Windjana Gorge

6-7 July

Well, a couple of days in 'town' and we couldn't wait to go bush again!  We retraced about 100km of the Gibb River Road to the turnoff for Windjana Gorge, a further 20km along a stony, corrugated road.  We're constantly amazed at how a rocky range suddenly appears in the middle of otherwise flat country (and most have a gorge or two to be explored).  This one was vertical rocks and crevices where most have been horizontal.

The camping ground is right at the base of the rock wall and only 100m from the gorge itself.  We found ourselves a lovely spot with the back of the troopy opening towards a cluster of trees - which we soon discovered shelter a group of bower birds.  I'd never seen one of their bowers before.  It was large and beautifully decorated with white and silver trimmings.  The male bird kept us well entertained with his dancing, strutting and general showing off.

the bower

View from the campsite, to the wall of Windjana Gorge

It was only about 7.30am when we set off on our walk through Windjana Gorge.  The light was soft and the pool of water, when we came to it, was like a mirror.  

It was quiet except for the bird sounds, and really beautiful.  The track took us through a variety of vegetation – we don’t know a lot of the plants but there were boabs among them.  We started seeing crocodiles in the water, just slightly protruding to get the sun on their backs.

 At one point we went down into the sandy riverbed and sat quietly enjoying the peace.  The walls are so high, with the rocks in vertical formations.   Then further along again, we found another spot where we sat and observed the crocodiles.  There was one on the mudflat about 10 metres away, sleeping in the warm sun and not the least interested in us.  We sat here for ages and could see the crocs slowly drifting along the river.  When we got up to continue our walk, we were amazed to see how many were along the banks.  We  were able to count 26 crocs, some in the water and many sunning themselves.  We got photos and were able to get quite close to them when it was evident they had no interest in us.

Up close and personal

Continuing along the trail we came to the big pool and could see dozens of crocs lying around the edge and dozens more floating in the water.  They appear not to move at all, they just float.  When they swim they propel themselves with a sideways motion of the tail.  A man nearby had counted 57 of them to this point and he hadn’t reached the area up river where we’d seen 26.

No words can describe this sort of thing and no photo can truly depict it.  The sight of a pool full of floating crocs is one that has to be seen to be believed.

We spent 5 hours doing this 2 hour walk, it was fascinating.  Then we returned in the early evening to see the effect of the sun on the gorge walls.

There was a beautiful pink glow throughout the trees and sand, while the walls were spectacularly orange.

Bell Gorge and end of the road

4-5 July

Bell Gorge is a further 10km drive from the campground, a pretty corrugated track but better than others we've been on.  It's about a 1km walk in, a really nice walk with a big variety of palms, gums, boabs and I finally saw a 'Kimberly Rose' which is another name for the red-flowers of the sticky kurrajong.  The track opens out onto some fairly flat rocks and large pool of water which is the top of a waterfall.  This falls into Bell Gorge below.

It was great up here, way above the water, where we could see the orange rock walls, boabs along the top and water monitor down in the river.  We both felt we were in "classic Kimberly" country.

Once we'd returned to the Gibb, we were crossing the King Leopold Range and the scenery was quite fascinating.  The photo below, from a lookout, shows the expanse of the country we travelled across today - the clouds of dust are vehicles on the Gibb River Road.

The termite mounds up here are quite distinctive

We did it, the whole Gibb River Road, the only means of seeing all those wonderful places

And the Troopy excelled, not a single problem

Reaching the end of the Gibb means reaching the town of Derby, WA.  It's very hard coming into a town, even a smallish one like this, after spending just over 2 weeks away from 'civilisation'. However, we need fuel and a bit more food and water so we can go bush again.  

Derby's a sprawling sort of town, population about 5,000 and set on King Sound.  There are heaps of large boab trees, many protected.  It's not a pretty town, though is clean and has all the facilities the population would require.  There's a long jetty and depending what time of day/night you're there, you can see the huge tidal variation.  Today's was about an 8 metre difference between low and high tide and this can be seen to some extent in the photos here.

High tide last night

Low tide today

View through our window this morning 6.15am

View through our back door this evening 5.30pm

Boabs and termite mounds near our bush camp, Derby

Tomorrow we'll be leaving for Windjana Gorge and from there will go and see Tunnel Creek and do a cruise on Geikie Gorge near Fitzroy Crossing.  We never plan how long to spend in any one place, we just see how it feels at the time.  So we may take a week in this area, but once we feel we've seen as much of the inland as we can we'll head for Broome.  We won't have any internet until then, so for now that's all folks :)

More gorges on the Gibb

Back on the Gibb River Road, the driving was easier.  It’s not as bad (at the moment anyway) as some of the stories we hear.  It's more the tracks off to the sides, to the gorges, that are hard work.

There was a turnoff into Gibb River Station which we took and were surprised to find an aboriginal community in here – several houses, a school, a couple of public buildings, a playground.  

Barnett River Gorge was a great stop.  It’s 3km in from the road along a really rough, sandy track which cuts across the station.  The walk wasn’t hard, only about 1km and pretty flat.  We ended at the top of the gorge, looking down into the Barnett River which is lined with palms and trees.  It was beautiful.  We then walked down and across a sandy track to the river’s edge, where we sat with our feet in the water and enjoyed the quiet beauty.

Mt Barnett Roadhouse was a good lunch stop.  Being the only roadhouse on the Gibb, we thought we'd treat ourselves to takeaway food - barra & chips for Deb, pie for Phil.

About 14km up the road is Galvans Gorge,  an easy walk, just a small section over rocks but they were pretty flat.  The gorge itself is nothing spectacular but is a really nice spot.  There’s a large deep pool at the the bottom of a waterfall, surrounded by eucalypts and palms with a half-circle rock wall. 

Galvans Gorge

After bush camping off the road near the Adcock River, we visited Adcock's Gorge the next morning.  This was different again, a nice big pool set among rocks and 'strangler' fig trees.  It was fairly early and we were the only ones there.

  

Our next stop was the Imintji Store which is a little shop/cafe/fuel stop.  Everything's very expensive out here.  Fuel about $2.50 litre, bread $6 for a basic loaf, even Cadbury 220g block of chocolate was $9.25.  We're fairly self-sufficient and didn't need to buy anything.

Imintji store on the Gibb River Road

Phil (seagull man) had to be coaxed empty-handed from the tip

Our destination tonight was the King Leopold Range where there's a national park campground at a place called Silent Grove.  We arrived there early afternoon and found ourselves a nice spot among the trees - it's a really lovely area.  As it was pretty hot we decided we'd be better off doing the walk to Bell Gorge in the morning, so had a couple of hours relaxing in this great environment.  And then ... in they came, one by one (or sometimes in twos and threes) ... families with their off-road trailers, generators and kids with footballs.  NT school holidays run for 4 weeks and WA started this weekend for 2 weeks.  Even remote, off-road places like Bell Gorge are not immune!

Back to the Gibb

1st July

From the Kalumburu coast we retraced our steps south, bumping and rattling our way past the Mitchell Falls turnoff and eventually to Drysdale River about 5 hours later.  

On the Kalumburu road

 Seeing as we had to cross the river anyway, Phil thought it'd be a good place to give the car a quick wash.  The red dust clings to the windscreen, especially if you're overtaken by another vehicle.  I might add this was not oneof the rivers known to be inhabited by salties:)

We found a lovely spot to camp, on a sandy bank by the Drysdale River among the trees.  We even got out our art supplies, it was such a peaceful and inspiring place.  There was the most beautiful soft light over the water when we woke the next morning.

Up the Top!

After 4 nights, back along the Mitchell Falls Road we went for the 2 hour journey to the intersection with Kalumburu Road.  Along the way we found the track blocked - by a carton of beer that had scattered all over! We picked up the good cans (about 10) and moved the rest to the side of the road.  Must have been lost by the car which last passed us in the opposite direction.  A little further along another vehicle going in had stopped so we checked he was okay.  He’d picked up a bag of clothes and a sleeping bag from the road.  Seems someone had lost more than just his beer going in!

Nearing the King Edward River we stopped and followed a walking trail which we'd been told ended at an aboriginal art site.  Sure enough we found some really good rock paintings.  It was just a flat area with a scattering of rocks but it was quite a treasure trove once we got exploring.

At the intersection we turned north toward Kalumburu.  It was a really pretty drive with a couple of river crossings (shallow at this time of year) and some pretty rough road in parts.  The 103 km took us 3 hours to drive.

Kalumburu is an Aboriginal mission, a 

'closed community' which tourists must obtain a permit to visit.  We found it quite interesting to see a little of how a community survives in such an isolated location.  It's a very long way from anywhere!  There are services such as medical, aged care, police, primary school and of course the mission (Benedictine) but supplies are flown in.  Those who need to go to cities (eg for high school) fly there.  We had a look around the mission compound which is run entirely by volunteers; we spoke to a woman in the office who told us how it runs.  

We spent the night at the mission's camping ground which was good, then next morning drove as far north as is possible - the Kalumburu coast and specifically McGowan Island and Honeymoon Beach.  Both are beautiful, isolated coastal places with nothing but a campground.  After having some time at Honeymoon Beach we returned to McGowans to camp.

This was one of the most beautiful camps so far.  As you can see the sunsets were spectacular.  There were boab trees and pandanus palms - the campground's not developed at all so you just camp wherever. 

It's a shame there was a group of fishermen and their wives (grey nomads) who ran a generator all day every day to keep their freezers and fridges going!  It was the main reason we left after two nights - that and the arrival of about 12 vehicles and their assorted trailers.  We thoroughly loved the time we had here and chose the right time to leave.