The Birrell's Blog: We Survived the Gibb River Road!! (Part 1)

Now we didn't plan it but we ended up "doing" the/"Gibb River Road. Now for hose of you who don't know The "Gibb" is 660 km of gravel, rocks , sand and river crossings connecting Kunnunurrra and Derby. It used to be used as a stock route to take the stock from the stations to the towns. It is a beautiful, wild part of the Kimberley and there are gorges, waterfalls, swimming holes and cattle stations dotted along it.You don't get mobile phone reception or internet connection, you feel like you are "roughing" it.
So we didn't think we had time to do the whole road so was just going to El Questro a million acre cattle station, complete with beautiful gorges and falls and then we were going back to the highway, but we loved it so much we thought stuff it we're going down the Gibb. After approximately 10 phone calls on the pay phone, I secured accommodation and changed the previous itinerary so we could do it.

The first gorge we visited was Emma gorge, it was a great walk in and ver beautiful. Water was icy, but we found a warm spring and a warm rock bath half way up th rocks which we climbed to, magnificent.

We stayed at El Questro where Harry burnt his hand on Maddy's marshmallow, which was on fire, pretty nasty for the little guy. He got to know the nurse there quite well after a nasty graze to his knee, then elbow then his burn- he did get a free ice-cream on the first visit, I kind of wonder if maybe he was after another ice-cream with all his injuries.

We also loved Zebedee springs, a thermal spring fed series of pools in the rain forest.

Pete helping Maddy up the boulder which separates the half-way pool from the rest of the El Questro gorge. To go on this particular walk you walked to the half-way pool (about 1.5km) then swim through a pool to this boulder climb it and continue the rest of the 2km walk/climb. We were out of time so had to stop here much to the kids dismay, they have become real mountain goats, better at rock climbing than Pte and I , though I think I have discovered that I have a fear of heights, so I'm not much enjoying Harry scampering over rocks with a 10 metre drop over the edge!

To continue on the Gibb river Road you then have to cross the infamous Pentecost River. A fairly deep and wide crocodile (salt water) infested river, you don't want to get stuck mid way as you can't get out because of the crocs lurking close by. (You tube it for a real appreciation )

This scary crossing got us on our way to Home Valley Sation. Another million acre cattle station. This was a beautiful green, oasis in the middle of the kimberley . We stayed in great eco tents and we check in you get a bag of marshmallows to cook on your own private campfire. the kids loved Home Valley because it had a playground and swimming pool, not many great walks or gorges though.

After Home Valley we headed North to Drysdale River Station- a little more basic then the previous two stations. We stayed in a "donga", which I was informed was a tin shed! It was fine though, we all slept well. Had a lovely swim in the afternoon at Miners Pool, a beautiful, calm pool in the river which we had to ourselves. In the morning we took a flight over Kings Cascades and the Mitchell Falls. It was a two hour flight over the area, I think Harry was bored after the initial excitement of being in an aeroplane wore off, about 10 minutes and it didn't take long for Emma and Harry to start fighting in the back seat, I was really missing in-flight entertainment.
Nevertheless, we saw some great views from the sky and it was the only way to see Mitchell Falls... this time!