The Kimberley

The Kimberley

The drive into Kununurra included the usual quarantine check at the WA boarder. We expected to lose our fresh fruit but honey! A new jar of honey purchased in a supermarket in Katherine could not make it across the border yet the very same brand was on the shelf at the local store in Kununurra – go figure that! As we were not particularly interested in the Argyle diamond mine or Lake Argyle itself, we only spent a short time in Kununurra doing some of the local sights – not overly spectacular. We perhaps could have spent time at Keep River NP and Mirima NP but we were keen to get moving. The drive out of Kununurra to El Questro was amazing! The first real sight of the East Kimberley’s was breath-taking and the wow’s, ooh’s and aar’s did not cease for some time.

El Questro is interesting. It was not what we had imagined. Whereas the marketing promotes it as an up-market el-richo place, it was in fact quite down to earth. The camping area was huge and there were plenty of good camp-sites. They do have private camp sites but you can’t book them and they are taken on a first come first serve basis – we missed out. The only concern is the prevalence of generators. These are supposed to be used only between 9am and 5pm but some people couldn’t tell the time apparently. Tia soon set them straight.

The gorges and attractions around El Questro are not the best in the Kimberley but they make the best of what they have. Some of the walking tracks are difficult and somewhat unpleasant. In one case (Moonshine Gorge) the walk was not worth it. We saw people horse-riding and as this is Tia’s love we just had to do it. How could I refuse after the Extreme Rafting? We booked an early morning ride and spent three hours wandering around the backblocks of El Questro. Due to a problem with Tia’s horse she swapped with the guide. Needless to say the guide’s horse was fantastic and Tia had the time of her life.

Leaving El Questro the Gibb River Road steadily deteriorated. Corrugations were the main problem and remained so for the next day or so. We had had enough by mid afternoon and stopped at Ellenbrae Station. Like so many unplanned things it was great. The people were really friendly and the camping was quiet (only 4 cars). Ellenbrae is a working station and is owned by one of the Grollo brothers (of Grollo Constructions fame). On the way into the station there were lids of 200ltr drums every km or so hanging up enticing us to sample home-made scones and telling us that we were almost there (note: photo above is out of sequence). We had to sample the scones so sat down in the garden to one scone each and a self serve tea bag cup of tea - $16 please! I guess I have to thank them for charging $4 for each cup of tea otherwise what would I have to write about in this blog!

I have commented before on quaint ablutions (Leichardt Lagoon) but these took first prize for originality and quaintness! The building was a stone structure that housed the camp kitchen, shower/bath and toilet. The toilet door comprised of a shadecloth curtain as did the shower. Not particularly private! The hot water system stood in the middle of the camp kitchen and was a wood fired donkey. Despite what sounds like a primitive set-up (and it was) it was really fantastic! We met a young couple from Busselton and spent a great evening in the camp kitchen just talking. We were almost tempted to stay a day or two but the lack of things to do and the call of the Mitchell Plateau made our decision to move on.

The Gibb continued to pound the car despite the grader having gone through much of it. After travelling 5kms up the Kalumburu Road which is the access road for the Mitchell Plateau and the famous Mitchell Falls we agreed that by comparison the Gibb was very smooth. The Kalumburu road had not been graded since the wet and the corrugations were more like culverts. I have never experienced a road like this. Forget driving at 80km/hr to run across the top. These ruts were 300mm apart and up to 75mm deep. We looked at some Landcruisers coming towards us and the undercarriage was taking real punishment. This was car wrecking stuff and not what we came to the Kimberly for. We turned around and headed for Manning Gorge.

Manning Gorge has a unique track to the main gorge that includes swimming across a river. The park management provide styrene boxes for you to put your gear in and then swim across the Manning River. You get dressed on the other side and continue the walk. The gorge at the end of the walk provides a further opportunity for a swim.

Much of the talk with fellow campers at Manning focused on the road conditions to Mitchell Falls. Some said the grader had now been through and the road had improved while others said that while the main road was okay the turnoff to Mitchell Falls was diabolical. We decided to ask at Mt Barnett Roadhouse and if the feedback was positive we would track back to the Kalumburu road and have another go. The pendulum was swinging that way until we met a couple of drivers that had just completed the trek with vehicle damage. As I said above, this was not what we came to the Kimberley for. Decision made we headed south along the Gibb.

The road gets better south of Mt Barnett and continues to improve as you get closer to Derby. This was a relief. I had read some information about the Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary and the Wilderness Camp so we decided to head for there. From the turnoff you have to travel about two hours to get to the camp. It was worth the drive. The Sanctuary is run by the Aust Wildlife Conservancy and is a private non-profit group dedicated to buying significant properties around Australia and turning them over to nature. Out of the 27 properties they own, Mornington is the only one set up for tourists. The numbers of campers is restricted and you have to radio in from the Gibb turnoff to be sure there is a vacancy.

Again the drive in was amazing offering views of dramatic landscapes. We arrived at the camp to be delighted with the way the camp ground was set up. Each camper found their own space in a bush setting. The campgrounds were not over-crowded and the peace was palpable. There are a number of gorges and waterholes to be explored and they all proved to be beautiful with the King Leopold ranges as a backdrop. One adventure offered included taking a canoe up the Sir John Gorge. You are guaranteed to be the only people in the gorge. We booked the canoe for the next day. Included in the hire fee is a packed lunch and we set out early to take maximum advantage of the experience. The gorge is divided in several long pools. We collected our first canoe after a 30min walk and paddled about 1km up to the next pool. This canoe was left here and after walking over some rocks we picked up our next canoe and paddled the remaining 3kms. Along the way was a side gorge where we made our way up on foot to a small rock pool. We stopped here to have lunch and swim. The shear silence and isolation of the place was a real privilege to experience and one that will remain with us forever. After a day on the water we came back to camp to enjoy dinner in the outdoor restaurant. What a day!

Up to this point in the trip we had not seen a croc in the wild – apart from a distant view of one at Kununurra. We therefore decided to head for Windjana Gorge where we were guaranteed to see some freshies at close range. By now we are getting a bit blasé about gorges. They become a bit like cathedrals on a European trip. What we were not prepared for was Windjana. Incredible dramatic rock formations and an entrance to the gorge through a narrow crack in the wall made this gorge unlike any of the others. To top it off we saw about a dozen fresh water crocodiles either lazing on the bank or floating in the water – very exciting! I would have patted one but Tia’s firm grip on my arm prevented me moving too close.

Next to Windjana is Tunnel Creek. This is a small stream that makes its way underground and the adventurous traveller can follow it through the dark and deep waters until it emerges out into the open again. A very surreal experience. Bats have made their home in one part of the tunnel and this adds to the strangeness of the place. It takes a leap of faith to walk into a stream in the dark. One does not know how deep the water will be other than to trust the park guides that indicate the water is no more than waist deep. In some parts I think the author of the note must have been a 8ft giant.

Over the past week or so the trailer has developed an annoying rattle. We thought it may have been some item that had moved and was causing the offending noise. After much re-packing the noise would not go away. The sinking thought that there was something wrong with the trailer crept up on us and pre-occupied our attention. As expected the noise was particularly bad on rough corrugated roads and we have had plenty of those! Everything held together however until we reached Derby and a quick trip to a local mechanic confirmed that the pin in the front right hand bush on the spring was deformed and moving within its housing. We tracked down a trailer specialist who agreed straight away to repair the offending bush. He also repaired the other bush with a thoroughness that is rarely found. We can now be confident that the springs will not shake off their bushes for the rest of the trip and the offending rattle has disappeared.

We are hopefully off to Broome and Cape Levique tomorrow so I will start a new blog from there.

Regards to all

Alan and Tia