The Gibb

After leaving Kununurra we agreed to take the shortcut through the Gibb River road all the way to Derby. I could tell that the Gibb had a reputation of being horrible as I saw broken cars everywhere on the side of the road. Half way through I knew we should have taken the long way towards Derby. I tried sleeping in the car but all I did was get a bruised head as it was bumpy. We also were airborne as we went off the road and into the sky sometimes. We arrived at our first free camp and felt triumphant, we said things like:’’GET RECKED GIBB’’ said Josh. ‘’THAT WASN’T TOO BAD’’ said mum ’EAT MY DUST GIBB’’ I said until dad realised a pipe was broken, that wasn’t too bad as that was replaceable. But the water tank that somehow fell off the caravan with the pipe was definitely not good. We all cursed the Gibb before backtracking a few kilometers to look for it and found it!

Our first stop was at Durak river a free camp. This was one of my favorite free camps as we were alone. We set up camp right next to the river and made it feel like home. It was very peaceful we were by the fire and the Billy was running hot when a couple came and asked us if they could use our radio. We gladly accepted and after having a long chat they recommended a place called Arrow Pearl Base in Beagle Bay.

On another day on a peaceful and elegant morning I got out my hand line and put on a squid lure when a big whopper gets it and pulls me into the water, I called for my brother who was using the fishing rod to help me but he wasn’t any help either as we both got pulled into the water the line snapped a few seconds later which was unfortunate. Still trying to fix the water tank we headed of to our next site.

Gibb river rest was our next stop, I felt like we needed it as the road was really bad, luckily for us we found a free camp all to ourselves, we saved a fair bit of money as we stayed for two days and did not have to pay. We occupied ourselves by polishing our zebra rocks in our spare time. We got into a routine of going to the waterhole, swimming and fishing and in the morning and evening we would get a good fire going for our billy.

On our way to our next camp we stopped at Manning gorge as it was highly recommended. We did a really challenging hike, under the sun. When I got there, I got changed and went for a dip in the gorge, the water was really cold. According to my eyes I saw people jumping from around 10 meters cliff, so my brothers and I walked up to the top and gave it a go. I went in pin like to prevent spraining my arms, after a couple of times we had a snack and left. We got to our next camp late, had something to eat and went to sleep.

The following day we went to Bell Gorge, and this gorge too had rock cliffs that you could jump from. The hike was long, and we had to cross a river, but all was well as we arrived to our destination. We dived in the water wasting no time, we climbed the cliffs and this one was a bit higher, around 20 meters, this one I hesitated a little but still jumped off as I had experience with the last one.

The next free camp I wished we would have skipped as there were prickels everywhere so we could not walk the dogs and after walking for a while we also experienced mozzies so I didn’t like it much. After feeding the dogs I gladly fell asleep. The next morning we headed off to Windjana gorge to check it out. We got there and the walk was supposed to take 4 hours return we quickly checked it out and after seeing the most crocs I have ever seen sunbathing we headed back to the car and our next stop Tunnel Creek.

Tunnel creek was a whole new experience as we went through a small canyon towards a cave. It was nearly pitch black but the light from our head lights shone the direction which we needed to go. We went through tunnels until we reached the end were light shone through a crack. The gorge description mentioned that there were crocs, so we were on our guard and stood away from the water. We headed back with a smile on our faces towards Derby.

Bad corrugations a popped a tyre, what more can you want from a dirt road!

We arrived at Derby and met our wonderful host Apples and Mike. We decided to stay in a cabin as the caravan slots were occupied. We got inside, and it felt like a mansion to us as we’ve been in a caravan for 7 months. We transferred our essentials into the cabin before it got late. The next morning, we thought how we were going to fix our water tank as it was still broken.

Every afternoon there would be a happy hour in that time we would spend to socialise. After a long day of washing the caravan and the car it took a long time to drift off as I wasn’t used to a bed.

The next morning we got invited to join mike at the shooting club. We started off with some clay shooting with was a bit of a challenge as the gun recoiled a lot on the shoulder. After torturing a few watermelons and shooting more clay plates we headed home to pack up.