Kalumburu

Back through the corrugations and onto Kalumburu, an aboriginal community on the coast in the North of the Kimberly. We got to Kalumburu and had a quick look around, the town was borne from a mission back in the day and the mission still exists with a small museum there, nothing much more that that. Oh, by the way, we had a look at the local diesel bowser to find out that the price was $3.75 a liter!!! The fuel comes in on a barge once a fortnight along with all the food for the town. As you could imagine the groceries were absurdly priced.



The reason for making the trek up here was to go and stay at Honeymoon Beach as we heard that it was a lovely spot. We made it out there on the worst road I have ever seen, bit of an adventure but the reward was a great spot on the coast and a private beach. The fishing here looked great as we watched a couple of guys gut and scale some fish they just caught, one of which was a giant trevalley that was 3-4 feet long! And I left the rods in the van...... amateur hour that was.....






We stayed the night in the camp ground there with the sound of the beach and waves crashing all night. Tracey got eaten alive by sand flies and mozzies, poor thing has bites from head to foot. We also went to have a look at McGowans Island that is the next bay across from Honeymoon, it was also a nice camp spot as well.

Back to Drysdale tomorrow and back on the Gibb.

Mitchell Falls

We left Drysdale and headed to the falls. The road was pretty corrugated and gave the suspension a good workout along with the tyres as the surface of the road was pretty rocky in places. Once we turned off toward Mitchell Falls the road got even worse! The corrugations were massive, I am pleased to report the car and all the accessories passed the test.

We booked a night at the falls camp ground and at lunch decided to take a helicopter flight up to the falls and walk back down. The walk is only 4k's but I have read that there is no vantage point to look at the falls front on when doing the walk and that a helicopter flight is well worth it to get the views. So we flew from the camp ground up to the falls, the views were spectacular. Tracey had a ball as it was her first time in a helicopter. Vid of the first time in a chopper.



The view of Mitchell Falls from the chopper.



Some of the scenery walking down.



We spent the rest of the afternoon walking down and swimming in all the water falls and water holes, a truly awesome place.

Video from the top of the falls.

We left the next morning for Kalumburu...

Drysdale River Station

Upon leaving Ellenbrae Station we travelled 70k's west along the GRR and turned off the road north toward Kalumburu, next stop is Drysdale Station. From there we will go to Mitchell Falls and Kalumburu.

We got to Drysdale and unhooked the van as we heard the road was pretty rough up north, glad we did! We got a lovely surprise when asking how much is was to leave the van here and the answer was "free", pretty unusual out here as everything costs.

Up the road was a rolled over car that happened earlier that day, luckily the passenger and drive got out alright. I had a talk to the bloke that WA driving and he reckoned the tail shaft let go.



Off to Mitchell Falls tomorrow.........

GRR - Ellenbrae Station

Not too far down the track is our next stop, that was Ellenbrae Station. It's about 110k's west of Home Valley and a lovely spot for a stop. We were told the fishing wasn't too bad and were advised that the black brim loved chicken, so off we went with the rods and caught dinner for that night. We both caught fish one of which we kept for dinner, just a bit larger than the plate so we cooked him whole on the barbie. Not too bad, preferred the barra though. :-)

We like the spot and stayed another day just fishing and putting the pots out for the cerubin ( kind of like yabbies, red claw etc ), we caught enough for a good feed and put them in the freezer for later.



Back on the road tomorrow.

GRR - El Questro

El Questro is a million plus acre cattle station that has a few gorges to go and see. Our first stop was Emma gorge and the walk in was excellent with a great waterfall at the end of it. We went for a swim in the freezing cold water as a bit of a refresher and took some photos.

Emma Gorge Vid.



From there we went to the station homestead to find it packed full of people, the advice we had been given was correct. We had a quick look around there and read on a notice board that our next destination, Zebedee Springs, closes at 12 noon due to the high paying guests having exclusive access to the springs after 12. We heard that those guests pay up to $2000 a night to stay out there. We saw a bus load go in on our way out.

Zebedee Springs was nice, not as nice as some of the other springs we have been to but a welcome change to the freezing water we have been swimming in. The water in the spring was 30 deg so we found ourselves a little pool and soaked for a while.



Next up was Moonshine gorge walk. This was a 5k loop in the gorge then out to the Kimberley wilderness, the scenery was magnificent as we followed the river bed up and turned back on ourselves through the bush back to the car park. Well worth the effort to do this one if you are up this way.









Next walk we did was Amalia gorge, our last walk for the day as we were getting tired, we had done about 12k's. This too was a great walk with pools on the way up and a waterfall at the end. The water here was the coldest we have yet to experience.






We had an excellent time in El Questro having a look around, pity it was so busy! We will be back on the GRR tomorrow to head off to Ellenbrae.

Until then...........

The Gibb River Road (GRR)

Our first day on the GRR saw us get to Home Valley Station. There are two stations at the eastern side of the road the other being El Questro Station. We were advised to go to Home Valley as El Questro can get busy. We crossed the Pentecost river and headed for Home Valley, we would go to El Questro for a day trip to explore the gorges.

Crossing the Pentecost River.



We got to Home valley and that place was buzzing as well, they had a bush camp down on the river so we opted for that. We are right on the Pentecost River, a lovely spot. We kept well away from the rivers edge at there are some massive crocks in the system.



The stations are set up well out here with all the amenities, cabins, restaurants and bars. They must make a fortune as there were hundreds on the upper reaches of the station, glad we went to a bush camp.

Tomorrow we will go and explore the gorges in El Questro.

Kununurra and Surrounds.

We headed off to Kununurra from Litchfield to prepare for the Gibb River Road, this involved doing a bit of backtracking to Katherine and off to the West. We took a couple of days to do the trip as we aren't in any hurry, can't rush these things you know! ;-). The aim is to get over to the west and look for work in either Broome or Derby.

We arrived in Kununurra to find the town packed full of 4WD's and caravans, we thought it would be busy but it was ridiculous. There were no spots in the caravan parks anywhere to be had, the best we could do was one nights accommodation, the next day! We ended up going to the show grounds where there was a big rig patch there and got in, we stayed for 2 nights, serviced the car and restocked, caught up on bills and addressed those.....

Kununurra is a lovely place that has the best fruit and veggies. The soil here is supposed to be excellent to grow in and there is heaps of water from the Ord River. There are heaps of mango plantations, cotton, sandalwood and fruit and veggie farms. You can go and visit them and purchase their produce right from the barn door, fresh as you like! This will be the place we will come back to if we are unsuccessful in getting work in Broome or Derby, plenty of work here.

While we were here we popped up to Wyndham, north of Kununurra and the most northern point of WA. We visited the croc farm and had a ball, the guy that owns it is a real card and he had some great stories to tell. As we were going to look at the crocs a lady passed us with a crate of baby salties. We were lucky enough to have a hold of one as they don't normally let people handle the crocs. Trace was not too keen to grab one but did to her credit. Funny times! We also went to the five rivers lookout where the Ord, Pentecost, Durack, King and Rivers empty into the Cambridge Gulf then onto the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf. Spectacular view.






Gibb River Road here we come!