Gibb River Road

The Gibb River Road stretches almost 800km through the heart of the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia, from Derby to near Kununurra. Constructed in the 1960s to facilitate transport of livestock from the cattle stations in the area, it's a dirt road for most of its length, and only usable during the dry season from May to October; for the remainder of the year heavy rains reduce the surface to mud.

Because of the remoteness of the area, the rugged landscape, and a number of spectacular gorges along the route, it has become one of Australia's iconic road trips, and during the dry season it's popular with 4WD drivers looking to experience the outback. I naturally wanted to see what it was like to cycle.

I was fortunate enough to get the opportunity to visit the area in October 2014 through working as a volunteer with Tooth Mob, a dental charity which paid for flights to Broome for myself and my bike, in return for 2 enjoyable and interesting weeks working at Derby Aboriginal Health Service.

After 2 weeks in Derby, I boarded the Greyhound bus service to Kununurra, with my bike, to start the ride from there. The bus goes via Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek, along the Great Northern and Victoria Highways, a somewhat longer distance than the Gibb River Rd. The journey took around 10 hours; I arrived in Kununurra at 8am and after breakfast and a quick look around the town, set off to start the ride back to Derby.

Saturday 18^th October 2014

                                                                 Arrival in Kununurra

                                                                       Ready to roll

The start of the Gibb River Road is about 45km west of Kununurra, along the Victoria Highway. This is a fairly busy stretch of road, with quite a few road trains, when they approach it's best to get right off the road to avoid being sucked into their draught:

The start of the Gibb River Road! The first 50kms is tarmac, and pretty flat, so I was able to make good progress.

After about 90kms I reached the turnoff to El Questro, a large cattle station which is also a wilderness resort. The station is reached along a 16km dirt road which was very rough in places.

The final approach to the resort involved wading through the Pentecost River:

El Questro has luxury accommodation but also offers good camping facilities, which I availed myself of. I enjoyed a delicious buffet meal at the restaurant in the evening; a good end to the first day of the journey:

 

Distance today 106kms.

Sunday 19^th October 2014

There are lots of good walking tracks around El Questro resort so I started the day with a bit of hiking up to a nearby lookout:

After reading this sign I decided against going for a swim in the nearby river:

Nearby Zebedee hot water springs are safe to swim in however:

The road crossed another arm of the Pentecost river here:

Just 55kms from El Questro is Home Valley, another cattle station wilderness resort, and also a good place to stop, especially as there would be no more facilities of any kind for another 290kms.



                                        Gateway to Home Valley is shaped like a boab tree

I had another good meal here, and enjoyed a refreshing swim in the pool:

Distance today 55kms, total so far 161kms.

Monday 20^th October 2014

From now on the going got tougher. With temperatures around 40C, a rough, corrugated dirt road surface, and no services available, it was simply a matter of getting down to a long hard slog. I didn't know in advance what the availability of water would be like on the route, as in the late dry season most of the rivers and creeks in this region are empty. I carried 10 litres with me and intended to fill up wherever I could, but the only water I saw today was in the Durack River:



And there wasn't a lot even there, and what there was wasn't particularly clear. Fortunately I had plenty of water purification tablets with me.

I made camp for the night just outside Ellenbrae, another cattle station which unfortunately was by now closed for the season:

Distance today 101kms, total so far 262kms

Tuesday 21^st October 2014

In the build-up to the wet season, every day gets hotter:

There was still a long way to go:

In places, the road was covered in deep sand and the only option was to get off and push. With all the additional weight of the 10 litres of water, this wasn't easy:



As the sun was setting I was still a long way from the next services so it was another night spent bush camping by the side of the road. For the last 2 days I have seen fewer than 10 vehicles per day on the road.

Distance today 103kms, total so far 365kms

Wednesday 22^nd October 2014

The long hard route continued; there wasn't much to see apart from the occasional boab tree:

But by early afternoon I reached the Mt Barnett Roadhouse, where I was able to enjoy a tasty burger, and then explore the nearby Manning Gorge:

Mt Barnett Roadhouse 

Manning Gorge, where I camped for the night, is about 7kms from the roadhouse. To reach the gorge you have to cross the river via a pulley-operated boat:



Once across, it's a 2km walk to the Manning Gorge, along a well-marked, but in places very rocky and uneven path which does require some clambering over:

The waterfall isn't flowing at this time of year, unfortunately. It's still a beautiful spot though, and great to be able to enjoy the calm and quiet without anyone else around:

Distance today 91kms, total so far 456kms

Thursday 23^rd October 2014

About 20kms along today's ride I stopped briefly at Galvans Gorge; not seen at its best at this late time in the dry season, with very little water present:

There were still very few vehicles to be encountered along the route, but when they did go past they threw up plenty of red dust:

Around 3pm I reached the next service point along the route, at Imintji, an aboriginal community which has a roadhouse and store:

A sign outside proclaims that this place was an entrant in this year's Tidy Towns competition. With all the abandoned vehicles around and the general air of desolation, it would be surprising if it won.

Just 1km away from Imintji is a decent camping spot by the side of Pandanus Springs, where I had a very welcome swim:

Distance today 89kms, total so far 545kms

Friday 24^th October 2014

Into the final stage of the journey, the road surface became bitumen for several long stretches, which was a welcome relief from all the bumping over corrugations during the past few hundred kms; however this stretch over the King Leopold Ranges had rather more uphills than I would have liked:

As the sun was beginning to set I reached the strange rock formation known as Queen Victoria's Head:

A campsite by the Lennard River was the stop for tonight.

Distance today 105kms, total so far 650kms

Saturday 25^th October 2014

From Lennard River it's about 20kms detour off the GRR to see two of the top attractions of the Kimberley -  Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek.

Windjana Gorge is 3.5kms long, and is part of an ancient limestone reef:

Freshwater crocodiles are easy to spot here. Unlike salt water crocodiles which of course are highly dangerous predators (and of which I saw none on the entire journey) these are harmless if you leave them alone and don't go too close:

Close by are the ruins of Lillimooloora Police Station, centre of the manhunt for Jandamarra, the “aboriginal Ned Kelly” in the 1890s:

Another 10kms further on I reached Tunnel Creek, which as its name suggests, tunnels its way through the Napier Range for a distance of about 1.5kms. You wade through beautifully cool water, up to thigh deep, to get to the other end. The tunnel is home to large bats, and also small freshwater crocs – you can see their eyes glinting in the dark water.

Distance today 40kms, trip total 690kms

Sunday 26^th October 2014

Retracing the route back to the GRR, after an initial rough sandy stretch, most of the way back to Derby is bitumen.

There was little of note along this final stretch of the route, apart from the famous Boab Prison Tree which was used to lock up aboriginal prisoners:

...so I  got down to some hard pedalling and arrived back in Derby in the early evening, checking into the Boab Inn and enjoying a very welcome meal of barramundi and salad, my first decent food for several days.

 End of the journey – Boab Inn Derby

Distance today 127kms, trip total 817kms

So, another cycling adventure drew to a successful  close. The GRR is certainly a worthwhile journey, the gorges are stunning and the remoteness and rugged character of the landscape have a great attraction to anyone seeking adventure. I'd like to return again sometime, but would go earlier in the year when there would be more water available. The lack of water was the biggest issue on this trip and I'm thankful to numerous kind people who stopped to offer me cold water along the way. I was never at risk of running out of water altogether,but the water I was carrying got so hot early in the day, that it offered hardly any refreshment.

My Giant Roam performed faultlessly with no mechanical issues along the way, and the tyres survived intact with no punctures, despite many kms of very rough road.

Thanks for reading so far, any comments are always welcome!