The start of the Gibb River Road
Start of the Dirt, with Strick letting the tyres down
Crossing the Pentecost River
Crossing the Pentecost River
Pentecost Range
The next 5 photos are of various parts of the road along the Gibb River and Kalumburu Roads
Gibb River Road
Gibb River Road
Kalumburu Road
Kalumburu Road
Just out of Kalumburu
A reasonably early start was planned, although with Strick's back the way it was we needed to wait for the chemist to get some really strong pain relief. We eventually got away about 9.30am.
It was 50km out of Kununurra before the turn off onto the Gibb River Road. Again the spectacular views of the different ranges that surrounded us continued. We eventually hit the dirt and we let the tyres down. We hadn't planned on where we would stop as we were unsure of what the road would bring. It wasn't to bad, although not too far along we had the major river crossing (Pentecost River). We all drove across, Strick dropped mum, Louise & I over and he went back through with Jacob and Hannah. The view with the ranges in the background (we likened it the wild west and all we needed was the cowboys and indians) was great and meant a great start to an interesting trip across the top of WA. We just cruised along and with the road not being too bad we decided to try for Drysdale Station (about 59km along the Kalumburu road). This didn't happen and we only got as far as the corner of the Gibb river and Kalumburu roads, as we had come across a nasty accident. We had a Toyota landcruiser on its roof and was dripping petrol. There were already some other people on the scene but it had just happened. We went back to find the people they were travelling with who we had passed down the road (now realised waiting for them to arrive). With the kids in the car and the fact there were others there helping the people out (2 people in the car with one having a cut hand, the only injury they were very lucky). This put us an hour behind so this was why we only went as far as we did.
The next day was the real test we had 259km to Kalumburu from the turn off where we camped. We travelled the first 59km to Drysdale station (morning tea and fueled the car up) in hour, the next 100km (to the Mitchell falls turn off) in 2 hours and the last 100km took us 3.5 hours with a lunch stop of only half an hour. The road was very rough with not only corrugations but stones and rocks. There were a number of river crossings and some spectacular country side to look at.
We basically crawled into Kalumburu found our accommodation and got our permit that was required. It wasn't a big community so there wasn't much to look around.
We had organised for the kids to go to school here on the Friday and I had to catch the principal Thursday morning to find out details. After seeing her we drove out to Honeymoon Bay and McGowan Island. These were both beautiful places with some amazing looking water, it is just a pity you can't swim (due to crocs, stingers and sharks). The kids and nan tempted fate at McGowan and put their feet in the water to later spot the resident 4.6 metre croc nearby.
When we returned to camp the principal had sent some students over to find the girls. They disappeared only later to return with one of the teachers who was from Heyfield in Victoria. We also found later that her parents know Strick's parents as they were from Delegate and Bendoc area. The girls were very, very excited about going to school the next day.
School hours are 7.50am to 2.10pm Monday to Thursday and 7.50am to 12.30pm on Friday's. They usually have breakfast and morning exercise til 8.30am, literacy til 10.30am. A 20 minute recess, then a numeracy block. They have only a 30 minute lunch break and also completed subjects like art, pe and cultural studies. There is a huge focus on their literacy and numeracy. There is if everyone is in attendance about 120 students, but generally only have about 70 students on a good day. There are students from kinder and then pre school to high school students. The day we went to school the whole school got split into 2 grades as there was a funeral in the community and only a limited number of students attended. This meant the girls went with the junior grades, while Jacob went with the senior kids. The kids played on ipads, laptops, board games like monopoly and connect 4. Jacob played the Wii. They played soccer. The kids really enjoyed the experience and even made some friends who they went and played with after school. The girls both said to me going to the shower that they didn't want to leave (so that was a good sign).
The next day was more of the red dirt, corrugations, stones and rocks. Into Mitchell Falls was on the agenda. With it taking us 3 hours to get through the 100km to the turnoff, we found a campground and had lunch. After lunch we had only traveled about 30km of the 87km when we had this awful smell. We stopped and checked the car to find oil dripping from the back wheel. Not sure what it was we turned around and headed for Drysdale station about 130km away. With no phone service and being in the middle of nowhere and not sure what is wrong with the car, we thought this the best option. More corrugations it took us 4 hours to travel the 130km. It had been a long afternoon. When we got into Drysdale station and set up we certainly didn't feel like cooking tea (in the dark) so had a Kimberly burger with chips with of course a few cold well deserved drinks. Exhausted we weren't late out of bed. We had to wait for light the next morning for Strick to assess the situation with the car so we could decide on a plan of attack.
After Strick assessed the car, he discovered it to be a shock absorber in the back right passenger side. We decided to keep moving along as planned towards Derby and Broome to see about getting it fixed. So after deciding this we had to get motivated for more corrugations, 2 hours to travel 59km we were in for another long day. We weren't far in and our CB aerial snapped. The plan was to try and get to Bell Gorge. Considering some of the long days in the car traveling a small amount of km's the kids were great. Due to some of the long days we decided to stay at Bell Gorge for a couple of nights.
Our day in Bell Gorge we walked into the Gorge and the kids had a swim. It was our first overcast morning although it wasn't cold. It didn't take long and it turned out to be a very hot and sticky day. Strick and Jacob went for a drive so they were outside the NP and collected some wood so we could cook a camp roast in the camp oven.
Roast meat and some veges done in the camp oven on the Gibb River Road, what more could you ask for (apart from no car troubles).
Tuesday saw us head to Derby to see if the car could be fixed. Finally we reached the end of the Gibb River Rd and all the corrugations (for now at least).
The car could be fixed but not until Monday, so this meant we could keep on going to Fitzroy Crossing for a few days and come back to Derby on Sunday.
It was 50km out of Kununurra before the turn off onto the Gibb River Road. Again the spectacular views of the different ranges that surrounded us continued. We eventually hit the dirt and we let the tyres down. We hadn't planned on where we would stop as we were unsure of what the road would bring. It wasn't to bad, although not too far along we had the major river crossing (Pentecost River). We all drove across, Strick dropped mum, Louise & I over and he went back through with Jacob and Hannah. The view with the ranges in the background (we likened it the wild west and all we needed was the cowboys and indians) was great and meant a great start to an interesting trip across the top of WA. We just cruised along and with the road not being too bad we decided to try for Drysdale Station (about 59km along the Kalumburu road). This didn't happen and we only got as far as the corner of the Gibb river and Kalumburu roads, as we had come across a nasty accident. We had a Toyota landcruiser on its roof and was dripping petrol. There were already some other people on the scene but it had just happened. We went back to find the people they were travelling with who we had passed down the road (now realised waiting for them to arrive). With the kids in the car and the fact there were others there helping the people out (2 people in the car with one having a cut hand, the only injury they were very lucky). This put us an hour behind so this was why we only went as far as we did.
The next day was the real test we had 259km to Kalumburu from the turn off where we camped. We travelled the first 59km to Drysdale station (morning tea and fueled the car up) in hour, the next 100km (to the Mitchell falls turn off) in 2 hours and the last 100km took us 3.5 hours with a lunch stop of only half an hour. The road was very rough with not only corrugations but stones and rocks. There were a number of river crossings and some spectacular country side to look at.
We basically crawled into Kalumburu found our accommodation and got our permit that was required. It wasn't a big community so there wasn't much to look around.
We had organised for the kids to go to school here on the Friday and I had to catch the principal Thursday morning to find out details. After seeing her we drove out to Honeymoon Bay and McGowan Island. These were both beautiful places with some amazing looking water, it is just a pity you can't swim (due to crocs, stingers and sharks). The kids and nan tempted fate at McGowan and put their feet in the water to later spot the resident 4.6 metre croc nearby.
When we returned to camp the principal had sent some students over to find the girls. They disappeared only later to return with one of the teachers who was from Heyfield in Victoria. We also found later that her parents know Strick's parents as they were from Delegate and Bendoc area. The girls were very, very excited about going to school the next day.
School hours are 7.50am to 2.10pm Monday to Thursday and 7.50am to 12.30pm on Friday's. They usually have breakfast and morning exercise til 8.30am, literacy til 10.30am. A 20 minute recess, then a numeracy block. They have only a 30 minute lunch break and also completed subjects like art, pe and cultural studies. There is a huge focus on their literacy and numeracy. There is if everyone is in attendance about 120 students, but generally only have about 70 students on a good day. There are students from kinder and then pre school to high school students. The day we went to school the whole school got split into 2 grades as there was a funeral in the community and only a limited number of students attended. This meant the girls went with the junior grades, while Jacob went with the senior kids. The kids played on ipads, laptops, board games like monopoly and connect 4. Jacob played the Wii. They played soccer. The kids really enjoyed the experience and even made some friends who they went and played with after school. The girls both said to me going to the shower that they didn't want to leave (so that was a good sign).
The next day was more of the red dirt, corrugations, stones and rocks. Into Mitchell Falls was on the agenda. With it taking us 3 hours to get through the 100km to the turnoff, we found a campground and had lunch. After lunch we had only traveled about 30km of the 87km when we had this awful smell. We stopped and checked the car to find oil dripping from the back wheel. Not sure what it was we turned around and headed for Drysdale station about 130km away. With no phone service and being in the middle of nowhere and not sure what is wrong with the car, we thought this the best option. More corrugations it took us 4 hours to travel the 130km. It had been a long afternoon. When we got into Drysdale station and set up we certainly didn't feel like cooking tea (in the dark) so had a Kimberly burger with chips with of course a few cold well deserved drinks. Exhausted we weren't late out of bed. We had to wait for light the next morning for Strick to assess the situation with the car so we could decide on a plan of attack.
After Strick assessed the car, he discovered it to be a shock absorber in the back right passenger side. We decided to keep moving along as planned towards Derby and Broome to see about getting it fixed. So after deciding this we had to get motivated for more corrugations, 2 hours to travel 59km we were in for another long day. We weren't far in and our CB aerial snapped. The plan was to try and get to Bell Gorge. Considering some of the long days in the car traveling a small amount of km's the kids were great. Due to some of the long days we decided to stay at Bell Gorge for a couple of nights.
Our day in Bell Gorge we walked into the Gorge and the kids had a swim. It was our first overcast morning although it wasn't cold. It didn't take long and it turned out to be a very hot and sticky day. Strick and Jacob went for a drive so they were outside the NP and collected some wood so we could cook a camp roast in the camp oven.
Roast meat and some veges done in the camp oven on the Gibb River Road, what more could you ask for (apart from no car troubles).
Tuesday saw us head to Derby to see if the car could be fixed. Finally we reached the end of the Gibb River Rd and all the corrugations (for now at least).
The car could be fixed but not until Monday, so this meant we could keep on going to Fitzroy Crossing for a few days and come back to Derby on Sunday.
