condition than the previous week but knew it was very unlikely to be any different.  Simon and Rachel had been up that road and further north to Kalumbaru and Honeymoon Bay.  Honeymoon Bay sounded amazing so we planned to go there after Drysdale Station and Mitchell Falls.  If we weren't totally sick of the tent then on the way back to Derby we would visit Mornington Wilderness Camp too.

We were only 5kms along the road from El Questro when we came across a car and camper trailer stopped on the opposite side of the road.  The camper had a broken axle so we stopped to see if they needed help.  We couldn't believe how unlucky they were.  Having come the other way, they had come over 650kms (minimum) and had this happen 5kms from the end!  They had already sent for help so we continued on our way.

We had lunch at the rest stop at the turnoff to Drysdale Station and noticed all the vehicles coming from the West were absolutely covered in red mud.  We commented on it to one couple and they told us it was raining at Mt Barnett (about a 100kms further down) and West of there.  Rain and Kimberley red dirt make a potent and sticky mud.  I would not have wanted to have to clean those cars and vans.

There was a procession of cars and vans looking like this.

As we were packing away our lunch stuff we smelled diesel and when we looked under the car we noticed a leak right in the middle of the flat part of the fuel tank.  It was beading and then dripping every 8-10 seconds and had also run all over the bottom of the fuel tank.  This was not good.  Little chips of paint had come off all over the underside of the car and we assumed that a sharp stone had flicked up from the road and put a miniscule hole in the tank.  We carry a variety of repair options - putty, tape and glue solutions, and although the putty was the best thing for the job we didn’t have time to wait around there for the time it would take to attach and dry sufficiently to then drive on the rough road ahead.  We again went with the trusty old duct tape as a temporary fix, planning to take a better look at the problem once we arrived at Drysdale Station which was 70kms up the road.   

While we were under the car we noticed that the side step that Lou had dinged at Mouth Elizabeth now also had a big hole on the underside.  We had heard a big rock hit something under the car a few kms back and this was obviously the casualty.  On the upside, at least it had hit the side we were going to have to replace anyway :-)

The duct tape seemed to do the trick on the fuel tank so we set off up the road.  The first section was as bad as we remembered it so we upped our speed a little and hoped nothing else would fall off the car.  Going faster over bumps sounds counter-intuitive but it works like a boat skipping over waves.  If you go slowly, you feel every up and down of every corrugation, but if your tyres are softer and you go a bit faster it smooths out the bumps.  We found 80kph or thereabouts to be the perfect speed as it is fast enough to reduce bumps but slow enough to see and slow or avoid the random rocks and pointy stones that can suddenly appear in front of you.

We made it up to Drysdale without any dramas and poor Jenny immediately climbed under the car to inspect the tank.  The duct tape had held but we could see it bulging where a pool of diesel had formed inside the tape.  The folks running the shop ay Drysdale are really helpful and one of them, Marcus ended up spending 20 minutes lying in the dust under the car too.  He and Jenny found a second leak, on an upper weld.  They put the repair putty on and then we set up camp.  

By then it was early evening and by the time we had got sorted out and showered we couldn’t be bothered cooking.  There is a bar and beer garden there and we had arrived on ‘Burger Night’ which meant that a ‘Kimberley Beef Burger’ (only one type) was the only item on the menu.  They also had only one kids’ option, lasagne and chips.  The burgers were awesome and when Jenny realised hers was underdone in the middle they replaced it with a fresh one and took the cost of hers off the bill.

We bought some extra repair putty, a different brand than the one we had just in case.  It cost us a ridiculous $25 but they can charge what they want out here as there aren’t any other options. Diesel cost $2.05 per litre.

Awesome burgers, lasagne and service at Drysdale.

It started spitting at 7pm and rained steadily all night. It was still raining in the morning and we were faced with the prospect of packing up a wet tent. Yuk.  Rather than get all our brekky stuff out in the rain, we went back to the bar and had their only breakfast offering, bacon and egg rolls.  We were unhappy with paying $4 for instant coffee with UHT milk but it was freezing and we were keen to warm our hands at least.

The fuel tank fix hadn’t worked - the putty we used had just fallen off the flat part of the tank.  We didn’t want to have to lie in the mud and rain to try the new putty on it so we taped up the leak again and headed towards Mitchell Plateau, hoping the weather would be clearer there so we could make dry repairs.

We were lucky that the road had just been graded so the trip wasn’t as rough as we were expecting.  By the time we reached the King Edward River campsite the leak was much worse and although we were pretty worried about the tank we didn’t want to turn back this close to our goal.

We looked around the campsite and would have loved to have stayed a few days were it not for the pesky fuel tank.  The river is lovely and runs down to a beautiful waterfall.  You can swim there safely and the rocky shore is interesting and rugged.  

Great swimming hole at King Edward River.

And lovely waterfall too!

We pushed on, up to Mitchell Plateau and were again pleased to find the road in better condition than we expected.  It was still horrible, just less horrible than we had heard.  Some sections are smooth, like a highway and others are littered with big rocks and pot holes so that we could only do 40 kmph maximum.

We arrived late in the afternoon and Jenny set to work on the very leaky tank.  Both of the previous putty fixes had come off now and the tape wasn’t coping so the new putty was put to work. This time Jenny used a special stryptic pencil to temporarily stem the flow of diesel while the putty had time to cure.  Ben and Lou put up the tent and then Ben played with 2 boys from the next campsite.

The Mitchell Falls walk has a great alternate transport option.  There is a helipad at the campsite and another at the falls and you can take a 6 min flight either way (or both).  It is hot during the days, around 30-35 degrees and the walk is around 2 hours each way so we decided to walk up and fly back.   

We set off the next morning, happy to see that the putty was holding.  We stopped at Little Mertens Falls and looked at the swimming hole at the base.  There is also some great Aboriginal rock art there.   

 

At the top of Little Mertens Falls

Some of the great rock art

Continuing on we got to Big Mertens Falls which are a bit of a trickle at the moment due to the poor wet season.  We stood at the top and looked down over the edge to the water below, keeping tight hold of Ben who likes to climb around a lot.

Mitchell Falls is fantastic.  It had less water in it that we expected but it was still spectacular, cascading over four sets of falls.  We made our way around to the very end of the path and were rewarded with amazing views from a small rock outcrop.  We swam at the top of the falls and then made our way to the helipad for the trip home.

Mitchell Falls

The flight was great and we all loved it.  They take you for two passes over the falls before flying back to the campsite and the views from above really topped off an awesome day.

Awesome views from the air.

Ben loved it!

By evening, the putty fix was still holding so we decided that we would head back down to the Kalumbaru Road junction the next morning and if the putty held, turn left up to Kalumbaru and Honeymoon Bay.  If it wasn’t holding and we still had a fuel leak we would head back to Drysdale for the night and then out to Derby to get repairs. 

Unfortunately, it took less than 20kms on that bumpy road for both leaks to start again and by the turnoff it was clear that we would have to get proper welds done to fix it.  We arrived back at Drysdale and called the manufacturer, who was awesome and undertook to pay for repairs to patch up the tank until they could replace it in Darwin.

We drove out towards Derby the next day, disappointed at having missed some of our planned destinations but also kind of glad to be in the caravan again after nearly 4 weeks in the tent.  Soft beds, a shower and solid walls felt like a luxury.  We stayed in the storage yard (about 5kms out of town) that first night back as it was late when we arrived then headed into Derby the following morning.