The Gibb River Road - Part 4

The Gibb River Road - Part 4

Sunday 17th - Thursday 14th September

Day 14- March Fly Glen & Bell Gorge 

The name should have been enough of a warning, but we’d heard from a number of people who’d camped here that it was a nice place to spend the night, and it was close enough to do a trip into Bell Gorge without having to tow your van down the rough and corrugated road. We arrived in the heat of the day and as soon as we stepped out of the car the march flies began to attack. We quickly set up and had lunch before hightailing it into Bell Gorge (which was still a 45 min drive away). It was a relatively easy walk into the gorge and we enjoyed a swim with 2 sets of friends we’d met along the Gibb (who were also camping at March Fly Glen). Turns out the march flies were also in abundance at Bell Gorge so when we weren’t swimming we sat their constantly smacking ourselves trying to kill the marchies before the bit us! Jackson and Artie (one of our new friend’s sons) killed a heap of march flies then placed them strategically in the paths of ants, then they watched in delight as the ants excitedly dragged the march flies back to their nests (it was actually quite cool to watch, especially as a march fly was often picked up and dragged by a single ant – very impressive). None of us were keen to go back to camp (even though it was very pretty campground with views of the surrounding King Leopold Ranges we were all wary of the march flies) so, when the suggestion to stop off at a lookout for drinks and nibbles was made, we all readily agreed. We missed the actual sunset but still got to enjoy the post sunset colours and the beautiful view. We all wished we’d done a sneaky camp at the lookout, it would have been incredible. After enjoying a coffee looking out at the glowing ranges the next morning, we left early ready to explore Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek.

Bell Gorge

Some of the lovely people we met along the Gibb

Drone pic showing the upper and lower pools at Bell Gorge

The low sun and the still water created a great reflection in the upper pools at Bell Gorge

The dusty drive home - we spent so long swimming we missed the sunset and instead had to try to watch it via the car mirrors!

We still had some light to enjoy the view from a lookout over the King Leopold Ranges.

It was a pretty campsite at March Fly Glen - just a shame so many march flies wanted to share it with us.

Day 15/16- RAAF Boab Quarry (after spending the day at Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek) 

We began our day at Windjana Gorge, which has only just reopened to the public after suffering substantial damage from the floods at the start of the year. It looked so different compared to last time we were here in 2015. All the huge paperbarks that lined the river had been uprooted leaving the banks exposed. It was sad to see such beautiful trees devastated- who knows how long it will take for the small saplings that are now sprouting to grow that big. The gorge was as impressive as we remembered it though, and we enjoyed a short walk along the banks taking in the scenery.

Next up was Tunnel Creek, where our experience was completely different to the one we had in 2015. Last time we just waded through shin deep water to reach the end of the cave – this time there was so much water we actually had to swim through one section. The water was icy cold and it was rather disconcerting to be swimming in freezing water, in a cave, in the pitch black with only a reflector to guide us. We all swam with head torches on but it was still a bit of an adrenaline inducing experience. We came at lunchtime and ended up being the only people in the cave for most of the time, which was great. We saw heaps of bats, looked at masses of stalactites and spotted fish, cherabin and even a freshwater crocodile in the river that runs through the cave. 

The crack in the rock you walk through to get into Windjana Gorge- we could already see how different it looked compared to last time.

Windjana Gorge (without the paperbarks lining the banks)

The straight towering walls of the gorge are quite impressive.

Ready to explore Tunnel Creek

Swimming through the first section - it certainly got the adrenaline pumping.

It was stunning inside the cave

This stalactite had drops of water on the base - showing how it forms over thousands of years.

Some of the many bats that inhabit Tunnel Creek cave.

Looking out to the end of the cave

We made it back - this is me trying to smile but the water had literally taken my breath away so it turned into more of a grimace!!

From Tunnel Creek we headed to a free camp we’d heard about from a few people. It was incredible – a quarry full of freshwater right in the middle of a stunning landscape of boab trees and rock formations. We ended up spending two nights as it was so beautiful and we had a private campsite with a stunning view. We swam in the quarry, watched the sunset from the top of the rocks, walked around the top of the quarry and looked in some of the rocky caves (Jackson and Daniel actually took head torches and spent an hour exploring one of the caves that opened up into lots of smaller sections). In between the fun we began cleaning some of the mountains of red dirt that had accumulated in the caravan over our Gibb River Road adventure. It had gotten to the point that all our cutlery and plates were covered in dust and we couldn’t use anything without washing it first!

After one final swim we left and within 10kms we were back on bitumen after 1162 kilometres on corrugated gravel roads.

We had a wonderful 16 days travelling along the Gibb River Road- it was just as good as we remembered. The Kimberley is certainly a special place.

Cooling off in the quarry

Jackson found an ingenious way to break up firewood - dropping a big log onto a smaller branch to break it into fire size pieces.

Looking down onto our campsite from the rock Daniel and I climbed up to at sunset.

At the opening to one of the many caves around the quarry

At the end of the quarry there were so many boabs growing in a small open section between the rocks- it was just such stunning scenery.

On our way back from our early morning walk around the top of the quarry.

The next few photos show just how full of dust the cupboards got from the dusty Gibb River Road.

The cereal containers were so dirty you got red hands just trying to make your breakfast - there was even dust in the Weetbix box.

The diesel container on the front of the caravan ended up covered in a very thick layer of dust!

I ended up vacuuming out the pots and pans drawer as there was so much dust.

Damper for lunch - it was such a beautiful campsite overlooking a valley full of boab trees.

Enjoying a late afternoon swim after lots of cleaning.

Daniel and I climbed up some different rocks to watch the sunset again- the view was wonderful.

Daniel climbed up higher but I'd had enough rock scrambling for one day!

The resident cow - it was huge and it just wandered around the campsite and down the quarry for a drink.

Jackson and Daniel found this massive old boab tree when they went off to collect firewood.

One of the many beautiful boab trees around the camp.