The Gibb River Road - Part I

DERBY, BIRDWOOD DOWNS STATION AND MOUNT HART

Map of the Gibb River Road which runs for 660km from Derby to Wyndham. It was constructed in the 1960s to transport cattle from the remote cattle stations of the Kimberley to the ports at Derby and Wyndham. It has become a classic 4WD trip through some of the most beautiful and rugged country Australia has to offer. It is still largely unsealed and opens each after the wet season waters have receded.  During the wet season this region is closed to us adventurers. 

As we headed up the coast of WA we talked to fellow travellers heading the other way about the road conditions and what to expect on the Gibb.

660km doesn't sound like much but there is so much to see and do along this route that it would be a shame to rush it. A side trip from the Gibb can take you to the Mitchell plateau and the famous Mitchell Falls, and further north to Kalumburu and Honeymoon Bay.

As we realistically cannot carry food for the four of us for much more than 7-10 days these side trips, on top of the rest of the Gibb were going to be challenging to put it mildly. 

Some late rains and the closure of the road up to Mitchell Falls about a month before we were set to start got us rethinking our route and we decided to axe this part of our itinerary. At the time of the closure it wasn't clear that the road would reopen at all this season. Still, axing Mitchell Falls was not an easy decision for us to come to, and Andy and I spent many hours weighing up the pros and cons. In the end we settled on a 'not THIS time' mentality - leaving something in the woods for future adventures.

As I said previously, we headed to Broome from Middle Lagoon to stock up on groceries, water and fuel for the first stage of the Gibb. We hit a small hurdle in that we were all set to leave Broome before the take-away bottle shops opened. We could wait around for them to open at 12 midday, but we were keen to hit the road and had a few kms to do. A simple solution presented itself - our first stop on the Gibb was Birdwood Downs Station, just 15 mins from Derby. We could just head there before checking in for the night. We hadn't been to Derby before so it all worked out in the end.

The famous boab prison tree just outside Derby. This tree is thought to be 1500 years old. It has been used for different purposes by local indigenous people, cattle drovers and most notoriously as a holding area for Aboriginal prisoners. It is a culturally significant site for the local Nyikina and Warrwa people and is protected.

The boabs are an iconic part of the Kimberley landscape and you really start to feel like the adventure has begun when you start to see these trees.

 Jem in front of a Jemma sized boab.

 The start of the Gibb River Road - road condition signs - the old...

. ..and the new.

It was pretty warm. It had been a long day. We were pretty keen to get to Birdwood Downs Station, check in and chill out. From Middle Lagoon to Birdwood Downs was a 4.5 hour drive without the stops for groceries etc.

Every now and then we get a lovely surprise when we pull in somewhere and the camping surpasses our expectations. Birdwood Downs was one of these. Admittedly our expectations were low and this was a necessary one night stop on the way to somewhere else. We pulled in and were told we could camp anywhere in an enormous grassy area. There was only one other camper set up. At times there are pros to having a simple setup that doesn't need to be plugged and plumbed in. We were able to spread out and set up so that we couldn't actually see anyone else. After west coast busy-ness this was bliss. Even if just for one night. In hindsight it was just the beginning of some of the best camping we have had on this trip.

 Set up at Birdwood Downs plus a visiting peacock.

 Another peacock visitor

 This peacock didn't seem to mind whether the birds were the right kind or not. 

 And packing up again the next day. We try really hard not to do one night stops as it's pretty hard work for everyone, but we also cannot (usually) justify driving crazy long days for the sake of a two night stop. And we never drive in the dark. 

After our one quiet and restorative night at Birdwood Downs we were ready to hit the Gibb proper.

First stop, and only real side trip was to Windjana Gorge. The gorge is part of a 375myo Devonian reef system carved out by the Lennard River. We did the short walk along the gorge to see the freshwater pools and our first crocodiles - just freshies.

 Through the crack to the walk along the Lennard River

 Andy at Windjana 

 A bit hot for walking. I have said it before, but here goes again; the kids don't seem to notice the cold (not there has been that much on this trip) but as soon it's a little bit warm they really struggle. And obviously no swimming at Windjana.

The road to Windjana was a bit ordinary and we stopped to let air out as soon as we hit some serious gravel and corrugations. We were going to have to let air out anyway. Was this a sign of things to come?

Within 5km of turning onto the gravel Gibb we came across a ute pulling a camper trailer - he had blown two tyres already. One was completely shredded, the other repairable according to him. We stopped to offer assistance but he seemed very relaxed and unconcerned and waved us on. Had we let our tyres down enough? Too much? 

Next stop Mount Hart Wilderness Lodge for 3 nights. It is 50km off the main road with a dozen or so water crossings so it was an exciting start. We saw a pair of brolgas in the long grass on the side of the road. The 50km took about an hour and a half and was completely, unquestionably, 100% worth it.

 Beautiful, riverfront camping at Mt Hart. All the camping here is unallocated and unpowered. There are hot showers and loos. The campground was about 800m from the homestead where there was a bar, live music, food and fancy accommodation if that's more your style. They also offer lots of different scenic helicopter tours.

 And we could have a fire!

Andy had got talking to a lady on our Broome whale watching/booze cruise who told him about her incredible chopper tour. Enquiries were made, money was taken and details were to be confirmed. All we knew was that we were doing the Twin Flame Falls landed helicopter tour sometime on our second day.

We got confirmation late the next day that we would be going at 7:30am for the breakfast tour.  The tour itself would take about 2.5 hours with about a 15 minute each way chopper ride, land at the falls, go for a walk and swim and have a picnic breakfast. It all sounded amazing.

 Waiting at the homestead for our chopper ride. Excited and a little bit nervous.

 Getting ready to go. We had such a beautiful morning for it. And it was just US. We are unsure how it happened but our pilots took us out, stayed with us, and brought us back. Just our little family of 4. Later in the day they were ferrying pairs as part of a larger group. We had the falls completely to ourselves. It was an incredible experience.

 The vast Kimberley wilderness - it's hard to fathom, and harder to capture in a photo. Just spectacular.

 Helicopters are tops!

 And we landed down there.

 And landed

 A quick ten minute scramble up to a beautiful pool where we could swim

 Our very own waterfall

 Twin Flame Falls

 It was just beautiful! What a morning! Our pilots left us to enjoy the falls and a swim, and to make our way back to the helicopters...

...where a beautiful picnic had been laid out for us

 with brekky beers too.

 No words required - just pure happiness

 The girls helicopter.

The ride back was exhilarating as we dropped over the falls and followed the gorge before heading back to the homestead.

The rest of our time at Mt Hart was spent like this;

 Swimming in waterholes,

 mucking around on rocks,

 and rope swings,

 going for walks,

 looking at pretty rivers,

 spotting little crocodiles,

 reading books in hammocks,

 

and swinging on regular swings.

 Mount Hart was an incredible introduction to the Kimberley, and we felt it would be hard to top. Had we peaked too soon?

The Dampier Peninsula - Middle Lagoon

The Dampier Peninsula sits to the north of Broome and is an incredible place to visit. From Broome to Cape Leveque at the very top it is 207km. A few things had changed since we were here 16 years ago. For starters, the entire road has been sealed! Way back in 2009 the whole road was a notorious, rough corrugated son of a gun that rattled our old troopy (and us) to its core. Secondly, the campground at the very top,  closed down a few years ago for mixed and complicated reasons I will not even try to explain (as I do not have the full story). 

A new destination needed to be found. After some (honestly, a lot) of research we chose Middle Lagoon, about two thirds of the way up the peninsula. We were pretty excited as we had heard some great things about it.

The access track was a single lane, mostly sandy and corrugated track and took us about 30km from the main road to the west coast. It was a pretty good track (hindsight is a great thing - we have since done the Gibb River Road and the access road into the Bungle Bungles - more on these later for sure). It is fun and exciting to explore new places with the kids - we call them 'new-to-us-all' places. What will it be like? Can we swim? Is there a shop?

 Driving into Middle Lagoon. That is Coral the dashboard whale shark to the left.

 Middle Lagoon set up.

 Our first sunrise at Middle lagoon AND fog!!!

 Jemma early in the morning

 YES they have a shop. A caravan operated by some seasonal residents provided ice creams, coffees, milkshakes, burgers, toasties and hot chippies.

 The way to the beach

 Busy kids

 The Patrolio all packed and ready to head out of Broome. Looks neat and tidy, right?

 The reality of living out of a car. 

 Stuff comes out, and goes back in. Despite having been on the road for months some things have to be double, or triple, handled during set ups and pack downs. Going for a drive is not a simple matter of just hopping in the car - all this stuff needs to be found new homes so we can fit in. It is challenging, and messy, at times.

 The beach at Middle Lagoon was just across the 'road' from our spot. It was really lovely and the water was warm. We spent most of our first full day at Middle Lagoon at the beach. There was lots to explore.

 Amazing rock pools were easily accessible at low tide and James spent hours up here. We could watch the brown boobies skimming across the water and diving for fish at crazy angles.

 James really loves to walk on the beach and will spend hours watching birds, and clambering on rocks. He found lots of tiny hermit crabs who would all drop and roll off their rocks as we approached - could hear the clatter of their itty bitty shells on the rocks as they rolled off. The irony here is that if they didn't make the collective noise of falling off the rocks to avoid predation, we would probably not have noticed them at all.

 The tiny hermit crabs

 Milkshakes - apparently delicious.

 Beach days

 Playing 

After a full day in the sun on day one, we decided to make day two and exploring day and head up to the tip.

First stop was Lombadina with its bush church built by missionaries and local indigenous people in the 1930s. As well as being an open community, Lombadina has a caravan park and reputedly a bakery. We arrived with high hopes of sausage rolls and hedgehog slice. Not that kind of bakery it turns out. A policeman with a loaf of bread under his arm hinted that we were in the right place. Just wrong time. Lombadina bakery bakes bread several days per week, but we had not done our research and subsequently not preordered. No bread for us.

 Inside the Lombadina church with doors and windows non existent

 The original bush church at Lombadina is still in use today.

 Plan B - Lombadina Roadhouse sausage rolls.

After lunch at Lombadina we continued north to Ardyaloon (One Arm Point) and drove through town to the lookout. 

 Lookout at Ardyaloon - it was pretty warm and as tempting as the water looks there is no way you can swim here. It is saltwater crocodile country. And the current rips between all the small islands. I did see a turtle pop their head up for a quick breath.

We also visited Cygnet Bay - a working pearl farm with a restaurant and caravan park. 

 No trip to the Dampier Peninsula is complete without a stop in Beagle Bay, famous for its Sacred Heart 'mother of pearl' church. The church was built by local indigenous people and monks who started the mission in the 1800s. The monks are still here and run the church and school.

 Inside the church

 The incredible mother of pearl alter - not your average church alter.

 Beagle Bay also has a really well stocked supermarket. We took a trip down memory lane with Hearts ice creams. We also picked up some watermelon and pineapple (at regular prices) - what a treat! Fresh fruit and vegetables are not usually readily available in these remote areas. And when they are, they are generally very expensive. 

Our third and final day at Middle Lagoon was a designated beach day as we knew it would be our last for some time - until Adelaide summer. And that's if our beaches are safe to swim in by the time it has warmed up. We have been saddened and concerned about the horrific affects of the gigantic algal bloom blighting the SA coast for months. The algae is killing off all manner of sea life including dolphins, sharks and thousands of fish.

 Back at Middle Lagoon - Andy was able to find a quiet, shady spot to do some work.

 Other jobs need doing too - washing up after breakfast

 

 This little doggy got a bath and then hung out to dry. Jemma loves washing her guys but we don't always have access to water for 'guy washing'.

 Dirty, noisy corellas were a feature at Middle Lagoon. Each campground seems to have defining animals, particularly birds and insects. 

 Some more beach time.

 A walk on the lagoon side at low tide. This ripples in the sand were pretty cool. 

 Kids at the lagoon - mangroves and some rocks to explore. The lagoon side was also the boat launch and it was very busy with people putting their boats in and out. Middle Lagoon is very popular with the fishers and we were certainly in the minority not having a boat.

 Airing up before hitting the bitumen. It takes about 20 minutes to re-inflate all 4 tyres, and another 10 or so for the compressor to cool enough to pack away. Just something we need to factor into our travel times when we are on the move.

We loved our stay at Middle Lagoon but after four nights it was time to start the next leg of our adventures - The Gibb River Road. 

But first we needed to restock in Broome. This was a pretty hefty stock up as we planned to do "The Gibb" in about 14 days and the next shop would be in Kununurra at the other end. There is no way we can carry enough food for the four of us for 14 days so we had to be creative with our planning....