The Kimberley – Part 2

Our new bumper sticker says it – “we survived the Gibb River Road!”.   A better one would read “we made it across the Durack!”  The Durack  seemed to be the topic of conversation at every campground, rest area and waterfall…did you do it, can we do it, how deep was it, did one of those really cheap hire vans with European backpackers really make it across? 

We drove into Windjana Gorge thinking that the stretch from Derby to Windjana would be the length of the Gibb River Road for us but encouraged by other travellers we found ourselves going onwards.  Word of mouth was the only source of news and the story seemed to change with every person you met.  This was open, this wasn’t, this bit of road was a nightmare, don’t go there..

After spending two enjoyable nights at Windjana we made our next stop Mornington Wilderness Camp open for the season only two days earlier!  You see, the graders and road-repair teams need time after the wet to rebuild the washed out sections after each wet season.  We went way off the beaten track off the beaten track – and a bit tricky to negotiate the last km but we got there in the end.  The Australian Wildlife Conservancy has purchased and destocked this station of livestock and ferals and also started a proactive fire program through the Kimberley in an effort to restore native habitat.  It seems to be working a treat if you measure their success on the number of green tree frogs residing in the toilets! 

After two nights we were back on the road and stopped for a swim at the stunning Galvan’s Gorge before setting up for the night at Manning Gorge.  The start of the walk to this gorge involves a creek crossing, that one must swim. Followed by a tedious walk through long grass and spinifex we were rewarded with a spectacular waterfall.  The great thing was that after the walk back you get to cool off going back across the river! 

We rose early, packed the trailer and then bravely set out for the Durack.  After all the talking, preparation and nervousness we all made it across without incident.  It was deep – about 750mm and we got some water in the car and camper trailer – but that all dried out pretty quickly.

At our next stop we had a grassed campground, resort pool, bar, restaurant – all a bit surreal actually.  A highlight was Ben and I going Barramundi fishing with our neighbours – and 7 year old Mimi landing a 780mm fish which we cooked in the coals for dinner.  After three relaxing days of R&R at Home Valley Station we crossed the Pentecost River – which was a breeze now that we were well-seasoned river crossers! – and went to El Questro.  After a relatively smooth ride along the Gibb the road into El Questro was positively offensive!  Corrugations that threatened to shudder us to pieces.  We only stayed one night – somehow the fact that a large American hotel chain was running this corner of the Kimberley didn’t sit well with us.  We did visit Emma Gorge and Zebedee Springs (but had to leave because the tour buses have exclusive access after 12!).

We have now completed that part of our journey and are really relieved that we actually gave it a go.  We already want to do it again. We were disappointed that we didn’t end up getting to the Bungle Bungles, but we are getting up at 5am tomorrow morning to fly over them and Lake Argyle and Argyle Diamond Mine!!

Overnighted in Broome before driving on the worst 90km of road we have seen yet up to Cape Leveque, about as remote as we can get on the coast of WA.  A definite highlight was spear-making with a Bardi elder called Bundy before we went spear fishing with him.  We had a fantastic time but now we have two long spears to carry with us everywhere!  It’s tourism in a raw form here.  You drive out into these camps, find your guide and follow…no OH&S or insurance etc.  This place has the second highest tidal variation in the world, up to 9.5metres when the moon is in the right phase.

We have just come back from three days up at Cape Leveque.  The drive into this collection of small Aboriginal communities takes about 3 hours – 2 hours of which is deep sandy  and corrugated road.  This keeps out the less adventurous travellers and backpackers it seems but we think it also protects the community a bit from outside influences.  The scenery is spectacular.  Red cliffs, white beaches, emerald water and the Bardi people are lovely.  Just a bit too much wind for the first two days – we are now told that WA stands for “windy always”!

Next day we went mud crabbing with Vincent.  We drive for half an hour along the sort of track 4WDers dream about – deep sand then huge pools of mud to Vincent’s camp.  Vincent is a man of few words and what he does say we struggle to understand, but he takes off in his beaten up old Landcruiser and we follow.  We get to the mud flats and he is silent for a while – seems he misjudged the tide and we can’t go that way for another hour – so we drive a bit further along the dune to the edge of the mangroves.  There are several unpleasant mosquito born diseases at the moment so we had applied enough RID to get DEET poisoning.  This was a good thing as we soon found ourselves knee deep in mud one minute then scrambling over mangrove roots the next.  Vincent was a little perplexed as we only found a couple of mud crabs.  You have to poke a long metal stick with a hook on it into a hole under the mangrove roots and try and locate the crab and pull it out.  He then stops and says calmly “Croc over there”.  5 metres away a small salty is sleeping in the sun.  The croc blends into the background so we could have trod on him if Vincent hadn’t pointed him out.  I am calm until a few minutes later when he comments under his breath “in all my years never seen one out here”.  Great.  Then “ dog quiet, must be more around…”.  On we go climbing through the mangrove but now Vincent stares suspiciously at every deep pool.  After two hours I am exhausted and we have 4 mud crab so Vincent takes us back to the original mud flats and we learn the easy way of mud crabbing.  They lie just under the surface on the mud flats and you just hook them and pull them out of the sand.  Mel managed to hook the monster of the day!  We walk back to the car with one of the others carting the bag of mud crabs because it is far too heavy for Vincent who seems to be watching the mangrove edges….now what do we do with all this mud crab?  Tie the pincers together with cable ties and stick them in our car fridge of course…..keeps them quiet apparently.

Back in Broome we consulted fellow campers on the best method for cooking mud crab.  So we got out the two smaller ones and boiled them up.  Tool box came out and with hammer, pliers and multigrips we ate our dinner!  Josh got right into it but Ben is more the hunter than the eater. 

We will not be able to do the length of the Gibb River Road as the Durack and Pentecost Rivers are too high for us to cross and Mitchell Falls will not open this year due to the big wet season.  We are still working on our plan.

In the last two weeks we have continued northwards, well beyond Kalbarri.  First we visited Shark Bay and got almost as far west on the mainland as it is possible to get instead driving up onto Cape Peron after Ben fed a dolphin at Monkey Mia and had a hands on lesson dissecting a squid.  Shell Beach was an interesting beach to walk on since it is made up entirely of…um… shells, billions of little white ones.  Shark Bay is uncommonly shallow, warm and more saline than regular seawater, which creates all sorts of important ecosystems – and good fishing.

Further north was Coral Bay at the southern tip of Ningaloo Reef, which is much closer to the coast than is the Great Barrier Reef.  We had saved up our pennies to go on a whale shark cruise.  With the promise of actually snorkeling beside the world’s biggest species of fish, it sounded too good to pass up.  The spotter plane found one inside the reef and after a number of attempts we managed to swim for a long few minutes above a 6m whale shark, sleek, graceful and spotted. 

When I get back, ask be what an anticline is and I will tell you about the spectacular Cape Range NP near Exmouth.  I will also tell you about the amazing camp site we had on an idyllic beach, the Turquoise Bay drift current and a sting ray as large as roof of my car.  I will also try to avoid telling about the howling wind and heavy rain that took the edge off a magical place.

For the first time in a long time we drove east from Cape Range into the Hamersley Range in the Pilbara region.  The first thing I associate with the Pilbara is iron ore mining and red, red earth.  We were not disappointed with a mine tour at Mount Tom Price’s massive open cut mine.  Trains with tens of thousands of tonnes of crushed, graded and washed iron ore in about 240 wagons actually use less fuel to get to the port at Dampier than it does to make the empty, return journey to the town of Tom Price at 740m above sea level.  We camped at Tom Price and it rained there too.  (So far, 27 camps and only at 10 of these have we not had rain, at least some time in our stay! Drought breakers, I should start charging a fee to come to Australia’s driest towns.)  In addition to Mt TP, the town is located at the foot of Mt Nameless which is much easier for white fellas to pronounce than the indigenous name: Jarndrunmunhna.

Also in the Pilbara is WA’s second largest NP, Karajini.  The major draw card of this place is the massively deep gorges (up to 100m) with impossibly red walls of ancient rocks, breathtaking waterfalls and tranquil pools.  We hiked and swam in several and I got the chance to explore some of the more remote sections of three gorges with a guide.  Donning wetsuits and swimming Joffre Gorge with tyre tubes, and climbing Joffre Falls was awesome fun.  It can be a dangerous place too though which was demonstrated clearly by a member of another guided group in the same gorge with us who slipped and fell, injuring her back.  We hiked out as a combined group to hear later that she had to be rescued a number of hours later by SES teams from Tom Price and Newman, 80m up an almost sheer cliff.

Back on the road again, ever northward and we have come so far that the car is almost due a second service.  Camped tonight 140km north of Port Hedland at Cape Keraudren.  Two camps back, there were warning signs about keeping food and rubbish packed away from dingos, but tonight signs warn of estuarine crocodiles, this is a big country! 

We continue to camp at remote locations and without electricity.  So remote in fact that there is not even any mobile phone access let alone wireless broadband.  Maybe tomorrow on the way through the city named as though there should be no dust on the floors anywhere…