TripRoundUnder

It was finally time to put the troopy through its first extended off-road adventure, the renowned Gibb River Road.

Our first tip for travelling the Gibb, is that if you are entering from the West, we advise stocking up in Broome rather than Derby. We took the second option and the Woolworths was very poorly stocked. Normally, we like to support small towns, but maybe make that a local coffee rather than the multinational corporation woolies. In addition to this, also refill any LPG cylinders in Broome, as the only option in the town was the caravan park, who conveniently had a blanket price of $20 per refill. Not exactly great value when it usually costs $6-$8 for our 1.25kg bottle.

We also recommend staying at Birdwood Downs Station on the Western end of the Gibb. We had a lovely one night stay for our last bit of relative luxury (showers) before going off the grid for a while. They even had albino peacocks and a communal campfire each night for people to connect with fellow travellers. This was a great thing for us as we got some great tips from people coming the other way and had just finished the road.

The next morning we started out early, heading to our first landmark of the adventure, Tunnel Creek. In hindsight, this offshoot of the main Gibb River Road was probably one of the roughest sections of road we would encounter, but at the time, we didn’t know this and holy moly the corrugations took their toll!

We made it to Tunnel Creek relatively unscathed and boy were we in for a treat. We didn’t really do much prior research, which was probably a good thing, as wading through water sometimes up to your thighs in the dark with fresh water crocs probably doesn’t sound great. In saying that, besides some nervous moments, including Steve going through the wrong entrance, jumping into chest deep water and brushing his foot on something that felt very croc like, we had a great time! No seriously, it was such a cool experience walking through the wondrous caves and meeting some of the locals. Hopefully reading this doesn’t stress you out too much Mum.

Not having a great torch (obviously haven’t learned from our Mt Bruce experience) didn’t really help things, so we would encourage adding that to your shopping list as well.

From here, we travelled back down the side road to Windjana Gorge, the first of many gorges on this trip. Although you can’t swim (you would be gutsy anyway with these friends about), this ended up being one of our favourite places on the Gibb!

You really felt as though you had been taken back in time to the Jurassic period, with the towering cliff faces and roaming crocodiles creating an awesome atmosphere.

From here we continued back towards the main Gibb River Road and our campsite for the night, with the setting sun creating both amazing views and a blinding windscreen for driver Lauren. We even had more interactions with travelling locals who were also looking for a place to spend the night.

Arriving at our camp, our tip of organising your gas refill in Broome was reinforced, with a backpacker couple borrowing our cooker, as they had run out of gas on their the first night of the Gibb. We saw them a few days later travelling with another car, so we can confirm that they indeed survived.

Our next stop was Bell Gorge and the Silent Grove Campground, with the drive into the gorge providing our first troopy water crossing! We are proud to report that the car made it through unscathed and no leaks that we can see. Almost like it was made for it.

Bell gorge was another amazing experience with a relatively short walk leading to two waterhole experiences! For those less strong on their feet, the top of the waterfall provided shallow swimming holes and a slightly steeper walk led to the bottom of the falls and the larger pools.

We headed down to the bottom and took the plunge, a much needed refreshment, as the 36 degree day had started to take its toll! It was such a cool experience to swim over to the waterfalls and explore both sides of the gorge.

We headed back to Silent Grove and managed to snag a great spot in the shade for an afternoon siesta out of the heat. As the sun started to go down, we decided to drive the 15 minutes back out to the gorge for sunset. This turned out to be a great decision as we were able to experience the magic of the waterholes at the top of the falls without the crowds and with a new full moon rising above us. Truly magical! We would advise everyone to experience this special feeling.

The next day we headed further down the road and following the advice of some fellow travellers, we checked out Adcock Gorge, a smaller more intimate location. Now, the road into here probably takes the cake as the worst road of the trip and if you’re brave enough, there is even a slightly more extreme water-crossing to get right next to the gorge (we weren’t that brave). We were greeted by a lazy freshwater croc chilling out on one side of the waterhole and with the waterfall dried plus snappy in the pool, we decided against swimming. In saying this, it was still a magical place to visit and the no swimming aspect almost made it feel more wild.

This gorge is apparently private land, so we even managed to get some cool drone shots!

Managing to get back onto the main drag without losing a tyre or anything else important, we decided that a taste of “luxury” was in order. We stopped by Mt Barnett roadhouse and treated ourselves to ice-cream and the nearby Manning Gorge campground, complete with showers!

Although a total contrast to Adcock in terms of amount of people, we had a great time exploring Manning Gorge, both the nearby “beach” and river, to the more distant gorge itself. There was even a pulley system complete with kayaks to transport yourselves across the river!

We were pretty spent after a long day, so decided to save the longer walk for the next day and had a relaxing swim close to camp.

In classic Steve and Lauren fashion, we made plans to get up early and walk to the gorge to avoid the heat, but failed miserably as we (Steve) love a little morning lie in. After sorting ourselves out, we made our way to the kayak crossing and made friends with the travelling couple we had met the previous day at Adcock Gorge. This made the 3km hike in high 30s degree heat much more bearable, as well as the 4 snake sightings in and around the gorge.

Our walk was definitely rewarding as Manning Gorge lived up to its reputation and we spent an awesome morning swimming around the main waterhole and climbing up the waterfall to explore the waterway that fed it. Maybe stop reading here Mum because adding to our snake tally was a friendly local, who decided that he wanted to join in the swimming fun. After seeing this, Steve decided he had had enough of the waterhole for one day.

It was now time to continue our Gibb River Road adventure and make our way to Ellenbrae Station and their renowned scones! Stay tuned for part 2!