The Gibb River Road - Part II

SILENT GROVE/DULUNDI & MT BARNETT STATION/MANNING GORGE

The distance along the GRR between the Mount Hart turn off and the Silent Grove campground turnoff was just 30km. To get back to the main road from Mt Hart however, we had the 50km 4WD access only "driveway" with its many creek and river crossings to negotiate. While the track itself was not bad it was pretty slow and took about an hour and a half. Similarly, the road into Silent Grove (National Park campground closest to Bell Gorge) was another 19km 4WD only with the deepest water crossing so far, taking another 45 minutes. All up it took about two and a half hours to drive the 100km. The condition of the Gibb itself so far has been pretty good with the greatest hazard  being dust kicked up by oncoming or overtaking cars and vans. This dust effectively blinds you for 10-20 seconds, and a lot can happen in that time when youre travelling 60-80km/h.

Silent Grove is a smallish campground with pre booked, unallocated camping. This means you choose your spot on arrival. We were pretty happy with our little nook for 2 nights, nestled up against a big rock, and right next to a baby boab in the non-generator section ( do not get me started!).

 Silent Grove set up.

The attraction at Silent Grove is the nearby, and very beautiful, Bell Gorge which is a further 10km (4WD, no towing) into the park. From the car park it is a fairly easy 25 minute (or so) walk to the gorge itself. After setting up we went straight there to see what we could see.

 We spent a couple of lovely hours at this beautiful and scenic river and gorge, swimming and mucking about in the upper pool, and made a plan to descend to the bottom pool the next day.

 Upper pool from the top

 The falls are spectacular

 Exploring and playing in the wild

 We saw our first Merten's Water monitor here - James lay down quietly to observe this beautiful lizard before another tourist frightened it off its basking rock (the lizard, not James) and sent it skittering off into the water.

 "Clean" clothes - standards have certainly dropped and camping clean is very different to home clean. I will give you a very specific example; socks! On this trip I found myself putting on yesterdays socks (regularly) to do a bush walk. These same socks would be taken off for swimming, used to dry wet and dirty feet, put back on and worn to walk back - sometimes for hours. These same socks could be worn for many consecutive days - on and off dirty, sweaty and wet feet! Ewww. 

Clothes have been worn and reworn dirty due to limited space to bring multiples of clothes items and the scarcity of washing machines in some places. Not all washing machines are equal at cleaning either. I figure there will be some clothes that will be forever relegated to camping clothes or discarded altogether at the end of the trip.

The kids up on top of the rock behind our campsite at sunset.

For our full day at Silent Grove we decided to spend the day at Bell Gorge with a packed lunch and snacks. The kids and I had also decided to attempt the Grade 5 walk/scramble down to the bottom pool, it was just another 800m each way but the river needed to be forded first and there were some slippery rocks to navigate.

 After crossing the creek it was a simple walk up a steep, smooth rock face before heading nigh on vertically down a bouldery goat track. It was definitely worth the effort and we had a lovely swim in the bottom pool, although the water felt much chillier than the upper pool.

 Sliding in at Bell Gorge lower pool....

 ...to get to the natural rock slippery dip at the other side

 The kids at Bell Gorge lower pool

 Getting across the creek was much harder than it looked. The water was variable in depth, and moving quite quickly, and the rocks were very slippery. We watched several people approach the crossing, which wasn't especially wide, with great confidence only to crash and fail with a big splash. There isn't much give in the rocks and it looked very painful. It also didn't seem to matter if you wore shoes/no shoes - equally slippery. The kids make it look super easy in bare feet, and James in particular just slid across the rocks without a second thought (or falling).

 While James, Jem and I hiked to the bottom pool Andy opted out of this as he didn't want to risk further injury to an already sore knee. Anyone with dicky knees knows that ups and downs are the enemy. He found this lovely shady spot under a rock outcrop and sat happily reading. We were soon inundated by an older bunch from at Outback Spirit bus (or similar tour), easily identifiable by their matching towels and drink bottles. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon lolling about in the water and the shade and had a really lovely time. The weather was fantastic and getting better - warm to hot with no wind, and no rain. Even the flies weren't too bad. It was just starting to get dusty.

After a couple of nights at Silent Grove it was time to pack up and move on to Mt Barnett station and the Manning Gorge campground that they manage. This was a straightforward 115km drive and took about 2 hours. 

Our pack up was now a finely tuned operation. We would agree on a departure time to work towards and just get on with it. A 7am get up (not for me, I am an early bird and love to be up before the sun!) would see us hitting the road between 8 and 9am. When you think about all of the things that need to be packed down and then lifted either on to the roof or into the back of the car, I think this is pretty good.

Things that need to be packed properly before loading include, but are not limited to, 2 x tents, 2 x self inflating mattresses, camping kitchen, gas bottle and stove, 4 x clickety-clack camp chairs, 2 x folding tables, all lighting, tarp used for rolling tents/mattresses, all bedding, 3 x clothes bags, 2 x 20L water jerries & 2 x 10L water jerries, solar panels, hose and paddle board with associated pump which was last on/first off every single pack. 

The advice given by fellow travellers regarding Manning Gorge camp ground was to head as far down the creek as you could. We did just that, meaning a 15-20 minute walk (round trip) to the ablution block. This was the price to be paid for some space and privacy.

 Manning Gorge set up

I must also comment that this is where we started to see folks that we had met and interacted with at previous spots. We would see the same rigs and faces for the next month or so as we continued along the Gibb. After setting up here some kids went by on their bikes and I heard them say ' They are Jemma's tents! Jemma is here'. The kids were later reunited after last seeing one another in Coral Bay.

 The creek just down from our site was lovely and shaded with paperbarks. The water was crystal clear and perfect for setting up to read or play in. The creek bed itself was really wide and sandy. Jemma spent many hours playing in the creek bed either by herself, with her brother, or one afternoon there was about 6 kids down there at one point!

 Paperbark boats ready for racing

 The shallow end of the Manning River crossing was also a beautiful spot to swim and play on a hot afternoon.

 

The walk to Manning Gorge is pretty special. The start/end requires crossing the Manning River which is slow moving and has a sandy bottom (different to Bell Gorge). The station kindly provides these blue tubs to keep your shoes and stuff dry as you swim across. You can wade most of it but there is a short, maybe 20m, section that requires a swim. If you don't BYO dry bag you can put all your gear in the blue tub and swim it across. We started the walk in the morning so it was a  fresh start to the day. And a great way to end a hot walk on return!

The walk itself is not hard, but exposed. A swim at Manning Gorge is your reward. There are lots of spots to explore with rocks and waterfalls to climb and jump from.

 Setting off for Manning Gorge and waterfall after swimming across. It is just a 5km return walk once you cross the river, about 45 minutes each way for us.

 The last section of the walk brings you out on huge horizontal rock ledges.

 Family selfie at Manning Gorge.

There are so many top spots to stop at and explore along the Gibb River Road and we were unable to visit every single one. We visited a lot and walked and swam in most of those ones, which is lucky as showers were not being had, and it was getting warmer by the day. I don't think any of us showered at either Silent Grove or Mt Barnett despite the availability. Another example of home vs camping clean I guess - a swim is enough.

The bird life was amazing here - we had numerous black kites hanging around as well as flocks of red-tailed black cockatoos flying overhead morning and afternoon. We also saw budgies and water birds. It was just beautiful.

Mt Barnett also has a roadhouse supplying fuel and a well stocked general store where I was able to top up on some mince and fresh vegetables. They do have free water but the line for water the day we left had at least 3 caravans ahead of us, all filling their massive tanks. It would be at least an hour. I got chatting to a small-size tour operator in the vehicle ahead of me and she offered to top up our jerry cans with what she had on board as she needed to wait and fill her large tank. I was so grateful and happy to skip the line and we could get moving.

Once Andy and the kids had finished their roadhouse treats - hot chips, sausage roll and a hamburger, and got some souvenirs we hit the road again.

Nexy stop Ellenbrae station....