We arrived in Darwin a few days early just to unwind and take the chance to see what the place had to offer. The weather was perfect 30' average and coming from a cold winter in Sydney it was awesome being able to cruise around in shorts and thongs. We were staying in the middle of the CBD which is the main pub district, a main street with about half a dozen really cool 'aussie outback' vibe pubs.
Unwinding at the local pubs (pic taken with mobile phone)
On our last day in Darwin we picked up the Land Cruiser with Maui camper fitout from the Maui dealership and set off on our 4x4 journey to the west coast of Australia to Broome.
Picking up the hire 4wd (pic taken with mobile phone)
Before leaving Darwin we loaded up on supllies (beer, meat, wine, nibbles, water) and headed off south west to Litchfield National Park. One of the first sights that stood out on the road was the 130 kph speed limit. Coming from NSW where the most we've ever seen is 110 this was for some strange reason very interesting to us.
130 km/h. They do things different in the NT.
Our first chance to stretch the legs was at the Magnetic Termite Mounds on the outskirts of Litchfield NP. They were pretty different and reminded us of a graveyard. At this stage it and was a novelty as we had not seen anything like it before, however little did we know that we would see many more down the track with literally millions of termite mounds on the sides of the road.
Magnetic Termite Mounds
We arrived in the center of Litchfield NP just before sunset and decided to camp at the Wangi Falls campground. We had no idea what to expect from a 'campsite' in this part of the world but were pleasantly surprised. Full shower facilities with gas bbqs and washing up sinks etc. We setup the car for the first time (popped the top, arranged the luggage etc) and set off to have a look at the falls which were only 100 meters or so from the campsite.
First night in the camper went fairly well. To setup the bed you popped the top of the camper, slid out some plywood boards for the bed base and placed mattress / cushions on the boards. The bed was a little uncomfortable as the mattress they provided was a little thin however we came up with a way to use the thicker cushions for the downstairs bed as well to make it a lot better.
Wake up Nat
After breakfast we hiked to the top of Wangi Falls and had a chance to see our campsite and the land beyond.
View of the campsite from the top of the falls.
On the way back from the hike we saw a kangaroo with the biggest set of balls I have ever seen!
Skippy Big Balls
Without any real agenda or timeline in mind we made the decision to spend the second day visiting the numerous waterfalls in Litchfield NP. Our first stop was Tolmer Falls, one of the highest waterfalls we had ever seen.
Tolmer Falls
Next on the list was Florence Falls where we went for a swim. It was a little crowded but you could see why, the water was crystal clear and a great temperature / not cold. We had goggles and could see hundreds of large black bream under the water which the majority of the people had no idea were there.
Florence Falls from above
Swimming at Florence Falls
Back on the road for a few hours to travel south to Katherine (home of the famous Katherine Gorge). We arrived in the afternoon and had a quick look at Edith Falls (part of the Gorge) and then grabbed a site in the local caravan park which backed onto the Katherine Hot Springs. We setup camp, broke out the beers, threw some steaks on the bbq and relaxed. We were going to check the springs out but the whole area is closed after 7pm so the local crocodiles can have the place to themselves.
We got up early to go for a dip in the Katherine Hot Springs. This place was awesome, 32 degrees water temp with crystal clear fresh water. They have put handrails and stairs on one side of the springs for easy access.
Katherine Hot Springs
After a swim in the hot springs we packed up camp and set off for Kununurra which is the last town before we embark on the (in)famous Gibb River Road for the remainder of our journey. This was one of the longer drives of our trip at 5 hours but it didn't get boring which I found surprising. The road was pretty barren but we did stop for lunch at a roadhouse approx half way between the two to stretch our legs. We also had to cross the border into W.A. and we got busted with a secret stash of fruit in the car. I did the usual blame the missus approach and got us off the hook althought they took a crapload of our food and made us completely unpack the car. First stop at Kununurra was a small national park called Hidden Valley. It was late afternoon when we arrived and the place had a fairly creepy feel about it. These weird rock formations with tracks around them and a lookout at the top.
Hidden Valley NP
We spent the night in another caravan park and had dinner at their local restaurant (which was surprisingly good). Not quite sure what we were going to experience on the Gibb River Road we thought we would make the most of civilisation for the last time. The town pretty much had one pub, it was fairly large and we went to watch the Knights game playing and realised 2 things about W.A. They all worship AFL over there and the pubs do not have poker machines!
Just west of Kunanurra is the start of the Gibb River Road. This is basically a 4wd only access dirt road that goes most the way across Western Australia / through the Kimberleys and was the main purpose of our trip. We had to get special permission to take our hire car 4wd on this road and a few people had warned us that we would need 2 spare tyres to do it safely although our Land Cruiser only had one.
Start of the Gibb River Road
Typical section of the Gibb River Road
Not long after starting the G.R.R. we came across El Questro Station which I recall reading about at some stage on the internet so I suggested we give it a look. Really glad we did. The road to El Questro station was offroad and had a couple of water crossings which were fun as they were the first we had encountered on the journey. We setup camp and booked into the 'Exploding Gorge' tour which we were told was one of the best tours on offer and had a couple of late cancelations so we were able to book at the last minute. This tour involved an hour long 4wd trip through some of the craziest 4wd territory I had seen inc. driving a long a river, down the side of this gorge with 2-foot drops and then along a 'road' of large river stones to the gorge's edge where a boat was waiting to take us onto the actual water.
Explosion Gorge 4wd Tour at El Questro Station
After a quiet put around the gorge in the boat we loaded back into the 4x4 and drove back up the gorge and then continued up a super steep track to the top of this lookout for champagne and nibbles to watch the sunset. The guide seemed pretty surprised that nothing had gone wrong during the trip and told us tales of blowing tyres in the middle of the river or on the edge of the cliff leading into the gorge. The tour was great and proved to be very valuable knowledge about learning the limits of a 4wd and what kinds of terrain they can handle comfortably. We had a renewed faith in our hire-4wd as it was the same brand land-cruiser that the park used for it's tour vehicles.
Apart from various 4wd tracks and guided tours, El Questro is also famous for it's amazing hiking trails. We got a recommendation from a couple who were on the previous day's Explosion Gorge tour that the 'El Questro Gorge' hike was one of the better ones although it came with a warning of 'its pretty difficult at times climbing rocks and wading through water'. I thought to myself, how difficult could it possibly be?
Basically, the hike starts with a bit of fairly fun 4wd track to the parking area. The track was very sandy with some longish water crossings. You then hiked to the gorge through some rainforest-esq surroundings and then up the gorge itself from bottom to top which was around 2 hours of fairly heavy rock climbing and boulder hopping. We were warned to not sprain an ankle as you would be basically 'stuffed' and I could now see why. No way to get a chopper in there so you would literally have to be carried out.
El Questro Gorge Hike - The beginnings
This isnt so hard? I don't know what they were going on about!
At approx. the half way mark, there was this water pool with what appeared to be an almost impassable rock blocking our way. We had been told there was a very difficult section where you had to wade through water and climb up a crevace and had obviously not taken the warning seriously. Im a fairly agile guy, and grew up climbing trees and rocky cliffs most my childhood and only JUST got up there myself. There was no foot-holds and all you could do was push against the two slimy rock walls for traction and then clamber your way up hoping not to slip and fall.
We saw the white triangle / arrow on the rock and thought they were joking!
After the half way obstruction the going got a lot more difficult. There were numerous cliff climbs and rocky traversals along the way. We were thinking to ourselves how often someone must get absolutely cranked on the rocks and have to be stretchered out and just hoping we were not the next one to fall victim to the gorge.
One of many climbs up wet rocky cliff-faces.
At the top of the gorge is an amazing waterfall / deep plunge pool which is perfect for cooling off in after the intense hike. While the waterfall was definitely amazing, it had nothing on the site we were privileged with upon reaching our destination, a 70+ year old hunched back man standing stark naked on his own taking photos of the waterfall. We literally could not believe our eyes! This guy had a full tripod / pro camera setup and had carried it all the way up the gorge. It was a refreshing reminder that you are never too old and where there is will there is way. Still to this day I have no f'ing idea how he managed to get past that half way road block section.
Waterfall at the end of the Gorge
We arrived back to our car 5 hours after setting off on the hike to discover 'someone' had left the headlights on and our battery was completely flat. After a bit of a nervous laugh and sitting down trying to work out what the next move should be, I noticed the car was parked on a slight rocky slope and decided to have a go at reverse hill-starting it. With Nat up the front pushing the bull-bar (rule being she who leaves lights on pushes) we managed to turn the engine over and we were up and running with a huge sigh of relief. Needless to say it was the last time the lights were left on for the remainder of the trip. We left El Questro and returned to the Gibb River Road driving for a couple of hours and decided to camp at Elenbrae Station. It was a fairly basic campsite but still had shower and toilet facilities.
We packed up at Elenbrae station and decided to check out Mt Barnett Gorge and Manning Gorge. Mt Barnett gorge was aprox 7 km off the side of the Gibb River Road along a fairly good quality 4wd track. The gorge itself was more of a billabong and I took the opportunity to try my hand at some fishing. I rigged up with a small hard-plastic lure and some heavy trace and second cast the bait got smashed by something fairly sizeable. I couldn't believe it but I knew my line was not very thick and that I'd basically have to fight the fish until it was completely exhausted or I would have no chance of landing it. Unfortunately, just when I was finally bringing it into shore, the fish had a last minute burst of energy and swam under a rock ledge lodging itself in there and forcing me to cut the line. Aaarrgh! My mind was racing with 'what if it was a barra' thoughts and I think I may have even shed a tear.
The water hole of shattered fishing dreams.
Manning Gorge was our next stop and upon arriving at the campsite we did some firewood gathering and went to check out the river just behind where we were camping. It was a little overcast this day but the sandy shored river was still an amazing sight.
Camping under a Boab Tree
Manning River Swimming Area
This was the first night we had to rely on non-refrigerated meats etc so whipped up a tuna pasta with chilli on the gas cooker which tasted great.
We packed up the campsite and headed off to hike to Manning Gorge. The weather was a bit overcast but there wasn't much shade on the hike so it was probably a blessing. The hike to Manning Gorge is around 1.5 hours and is across a bunch of sandstone tracks and a fairly steep descent down into the actual gorge.
Hiking to Manning Gorge
We arrived at the gorge and were awe struck by the beach sandy banks and the large waterfall at the far side of the gorge. The water was filled with small fish as the light rain dropped on the surface.
Manning Gorge
Fish everywhere
I was shooting some photos of the falls and decided to say nuts to the weather and swim over to them.
I wonder if I could swim over there.
The water was a little cool but not too bad and there was actually a sandy bank behind the falls where you could stand up which was a lucky find as I was getting a bit tired after the long hike and swim across to the falls.
Metal horns up under the falls.
We hiked back to the car and hit the road again. We noticed a turnoff to a place called 'Mornington Wilderness Park' and thought we would check it out. It was around 1.5 hours south of the gibb river road and we arrived just before sunset to setup camp.
We got up early and decided to drive out to Sir John gorge after getting some advice from the local park rangers. The road out to the gorge was pretty good apart from a couple of dry creek bed crossings.
Mornington Campsite
The road to Sir Johns Gorge
Sir Johns Gorge
We liked the Mornington Wilderness park but we were suffering red-dust withdrawal and were keen to get back on the Gibb River Road and on to Bell Gorge. We arrived at Bell at around 3pm and set off on the hike to the gorge. It was pretty rocky / steep down to the gorge and we emerged from the trail onto this huge rock platform with the sound of falling water in the distance.
Looking down on Bell Gorge waterfalls
There was a pretty steep hike down a cliff-face to reach the pool at the base of the falls but it was worth it. Great way to freshen up after the hike down by taking a swim.
We packed up at the Bell Gorge campsite and made our way up the Gibb to Windjana Gorge. This place is literally crawling with freshwater crocodiles and it was awesome how they would just be sunning themselves on the side of the water. When I got to the Gorge I realised I had left my zoom lens in the car so I basically had to get right up to the crocs to take the photos with my 18-55mm lens.
The end of the Gibb River Road finishes at the small town of Derby. We booked into a local caravan park for the night and decided to check out the local pier. To our amazement this pier was about 40 foot above the flats, was accessible to public vehicles 'at their own risk' and had practically no barriers along the edges to prevent you from accidently driving off the side.
Driving out to Derby Pier 'at our own risk'
Derby is surrounded by tidal mud-flats that go on for miles.
Now we understood what the 'drive on pier at own risk' signs were all about.
The other main attraction in Derby is a big hollow boab tree that was used to store prisoners in 'back in the day'. Apart from that and the pier there wasn't much going on in Derby as the entire town had gone to the annual races. We visited the local pub for a cold beer and ate out at the local chinese restaurant before calling it a day.
