Gibb River Crossing / Mitchell Falls 7/9/2013

We discovered that the sun rises much earlier and sets earlier in WA, we got up and packed the car, then Susanna and Pieter came over for another coffee. They invited us back to their truck to have a look inside and see what they had done. They had done almost exactly what Iain has done, building the truck from scratch. It was smaller than the Unimog, but we were really happy to see that a lot of the things we have in our truck really work well. It was such a treat, to meet them. At around 8 they left on their next adventure – the Canning Stock Route. 

We finished the last few things and set off for Mitchell Falls. The road was pretty rough at times with a lot of corrugations, Iains hands  get really sore from all the vibrations, so we have to stop often for breaks. Our next stop was Drysdale Station for a cup of coffee and toilet break.  This was our last taste of ‘civilisation’ for a few days. Around 80km later was the turnoff to Mitchell Falls, another dirt track with lots of corrugations and surprises along the way; the 84km took us 2 hours. Just after the turnoff we came across a river crossing, we decided this was a great time for another rest stop and photo shoot.

We got some shots, then disaster; Iain slipped on some slippery rocks and fell into the water, apart from a sore knee and shoulder, his camera and lens got a dunking. He raced back to the car took it apart and dried it as much as possible, the lens seems to be buggered and the camera looks like it could be too. He got the other camera out to finish the pictures and then disaster; I slipped on rocks and fell onto my hands and knees. We had both had enough and got back in the car and did most of the rest of the trip in silence!

We arrived at Mitchell Falls campground at around 2.30 and headed for the quiet, generator free area – to find 4 helicopters parked right next to the campground ready to take sightseers to the falls. So much for quiet area. We spent the afternoon just relaxing after such an exciting morning.

El Questro / Gibb River Crossing 6/9/2013

Well you can hope, but the bloody generator was on all night! We were both quite annoyed, after paying so much money to camp. We slowly packed up, then had a swim in the river we camped next to. The scenery was really beautiful and so of course it turned into another photo session. When Iain had finished taking pics of me, I decided to practice some of my own skills and did some photos of him.

We just started packing up when Iain discovered one of the SD cards with hundreds of photo's of me on it was missing. He remembered putting it on the table, but it was nowhere to be found. After searching all the obvious places, we began to suspect it had fallen on the floor - in the sand. Iain decided the best option was the metal detector, we got out another card and listened to the sound it made. Sure enough buried in the sand under the table there it was!

We took our camping tag back and got instructions on how to access the gorge. When Iain complained about the generator, the girl just shrugged and said sorry – this gorge had better be good, we were both feeling a little miffed. We drove down to the gorge, got all our hiking gear on and set off. We soon realised that in WA if they say that it is difficult, they mean it. It didn’t take us long to forget the night before and realise that it was certainly worth it, the gorge was absolutely magnificent. It was like walking through something out of a Disney movie, very special.

Before leaving the gorge, we had a chat to some fellow travellers, who had already done the Gibb River road, and best places to go. Our intention was to go to Mitchell Falls, this is one of the must sees, they said that they hadn’t bothered as they were told there was not much water going over the falls. We decided to head that way anyway, and to stop in at some of the homesteads and ask their opinion. We were driving down the road, when suddenly there was a guy walking down the road towards us pulling a cart. We pulled over to have a chat. Turns out he walks a desert every year, this time he was walking from Derby to Kununarra – brave  soul. He highly recommended the scones at Ellenbrae homestead down the road, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to get some info – and have a scone!

The scones were fantastic, the homestead really lovely and we contemplated staying the night. After chatting t the owner and a couple who had just come from Mitchell Falls, we decided it would definitely be worth the trip. With that in mind, we decided not to stay, but to camp at the Gibb River at the turnoff to Mitchell Falls. We arrived there at around 5 and drove around a bit to find a place to camp; we spotted another vehicle there and were keen not to get to close. When you are free camping, you tend to give other campers their space if at all possible. We soon realised that we were going to have to be relatively close to them, so we parked the car and walked over to ask if they minded. They were extremely friendly and didn't mind at all so Iain fetched the car and we set up for the evening.

  We had realised it was a similar setup to the Unimog when we drove past, when we got closer we realised that they were international visitors. We introduced ourselves and they said they didn’t mind us being close at all. We had a quick chat, they told us they were from Switzerland, and their names were Susanna and Peter, and they had been travelling the world for 2 years. They had done almost the same route we want to do.

We decided that we would invite them over for a coffee – we don’t often share, but this was one occasion we definitely wanted to. While Iain set up the Nespresso, I went over to their truck. I wish I had a camera to capture Sussana’s face when I said we had a Nespresso machine, she was so excited; they grabbed cups and came over. Their faces lit up even more when they saw the selection of capsules. We had a coffee and chatted some more, then they left to make dinner.

About half an hour later we noticed they had a massive fire going, Peter wandered over and invited us to come and sit by the fire with them. It was such a lovely evening chatting to like minded people and listening to their experiences. It was also great for me to talk to another woman and get her perspective on travelling. We talked late into the night.

Keep River National Park / El Questro 5/9/2013

We have decided that as it is so hot during the day, we will try to get up early, pack up ready to go, then do a walk/hike. We can then drive during the heat of the day and arrive at our next destination late afternoon, which gives us enough time to have a short walk or swim before setting up.

The hike we decided on at Keep National Park ended up being 8km return. It was very confusing, with lots of options for different distances – just going opposite directions on a circuit. We just kept going in the same direction and did it all. It was a lovely walk, the first 1.5km was quite hot with no real shade, we could see that we were headed towards some rocky outcrops. Once we got to the base of the outcrops, it got very interesting, and really lovely.

We walked up a hill to a lookout first.We then continued down and around, the photos speak for themselves.

 We spent some time just enjoying the beautiful surroundings completing the circuit and walking the hot 1.5km back to the car. It was really nice to be all packed up, all we had to do was jump in the car and go – and enjoy the aircon. Just a few hundred metres from the National park was the border crossing into WA, all cars are searched for ‘contraban’ and then finally we were in WA and we had to set the clocks back 1.5 hours. We saw a sign for Lake Argyle and decided it was worth a look. It is massive, and as we drove over the dam wall it reminded me of Lake Kariba, definately brought some memories back. After driving around and taking a few pictures, we stopped in at the shop for an ice-cream. This is where we aquired our latest travelling mascot, Craig the croc.

 

 

 

 

 We  It was another hour and we were in Kunanarra. We headed into coles to restock our fruit and veg, looked around a few shops, then went into a coffee shop to catch up on all things internet.

We had heard a lot about El Questro, a station on the Gibb River Road that hass become a tourist hot spot. The consensus was that it was way too touristy but the gorge was a must see. We decided to stay for one night to see for ourselves. There were 2 camping areas, a general one and private camping. This sounded more like us, a campsite on the Pentecost river away from other campers. We booked a site and bought a permit – you cannot do anything on the property without a permit. This set us back $70, quite steep for a camp site. We drove down to the campsite and it certainly was a lovely spot, although not as private as we thought. It was still pretty close to the road and the river crossing to the rest of the private campsites, but it was better than being crammed into a caravan park. 

We had a lovely relaxing evening, we got a fire going and just relaxed. When we decided to go to sleep, we walked around to the other side of the car – and that is when we could hear the generator for the main homestead area! Hopefully they would turn it off at around 10.

Katherine / Gibb River Road 4/9/2013

Finally we were on our way to Western Australia, and the Gibb River Road. Iain had read up a lot about it had had allocated a week to do the 600km. I didn’t quite get why we needed so long, until we got the books out and I did some reading – wow so much to see, I hope 7 days is enough.

We took our time packing up, the quarantine restrictions in WA are very strict and you get searched at the border crossing. We had to make sure we had no fruit, veg, nuts or honey. We still had our jar of raw honey we had nursed all the way from Qld, so were very disappointed to leave it. I gave it to the cleaners at the hotel – they were very happy! A few last minute things from Katherine and we were off on the next leg of our journey.

The scenery was almost immediately magnificent, very mountainous, but at times flat and very savannah like. It reminded us both of driving in Africa – and then we saw Boab trees, magnificent.

We pulled over for some lunch at a rest stop, and in the distance we could see some lovely boab trees, we found a side road and drove out to them. One in particular was screaming photo shoot, so we obliged – with some help from Iain I climbed onto a horizontal branch, and some stunning photos were the result.

There were so many possibilities for an overnight stop, so we stopped off at a roadhouse for some lunch and a drink and to get some info on where best to stop. 

We decided on Keep National Park, as it had a few campsites to choose from and a few options for walks.

We arrived at around 5 and set up for the night. At around 6 our neighbours arrived back from their walk. They set themselves up and then came over to ask if we minded if they lit a fire in the BBQ near our site, when we said yes they invited us to join them. It turned into a lovely evening of socialising, they were French backpackers on a yearlong visit to Aus, lovely people to chat to.