Our trip on the Gibb.

We had never intended to do the Gibb and it wasn’t on our itinerary anymore since Els thought it was too dangerous to do. But during our trip and stay at Lake Argyle she met a lot of people and they all spook of the Gibb, young and old. So out of the blue she wanted to do the Gibb all of a sudden, but we didn’t have the right car to do so. We decided to rent a car from Wicked, a Suzuki Vitara 4wdr with a tent on the roof. I know Wicked had a bad name in the past but this car had low km on it and even a windscreen and two tyres where covered within the insurance.

I am not going to explain the sort of road the Gibb is like did for the Dutch; I think most of you know more about it already anyway.

Well is it good to know that the road varies from year to year and sometimes even from day to day. There where parts we could easily drive between 80 and 90 kilometers an hour but some parts only 15 km an hour.

We started at Derby and from there on the road is like a normal highway and sealed. This stops al of a sudden and it becomes a development road with red dirt on either side. After about 100 km, it is all dirt in red and grey and the challenge began.

We were well prepared with 50 liter of water, 20 liter of extra petrol, canned and dry food for more than two weeks. We got a 12 volt cooler and a cool box. We drink a lot and stop regularly along the road which is a bit getting used to, because the car is just 19 degrees and outside close to 40 degrees. When you get out of the car, the sun stings into your skin.

The first day we travelled about 300 km and got the campsite at Windjana Gorge (40km of the Gibb) just before dark. While Els was taking some photos from the Gorge, I prepared our dinner and set up the roof tent in a jiffy, within 5 minutes it was ready including sheets sleeping bags, pillows, bottle of water for the night and our light for on top of our heads. The night drops in early and when it das it is pitch dark as well. This place, even dough it is a bush camping, has all the basic needs, like toilets and cold showers. When we arrived there was only one more van there by the time it was dark there where 5 of us parked.

At six in the morning we woke up after a very quiet night with a sky full of stars. We started our walk to the Gorge at 8 o’clock in the shadow of the high cliff; the wind is already dry and warm. Walking along the cliff you can really see this used to a reef like the Great Barrier Reef. You see the fossils everywhere in the walls. The river is low and you can walk on the sandbanks along the river with cause of course because the crocs are lying on the sand banks as well, bathing in the morning sun. About 100 of them on a stretch of 500 meters. If you walk on, the river becomes billabongs where all kinds of birds come to, to have a drink a bath or feed. Like spoonbills, herons, Ibises, small and big parrots and finches, you have to keep your eyes peeled all the time. While we are watching a growing flog off yellow and green buggies flying past a couple of Double Barred Finches landed next to me on sand just two meters away. On a dry piece of riverbed we found a skin of a python and some further on our path we did see the 30cm wide imprints of an other python.

This is a place you would like to stay for days without end but we have to have brekkie and move on. At about 11, 30 after a shake of 40km, we got to “Tunnel Creek”. Like the word says it is a creek, which forms a tunnel to go through to the other side of the mountain. Just walking up there you can’t see the entrance of the tunnel; you have to squeeze through a small opening between a large boulder and the mountain wall to get in, where after, you all of a sudden are in the water of the creek and inside the tunnel. The tunnel varies from 2 till 8 meters high and from 4 till about 20 wide. The first 200 meters has incoming light from outside after that it become pitch dark. In this time of the year, (the dry season) it has about 40 till 50 cm of water in it and you can walk it easy from one side to the other where the river still feeds the creek with nice clear water.

Els didn’t feel like walking the whole distance (about 45 minutes one way) through the tunnel and the water especially after hearing talks about fresh water crocs being seen in the water. She wanted me to go on and do it anyway. Well you don’t have to tell me twice, with a lamp on my head and a torch in my hand I went for it. Sometimes you have to look hard to find your path as well on the dry as in the water but most of the time you can walk along the riverbed. All you can hear is you own wet feet and the noise of the sometimes screaming, flying or just hanging there, bats above your head. In the reflecting light I see a couple of orange/red lights returning from my torch. (funny that you don’t see that from the LED headlight) so I slowed down a bit with some more caution, and yes there is a croc from about 1,5 mtr laying on the riverbank. Slowly move towards him and took some photos and keeping my distance. After a while I see his mate as well floating in the water. Then I see some LED lights wobbling in the dark ahead of me, these are people who completed the walk and are returning. After a little talk and pointing the crocs to them I walk on in the dark, fantastic.

The bottom of the tunnel varies from sand, rock and mud, sometimes slippery and from water just on your feet till part where it hits you just above the knee. The air in the first part is nice and fresh because of a collapse in the first part, after that it becomes smelly and sticky. The path I choose goes from left to right and back again. On the walls you can see what the power of water can do in the wet season, the walls are smooth almost polished. After a sharp corner you see the light at the end of the tunnel and the beautiful trees and ferns are vibrant green at the river side of the creek here at the other side of the mountain. I breathe in the nice fresh air and diced to return to Els who is waiting at the other end for me. This is why you travel for on the Gibb, to reach places like this, so nice, so beautiful, so vibrant. Some small adventure I didn’t want to miss out on.

This is only a small part of our first 24 hours on and along the Gibb. I know I can’t write everything down to let you read, but those things we did all along the Gibb everywhere. Walks, climbing and sightseeing.

You just have to do it with some of the story and some of the photos, I am sorry.

Another part is “El Questro”

After 5 days of driving we got to the real challenge, for the car Els and me. But we didn’t get there as we planned on day four because we started to run out of daylight on the Gibb we stopped over at “Home Stead Valley” and had a lovely night there. Day four took us almost 6 hours to do 200 km. But we got to “El Questro” the next morning at our first real river crossing The “Pentecost” .So I got out to have a look at the road beneath the water. It is hot and the temp went already up to 39 degrees. First stay on the right than to the left to avoid a big pointy rock and back to the right to avoid another one but not too far, we don’t want to end up in the river do we? At the far side, with some extra throttle over the rocky bottom to get out.

The depth I esteemed at 40 till 50 cm deep. Els das not like this situation and liked to walk over the rock to the other side until she hears that this river has long green swimming flat beak dogs in it. Advise, stay in the car get your camera out, take photos and let me drive.

Car in 4wdr low gear locked and slowly drove without any problem to the other bank. When I got there it would not shift back into normal gearing, after driving backwards it was okay again. We moved on, an hour further we reached “El Questro” with one more obstacle, a deeper river to cross. Because here are a lot of cars passing daily there is a track in the sandy rocky bottom and easy to follow. Els still don’t like it and would love to leave it behind her; I start to get the fun into it so within a couple of minutes we are at the other side and at a fantastic campsite. Is this the end of our adventure then? No, no because the next morning we wanted to go to the “El Questro Gorge Walk”, to get there we had to cross two rivers. The last one from yesterday and a new one, but the ranger there reckon the car would not make it, too much sand before the river 50 cm deep and after the river 80cm deep. What to do? All the day tours where gone, waiting till tomorrow meant wasting a day, and we didn’t want to miss out on this after we got this far. One of the ranger was willing to take us across and pick us up after 3 hours for $ 40, 00 p.p. this was an offer we could not refuse. So a short time later on he took us in an open Land Cruiser to the hard part. They were right. When I saw the almost 60 cm sand tracks and the 80 cm deep sand after the river crossing, I don’t think our car would have made it through, but I would have loved it to try it out.

We did our fantastic walk in the Gorge with some climbing here and there as well until we came to a big boulder who blocked the pass way. To go further, you had to swim first in nice cool clear water and then climb over the rock to do the rest till the spring which would take up to 5 hours return. This would be too much for us so we decided to stop and rest there before we walked back to our pick up point. A bit before 12 the car arrived to pick us up and this car had some trouble getting back through the sand and water but we got back alright.

After lunch at the camping we moved on to cross two more rivers and then on towards Wyndham to go birdwatching, to see the Gouldian Finches in the wild, but that is, another story to tell.

Of course we seen more, done more, went more places then what I wrote down here. If I would write everything down it would become a book, and we don’t want that do we.

So far, a little impression of our Gibb trip.

Hope you enjoyed it a bit and get an idea from the photos which will follow asap.

Regards “Thedownunders”.