From Purnululu we stayed a few nights in Kununarra stocking up on food. The alcohol laws in top end on WA caught us out so we were on rations for our trip across the Gibb.
Our first stop was El Questro. A private 'wilderness 'camp. If you want to know anything about the place all you have to do is pay.....
We walked through Emma Gorge and had a swim under the waterfall here. The water temperature was a cool 14 deg. Under the fall was the coldest - I got to a point where my arms would hardly work to swim back- beginnings of hypothermia. Once we swam in here we could swim in any waterhole. El Questro Gorge was also a beautiful walk and swim. Full of pandanus and spiral palms -a lush oasis.
The picture below is Zebedee Springs. Heaps of little pools with fed by thermal springs. Warm crystal clear water. It was very hard to get out.
Below is very rare sight - the kids doing their homework.....El Questro style.
After El Questro we went to Home Valley which was great. Grass to camp on, a huge undercover playground, swimming pool and most importantly a bar where Tony and Jeremy could watch the second State of Origin.
We crossed the Pentacost and Durack Rivers- the pic below is the Pentacost with the Cockburn Ranges in the background. THis is a wide crossing but not too deep - it had dropped from 700mm to about 450mm in about a fortnight. The amount of water that pumps through this country blows your mind. The huge trees that are uprooted and the earth that is carved out is unreal. I would love to fly over this country in the wet season - I think it would be something
From here we went to Mt Elizabeth Station. This is a working cattle station which has a beautiful gorge and some Wandjina Rock Art. The drive from the camp area here to the gorge was very slow - took us 50minutes to do 10klms. The swimming hole and rock art was great - worth the drive.
From Mt Elizabeth Station we went to Manning Gorge. THis was a fun one. YOu swim across the manning river with a tyre tube and styrofoam box to put your stuff in so it doesn't get wet and then start the 5k walk into the gorge. Fabulous walk- scrambling up and down rocks. Once there we swam under the waterfall and sat in a cave there.
From Manning we continued on to Mornington Wilderness Camp. This is managed/leased by Australian Wildlife Conversency. They have turned the bottom half of the property into a sanctuary for native animals by destocking cattle and other introduced herbivors. It is really a beautiful spot. They only allow a max of 50 campers in at once so it is very quite and most of the time have the swimming holes and gorges to yourself. We hired a canoe and went down the Dimond Gorge and only saw 2 other people. The geology of these areas are mind boggling. The rock on top of some of these ranges are so old -(billions of years ) that there is no fossils in them - they existed before the first living creatures. Such an ancient land -makes you feel a bit insin
AFter Mornington onto Bells Gorge. One of the most popular in the Kimberley.Lots of water monitors here and saw one having a swim.
Galvans Gorge - just a short walk from the road. Nice place for a swim under the waterfall. It also had some wandjana rock art.
Road Trains frequent the Gibb River Road creating huge amounts of dust.
WE also stopped in at Charnley River Station. This has been recently leased/managed by Australian Wildlife Conversency. The top part of the station has the Artesian Range. This area is the only place in WA where the mammal/wildlife set has remained as it was before white settlement. That is no extinctions or endangered species. They have captured on camera some mammals which they can't identify -new species. This part is inaccessible except by air so we didn't get there....give it a few years though. Charnley river Station however did have a lot to offer. Lots of great swimming holes, 2 gorges . On our way back to the car from a swim from one of the water holes, we saw a wallaby on a rock in front of us. We were walking very softly trying to sneak up on him to get a good photo. This we discovered is not a smart thing to do in the bush.....Jeremy looked down at the right moment just to see a huge snake about 1.5m from him. We have talked about what to do when you see a snake on the walks - say 'freeze -snake and don't panic. Which is exactly what Jeremy did. Not sure if I would have been so calm if I was in front. Anyway it turned out to be a black headed python - non venemous, about 3m long and it took off once it saw us. Needless to say we try not to sneak up on wildlife too much any more.
This picture is us crossing the Hann River. Frank Hann was an explorer of the area and his intitals are carved on Boab Trees through the kimberley. Poor little campy got her bum wet here.
Jasmine hugging a cow - the managers had just finished making it and we all signed it.
THis swimming hole is called Lily Pool. It is a natural pool great for cooling off. It reminded me of some fance resort pool complete with waterfall and palms
At Charnley we were happy to hear that the Kalumbaru Road had opened as far as the Mitchell Plateau. We had been very keen to visit the Michell falls, but had heard stories that the road wouldn't be open this year. So very excited to be able to go. When planning the trip this was one of our highlights.
So from Charnley we went to Drysdale Station about 60klms north off the Gibb River. From here it is a 4 hour drive to the Mitchell falls. We left the camper here and took the tent. The road into the falls is supposed to be rough but we found it was quite good. This is gods country up here. The Mitchell Fan Palm grows only here, the falls are spectacular especially this year after such an huge wet season. Great Aboriginal Rock art- Bradshaw and Wandjana -some of it dated 3,0000years old.
Mitchell Falls
On the way back to Drysdale Station we stopped at King Edward River. There is heaps of great examples of Bradshaw and Wandjana rock art here.
and of course the dingo....
We loved this part of WA -3 weeks here was not enough. It is a bit of a bumpy ride along the Gibb River Road and I must admit I was quite over the dust by the end, but the scenery is worth it. There are heaps of birds everywhere. We bought a birds of the top end book and the kids have become quite the twitchers... While we were in here the wildflowers were just starting to come out making the drive quite beautiful.
Anyway, back onto the bitumen....ahhhh smoothness.
