Galvans Gorge

On the way to Charnley River Station we stopped off at Galvans Gorge. It was a really pretty pool with a substantial waterfall and good jumping rocks for Maddy, especially after she'd seen a young tourist group come through and seen the young men jumping off the top off the waterfall, Emma is also developing a worrying tendency to follow! The gorge also had some aboriginal paintings which is always an added bonus.

Then we continued onto our accommodation for the night, a" Ronderval"- basically a hexagonal room with fly screen walls in the middle of the bush, so you feel you are sleeping in the bush, Pete certainly did when he heard the wallabies all night- I of course slept soundly.

The Ronderval

The charm of Charnley was the hospitality of the manager, mike and his wife Karen. We arrived late, about 5,30pm he came out and greeted us personally and told us dinner would be ready at 6pm. We got settled and went to the main homestead for dinner and mike had cooked up a great Roast beef and we all sat at the long table and chatted, not that we were much fun after the long day. There was another family staying with kids and the little boy took Harry to the creek to see the croc and the girls played spotlight.

The next day we awoke to peacocks, lots of them wandering around . after a Mike's  special breakky we headed off to explore the gorges which were pretty disappointing , because its the dry season a lot of the waterfalls have stopped flowing and the swimming holes are drying up, they haven't had rain since March. We liked Dilli gorge, which was a huge river flowing into the gorge so we could swim (the average temperature is 35 degrees). We ran into a family we keep bumping into, the kids had a ball plying, making a stick house high up i the rocks in a cliff and swimming all day. We relaxed i the shade and swam when it got to hot.

The next morning we headed off early as we had decided to back track to a gorge we'd missed on the way in as we had gotten there too late.We were going a little faster than usual on the dodgy rocky roads and just as we pulled into Mt Barnett road house to get our permit the dreaded happened, a flat tyre! So in 35 degree heat , we had to unpack all our gear, the spare tyre is under the car and to get to the winch to lower it you have to lift up the boot floor. So with all our stuff on the side of the Road and me reading the manual Pete changed the tyre. The sense of camaraderie on the Gibb is very strong and we were offered help, but it was really just a matter of plodding on. After an hour we were back in business- the only trouble we now no longer had a spare, whilst we were driving down the Gibb graveyard for tyres, it was not uncommon to see 4-5 people a day pulled over changing tyres or with mechanical problems. We also now know why they recommend that you carry two spares, a plug-kit and a pump none of which we had.

After the tyre change we continued on, very apprehensively as we couldn't afford to be stranded with another flat in the middle of nowhere, no phone reception. Manning gorge was amazing, a series of huge pools and a huge water fall feeding into them. The walk in was also lots of fun as it begins with a swim to an island, you put your stuff in foam boxes and float them across you then continue to the other side of the pool and you can then start the 1.5 km walk in to the gorge.
the walk was hot and rocky with lots of steep hills so we were dying for a swim at the end of it.

Maddy considering her jump.......

To put it into perspective, she is standing on the rock ledge just above the closest waterfall to the left.

After Manning gorge we continued on to the Bell Gorge Wilderness lodge, a little bit of luxury on or last night on the Gibb, not that that was planned that's the only accommodation there was. We stayed in Eco tents which were really nice harry really enjoyed playing in the luggage trolley.

In the morning we were up bright and early to set off to Bell Gorge, after we visited the trye man . the only mechanic on the Gibb River road and he sold tyres, ours was wrecked it was like it had been slashed by a sharp rock.the drive into the start of the walk was 29km of nasty road, very rocky with lots of sharp ones- at least we now had a spare. The walk in to Bell Gorge was about 2 km, you had the walk through the river, not too deep, at the top of the falls and then you descended down the side of the cliff face to the pool under the falls to swim. We saw lots of water monitors scampering around the rocks.We also ran into our friends again, which delighted the kids.

We finished the day with a trip to Windjana Gorge. a soaring gorge with sandy banks and a fairly still river through it full of fresh water crocs, this is one gorge they don't recommend you to swim in not that it looks that inviting. We got there about 4pm and didn't see any crocs on the bank, apparently there are usually lots of them sunning themselves on the sandy bank but we did see quite a few cruising down the river.

The walk in to Windjana Gorge

Windjana Gorge

We then had to continue on to Derby and off the Gibb river road and back onto bitumen and civilisation. We got into Derby at about 7pm, hungry, exhausted and dirty but strangely content after our great adventure on the Gibb!