Gibb River Road

Campground 1: Windjana Gorge NP
Facilities: Toilet, Solar Showers, Fire pit, Picnic benches, Non-potable water.
Good stuff: Wonderful view of the Devonian Reef limestone.
Not so good stuff: Great that it has showers but pricey for a National Park if you include vehicle entry fee.
Price: $24 for two adults per night (plus $12 vehicle entry)
 

Campground 2: Silent Grove Campground
Facilities: Toilet, Solar Showers, Fire pit, Picnic benches, Non-potable water.
Good stuff: Good location along the Gibb and close to Bell Gorge.
Not so good stuff: Gets very busy!
Price: $24 for two adults per night (plus $12 vehicle entry)
 

Campground 3: Barnett River Gorge Bush Camp
Facilities: None.
Good stuff: Really peaceful with few people around and good location along the Gibb if you want to go the Mitchell Falls.
Not so good stuff: You might have difficulty finding the campsite as the track disappears.
Price: FREE

After Broome and our debating over whether we should go to Cape Leveque was done (with our decision being we shall head there another time) we were ready to head across the iconic Gibb River Road. Considering that it is only mid May, the start of the tourist season, the road and the campgrounds were busy and noise levels were high mainly from some unruly kids running around in the dark in between tents, screaming with excitement. Their squeals of joy were soon turned into cries of pain after they had blindly fallen over in the dark. Oh the serenity!

Driving along the Gibb we were ready to, once again, be frantically grabbing parts of Margaret’s interior in the hope that she wasn’t going to shake herself apart. Then we realised, wait… it is all tarmac! Or at least the majority at the beginning of it is, mixed in with a few dirt sections. We were probably lucky because it was early in the season so the majority of the normal rickety corrugation driving was rather a relatively smooth but noisy drive- Margaret definitely likes to be heard…

Windjana gorge from the campground. It is thought that the reef system was close to shore due to clastic deposits found in the limestone, similar to the WA near shore reef off Exmouth.

Our first detour was Windjana Gorge NP. We were met with towering, majestic limestone cliffs in the distance. This is a Devonian reef system now exposed for us all to enjoy. However, we were now in croc country! After Liz’s mental preparation of going for a walk in a croc infested area (although only Freshwater crocs…) we were booted up to explore around the gorge. Liz was a little skittish to say the least and Kyle had to be in front to scope the area out- you know just in case one of us accidently stumbled on one. We had walked the best part of a kilometre until we saw a tiny freshwater crocodile. From there we gained the extra croco-sense (trademark) to see around 10 peeping their heads out in the water.

Kyle was getting excited about the fossils and there were many, for example the cross section of a nautilus shell by Kyle's hand...

...and he kept on getting more excited with the more he saw!

Although there were many crocs, they were all loitering in the waters.

There are a fair few other detours along the Gibb River Road. You can head further South from Windjana Gorge to Tunnel Creek NP exploring the tunnel cut through the limestone along with aboriginal art work at the northern end of the tunnel. Heading further east there are lots of stop offs to whet the appetite. Our next major stop was Bell Gorge due to a few road closures still in place after the wet season. The walk was relatively easy, although awkward on some of the rocky footpaths. At Bell Gorge you can swim in the pools and not be afraid that you are going to be ambushed Australia’s ‘out to get you’ wildlife although yet again we managed to forget our swimming stuff!

Now be prepared for many waterfall photos... This one is Bell Gorge.

Other places we meandered into were Galvan gorge and Manning gorge. Both had aboriginal artwork on the walls coming in but Galvan gorge had that extra special feel about the place, with it mossy look and also prickly plants leaving thorns in Liz’s hand- OUCH! Setting off on the Manning gorge walk earlier in the morning would have been better… it’s a steep climb and you quickly warm up in the top end heat.

Galvan Gorge is like a mini oasis...

...near the waterfall you can see this aboriginal artwork.

Heading to Manning Gorge was sweaty and wet experience, mainly when we pulled ourselves across the river in the boat...

...and Kyle noticed some more artwork...

...but probably the main highlight was this at the end of the Manning Gorge walk.

After two loud and restless nights at Windjana and Silent Grove we decided to take a detour to Barnett River Gorge. Our main reason for stopping here was because it was free and a good spot between the Gibb and Mitchell River NP, however this was the best spot along the Gibb! For the first time in a while we were able to relax and only heard the gentle sound of nature. After going for a walk to the gorge we found out that we could have driven a little further over the dry creek bed to a wider slashed area that was more suitable for tents and camping in general!

The quietest place along the Gibb for us- Barnett River Gorge.

The next day awake and ready to go we drove up to Drysdale River Station for our fuel top up before heading to Mitchell River NP. A good thing we did… The park was closed from a bushfire tearing through the area and had been for a week! Haha- bushfire no.3! Rather than making any rash decisions we sat down with the maps and work out what we were going to do over our first outback burger and beer. They were bloody good but unfortunately we decided to can Mitchell Falls- it turned out to be the right decision because the park only opened again on 20th May. 

The rest of the Gibb was much the same, after Barnett River Gorge the landscape was pretty flat and generic until the last 50 or so kilometres when you are wowed by more amazing scenery. It looks like we will have to tackle the Gibb again to check out Mitchell Falls!

This was the view we drove into on the Western side of the Gibb.