Blog: The trials and tribulations of four-wheel driving the Gibb River Road

The Gibb River Road is a 660 kilometre Cattle Station road stretching through the Kimberley in Western Australia. Some of the roughest terrain for driving is offset by the beautiful landscapes and natural structures along the road. In essence, it is a four-wheel drivers Mecca. Di and Ron, an active over 60s couple journeyed along the Gibb River Road and this is their adventure story.

Day one of the Gibb River Road, Western Australia we drove 100 km. The corrugations were fairly brutal, some times we were driving at 20 km/ hr but generally at 40-50 km/ hr. After only seeing muddy brown rivers around Wyndham it was great to come to the Pentecost River crossing which was crystal clear. We had lunch beside it (no camping allowed next to it) so we had to go further and stay at Home Valley Station. This used to be a cattle station but now is owned by an aboriginal company and is used for training aboriginals in tourism and still cattle work.

The place has had a major makeover and now has huge green grass areas, a big playground area for kids, a huge pool and a dining area and bar. Not quite sure what we wanted so we headed 8km down to their bush camp area. Unfortunately we were back to muddy rivers and we could not launch our boat except at high tide and then would have to stay in the boat 24 hours till the next high tide or struggle across 50 meters of deep mud, past crocodiles at the next high tide! So we did not fish!

The next day we only drove about 50 km, a bit over an hour drive and came to the Durack River Crossing. It looked so beautiful with huge wide sandy banks, hundreds of shady Paperbark trees and a long, deep billabong. After exploring both sides, we decided to stay here for a few days; we set up camp in the shady section of the creek bed. We fished the billabong and used our traps to catch Cherabin, a type of fresh water prawn. I’ll let you know that none of the Cherabin were used for fish bait! They were absolutely delicious.

The next day was memorable for all the wrong reasons. We left Durack River camp and had gone 20 km along this newly top rocked section… every rock was sharp edged and we managed to put a two centimetre hole in the car tyre. So on the hot dusty road, my husband Ron had to change the tyre. After two repair attempts, it still leaked badly. So we head off for another 10km in search of assistance and I could hear a terrible noise coming from the trailer. We stopped to find the brand new trailer tyre shredded to nothing. This gives you an idea of just how rough the section of road was! We didn’t even feel that we had lost the whole tyre… And only the rim was left! So now we had no spares and 200 km to Drysdale Station Homestead, which advertised a mechanic and tyre service. This was a slow, tense drive at about 40km/hr.

When we got there they had a new tyre for the trailer (they had to do some panel beating on the rim!) but no new tyre for the car. Chris the young mechanic said he would try and repair it. Chris and his girlfriend were sick of city life in Melbourne so they headed to the Kimberley’s to work. They had been here all of the dry season and are loving it. We thought it was very unusual to find Aussies working out here as foreigners or backpackers ran most cafes, service stations and roadhouses.

Off then to the aboriginal community of Kalumburu, a dry, no internet reception town of about 300 aboriginals and 100 whiteys. Originally a Spanish Catholic (Benedictine) mission that started at Pago Pago ( 25 km further north). 13 volunteers from all over Australia beautifully maintained the Catholic Church and grounds. The mission also runs the campgrounds and a take away cafe.

Everywhere we go where there are aboriginals. Curiously, we have seen them buying take away food regularly. One of the volunteers explained that they often have to buy their food from cafes because once electrical appliances break down, there are no spares, no tradesmen and in the outback there is no real distribution services. In Kalumburu everything is flown in or barged in! Parts and postage are so expensive that everybody has dead appliances. If something breaks down the only real choice is to buy a new one and meanwhile eat takeaways!

One of the benefits of driving slowly on the way to Kalumburu was that we drove past a pair of Sarus Cranes (like a Brolga but with more colour around the head) only 2 metres from our car window!

Finally we arrived at McGowan Island Camp, which was one of the main places Ron wanted to visit. All around here is aboriginal land so we have to pay a $50 visitor fee for every week we stay. On top of that, the camping fee is $20 per person per night and you got cold showers, a toilet with no paper, access to bore water and perhaps some shade or grass… all unpowered sites of course! Petrol was $3.10 per litre!

McGowans Island was wonderful. A sandy beach 25 kilometres north of Kalumburu. The campground only had 5 campers so the isolation was so relaxing. We are camped just above high water mark in the shade of Pandanus Palms. We were living on caught fish and oysters  as there was not much luck with crabbing! It was different to see the sun setting over the ocean! The sunsets were particularly beautiful because some part of the Kimberley’s is always burning and the smoke enhanced the beautiful colours. We stayed here for two weeks and loved the fishing, oysters and the interaction with the people.

On the last day Ron hooked a big fish that ran away with most of the line on his spool so I had to motor the boat around the bay following his fish for over 20 minutes while Ron was up the front trying to reel it in. Of course, as Murphy’s Law would have it, that was the day we tried our lightest lines! Eventually the fish tired (and us!) and Ron was able to reel it in. As it turned out, it was a bonito (over a  metre long) and it had red meat.

It was sad to leave but the operators did not make you feel welcome. Everybody we came across was so nice! On our last night there I made fish pizza, which was delicious.

It took us 4 and a half hours to do the 225 km from Kalumburu back to Drysdale Station. I had already forgotten how rough and corrugated it was! For the last hour or so there was a worrying noise from the front of the car but there was no where to pull off the road as it was all private pastoral lands and it is too dangerous to stop by the road. You have to drive with your headlights on as the bull dust is so thick and it is hard to be seen when a car passes! So we eventually arrived at Drysdale Station to find the weld on the bracket of the new bulbar has just come apart and of course, there are no facilities to fix it here! That morning while we were checking our bulbar, there were about 20 campers in the grounds and 7 of them were despairing over major problems with their cars! We rang the manufacturer to send a replacement and it was a week or so wait!

Just 5 km down the road there is a beautiful lagoon called the Miners Pool with a camping ground. We decided to stay there instead of the dusty homestead campground. Most of the nights we were by ourselves (the camp could hold about 50-100) as the only facilities are drop toilets. By the time people reach Drysdale they have had a minimum of 200 km of very bad road so most people want hot showers, cooked meals, a washing machine and most importantly, a bar! Most people only stayed for one night. It was getting hot during the day so we spent the middle 3 hours on the edge of the lagoon (or in it!) with a picnic lunch and our books, iPads or iPods.

The only hassle staying here was the lack of fresh food and vegetables as we originally planned to drive to Derby (for a supermarket!) from McGowans in just two days. We have fish in the freezer but I have to be creative as to what we have with that as there is only so much fish one can take! Tonight it would be felafel, spaghetti with fish sauce and warm tinned baby beetroots tonight with some home baked chocolate biscuits for dessert!

Getting rather bored we spent one day of fishing in the Drysdale River (2 km walk away) and caught 10 Sooty Grunters; about 2 meals worth.  A real highlight of our stay was a two-hour flight over Mitchell Falls and the spectacular coastal area. Ron shouted me this trip for my 60th birthday present. How did I get to be so old? I sure don’t feel old!

After 3 weeks the small bracket arrived and it took an hour to refit the bulbar but before long we were back on the road again! We are heading to Derby to catch lots of crabs but had one small detour to Windjana Gorge, such an amazing place. It is 140 km inland but it is a limestone gorge from 360 million years ago, basically this was the edge of a Great Barrier Reef then! It is also famous as the hideout for the aboriginal freedom fighter Jandarmarra. After a walk through the gorge, I went for a swim. We got talking to a young couple from Perth (he is actually from Texas) and they had heaps of vegetabless to use up before flying home so we combined their vegetables with our fish and had a lovely campsite dinner together. Discussion topics ranged from fishing in Idaho to setting up a backyard worm farm. Great company! Life on the road introduces you to many amazing people.

Forgot to say in the second week of our waiting at Drysdale we had clouds in the sky. First clouds we have seen since Townsville nearly three months ago!

The Gibb River Road to Derby was an easy drive.

While we were stuck at Drysdale Station for three weeks there was little to do, so I dragged out my box of books. First read was 1Q84. A great read if you can suspend belief in reality. A magic realism read. Now working my way through the 7-8 books written by Diana Galbaldon which are a Time travel series of a nurse from 1948 going back to Scotland just before Culloden, another of the great Pom massacres.

The Gibb provided some challenges. You can get angry and negative when things don’t go to plan but sometimes challenges are just an opportunity to do things differently!

Have you encountered problems or challenges on the road that turned out to make it a better trip??