Gibb River Road, WA – Part 3: the final leg

The final leg of the Gibb would take us via what were to be some of the most beautiful gorges we had seen so far. They all involved walks into them and the kids were starting to tire a bit of the walking, so we decided to fast track this section of the trip a bit. We had planned a couple of nights in each of the stops, but once we arrived at each place, we realised we could generally stay one night and still have time to visit the gorges. The ocean was calling us and the rough and dusty travel was starting to get to us all a bit.

Manning Gorge

As we set off on the road from Drysdale to the turn off, we were pleasantly surprised to find this previously horrible road had turned into a smooth dirt road. The grader had passed through 50 of the 60km to the turn off, so what had been the worst stretch of the drive so far had now become the best stretch on the way back. We stopped at the turn off long enough to pass on some tips to fellow travellers as well as get a road condition report from them on the section we were about to head along. It was not bad at all, and after another hour we arrived at Mt Barnett Roadhouse and stopped to scoff down some hot chips and icecreams (healthy living!) before driving the final 10km to the Manning Gorge campground. The campground was set on the banks of the picturesque Manning River, and with its sandy banks, the kids spent the afternoon playing in the river, building sandcastles and swimming out to rocks in the middle of the river to sunbake, while we lazed on the shore watching them. It was then dinner time and not long after we hit the hay, keen to get some rest before the walk into the gorge the next morning.

As the days heated up quickly at this time, we got up and headed off at 7:30am, keen to beat the heat on the way in at least. The start of the walk was on the far side of the river but there was a rowboat with rope attached that allowed you to pull yourself across the river without getting wet. We had fun crossing the river before setting off on the walk. The walk in was pretty easy at that time of day, and after about an hour we arrived. The swimming hole was gorgeous, with a large waterfall feeding the swimming area before the water playfully trickled down a series of small rapids which then lead to another large swimming area before it flowed slowly downstream and out of sight. We clambered over to the top swimming hole, jumped in and swam over to the rocks next to the waterfall. There were a number of rock ledges over the water, just begging for us to jump off them, so we took it in turns to jump from one of the ledges into the water. The kids loved this, doing all sorts of crazy jumps. After they tired of this, we all swam to the base of the falls and behind them into a cavern. The light created an eerie green glow under the water, making us all look like green slimy ghosts. After a bit more of a swim in the pretty cold water, we got out and sunned ourselves on the rocks like a family of lizards to warm back up. The walk out was harder as the day had really warmed up, but we made it pretty easily and headed to camp for lunch. While I packed up the trailer, Kat and the kids wandered back to the river for a final swim and a play before we headed off to Bell Gorge, which was reputed to be one of the best gorges on the Gibb.

Bell Gorge

The drive to Bell Gorge was pretty smooth by Gibb standards. We passed a couple of car wrecks that had obviously been there for many years, as well as the Imintji community which had a small general store where we picked up some much needed fresh fruit and vegetables. After arriving at camp and setting up, our neighbours set up a tightrope between a couple of trees and the kids each had a go walking across it. Then Oli and the son of that family headed off to hone their survival skills and maybe find something for dinner, with Oli armed with a slingshot and his new friend a bow and arrow. After about 30 minutes they returned empty handed so Kat whipped up something more conventional for dinner.

Although we planned to walk to Bell Gorge the next morning it was not supposed to be too far, and was mostly shaded, so we did not rush off in the morning. The walk in was as described, and Oli enjoyed playing with his sling shot along the way. The walk lead us to the top of the falls, and gave us great views down the falls to the waterhole. We then rock hopped across the river, where I lifted the kids between rocks as the water was still quite high. After a scramble up a rock platform and then down a goat track we made it to the swimming hole. It was really picturesque, with a beautiful, tiered waterfall flowing into a round waterhole with towering sides. We slid into the water over the slippery rocks and headed for the falls as we always loved swimming under them. We then swam over to a rock platform on the far side for a sunbake to warm up, while Kat did a few laps. The kids were all dry and warm and once we told them it was time to head back to our clothes and head back to camp, they protested, saying they didn’t want to get wet again. They didn’t resist for long once they realised that swimming back was the only option so we all got back into the water and headed back over to the other side of the waterhole. After some lollies we headed off on the walk back to camp and were very glad that the shade was still around, making the walk back pretty easy. As we drove off, headed for our next stop, we all agreed that Bell Gorge was very lovely, but the kids preferred Manning Gorge.

Windjana Gorge

After another corrugated drive we were pleased to make it to Windjana Gorge. As we approached, we couldn’t help but notice the massive rock escarpment that loomed up ahead. It was a truly sublime view with the afternoon sun lighting it up in reds, browns and oranges, the shadows highlighting its rugged nature. We parked the trailer and aligned it so that we were looking out directly onto the rocks behind us, before sitting down and enjoying a drink as the sun set, not only lighting up the rocks but turning the wispy white clouds above it a stunning shade of pink. As we were preparing dinner we got chatting to a lovely Perth family that was camped next to us, and after dinner we all sat around the fire with the kids toasting marshmallows. After we got our respective kids to bed, the four of us sat around the fire for a few hours enjoying the great company over a few drinks.

The next morning, we had nowhere to go so enjoyed a play with the kids and the neighbours in the campground. We started kicking the AFL ball around, before switching to cricket and having a game. Eventually the heat got the better of us, and the neighbours were heading off anyway, so we stopped for a break in the shade with some morning tea. We lazed around camp all morning and after lunch we got in the car and headed out to Tunnel Creek, an underground creek that you can walk through, with massive caverns, as well as resident bats and freshwater crocs. The road out there was actually pretty bad, and we were all definitely reaching our limit of bad roads. After donning our water shoes, we followed the short path from the carpark to the entrance to the tunnel, and after a brief scramble over a few rocks, we were in the tunnel, where the creek flowed over coarse sand. The temperature was perfect, much cooler than the 30 plus temperatures outside. We turned on our head torches as there was very little light inside, and headed along the 750m section of underground caverns. There were a few ankle deep creek crossings along the way, as well as some great cave formations not too dissimilar to those we had seen in the Jenolan Caves west of Sydney. We saw a couple of glowing red eyes in the shallows of the creek which gave away the location of freshwater crocs, before seeing another one in full view on a ledge. We also saw bats flying round us as we neared the exit of the cave at the other end. After doubling back to the entrance, we jumped in the car and after a quick stop to collect firewood we made it back to camp in time to enjoy the sunset with a pre dinner drink. We got the fire going and the kids had fun making mini fires on the concrete rim of the fireplace while I cooked steak and sausages over it. After dinner the kids enjoyed another round of marshmallows before bed.

We woke to another chilly morning so I got the fire going and we enjoyed coffee and breakfast around it before packing up. Today would be our last day on the Gibb before arriving in Derby. The drive was not bad, with only about half of the drive on dirt. It then turned into a single lane of blacktop, requiring you to drive your left hand wheels off the shoulder and onto the dirt when oncoming traffic approached. It then turned back into dirt for another 40km before we finally hit the proper blacktop, resulting in loud and excited cheers from all in the car. As we approached the turn off to Derby and the official end of the Gibb, we got out for a photo to mark the occasion. Although we had planned to spend a night in Derby, the call of the real coast was too strong. We stopped for lunch at the port to enjoy some excellent burgers and chips and call a few places in Broome to book something before we headed there. Most places were full but luckily we found a place with availability for a couple of nights so we locked that in and then drove the 2.5 hours to Broome. After setup we walked the 5 minutes over the sand dunes to the beach to enjoy the sunset before dinner. It was so nice to see the coast again, and Cable Beach really was a spectacular sight, with the massive white sand beach and turquoise water. We all felt instantly relaxed by the calming nature of the ocean and looked forward to coming back in the morning. We spent the next few days relaxing by the coast, playing on the beach, cleaning up and recovering from our Gibb adventure. My mum had been keen to come and visit us at some point but we had struggled to work out a time and place that would suit until now. We decided that Broome would be the perfect place, and after speaking to her, we booked a site for us and a villa for her in a weeks time. We were thrilled to have managed to organise something as we were all missing her. In the meantime we would head up to Cape Leveque to enjoy the beaches there before returning to Broome to spend some time with Nanny.