The Adventure Begins…. We left for our 10 days in the West Kimberley with a plan to travel the Gibb River Road and north up the Kalumburu Road to reach the Mitchell Plateau and the aboriginal community of Kalumburu. Along the way we intended to call into various natural attractions that we had missed on our previous trip into the Kimberley. Our morning tea stop was at Windjana Gorge, about 21 km off the Gibb River Road and about 140 km from Derby. It is an easy walk into the gorge and it was here we saw at least 75 fresh water crocodiles swimming or sunning themselves along the shores of the waterholes. Because there was less water than previous years, the crocodiles had gathered in numbers making them a great tourist attraction. From Windjana we made our way to Bell Gorge, a further 125 km along the Gibb River Road and set up camp at Silent Grove camp ground, 10 km from Bell Gorge – a pleasant camp ground with cold showers and toilets.

Oh No…… Next morning Gary and Judy, our friends from Ballarat who we were traveling with, found their fridge had died so a 466 km round trip back to Derby had to be made to buy a brand new Wakeo fridge so we could continue our adventure. Rob and Liz enjoyed a pleasant day at Bell Gorge awaiting their return. The walk into the gorge is about 1 km to reach the top pool where the water has flowed west from the King Leopold Range and has cut through the rock to form a spectacular gorge. Reaching the bottom pool requires a further 400 metre walk/climb. We really enjoyed the afternoon swimming in the bottom pool. There was water flowing over the falls which was great as the area had had a “dry wet season” this year. We spent a second day there with Judy and Gary after their day trip to Derby and a flat tyre along the way.

We moved onto Charnley River Station for an overnight stop. This station is 43 kms off the Gibb River Road. It’s a family owned working cattle station with a number of stunning gorges on their property. Our stay here was short but we did get to see Dillie Gorge (picture left) – a very quiet spot 14 kms from the homestead. From now on we were all on new territory. We had met Judy and Gary in 2000 and traveled the Gibb River Road but were unable to reach the Mitchell Plateau and Kalumburu due to the “big wet” in 2000 so we were on a mission to do it this year.

Oh No Again….. The Mitchell Plateau is reached via the Pt Warrender, 85 km track off the Kalumburu Road which is 162 km north of the Gibb River Road, so we stayed at Drysdale River Homestead which is on the Kalumburu Road. Our trip to Drysdale River Station was again uneventful except for Gary and Judy getting yet another puncture. During our pitstop to change the tyre we made a new friend, a small lizard half buried in the dust on the side of the road. A cute little character that had no issues with us taking photos. The roads so far were what we expected – in parts quite smooth with hardly any corrugations, but then suddenly the road would change and there would be corrugations that would make the whole car shake. What we also expected and received in bucket loads was the famous or infamous Kimberley red dust, especially when we left the rear door ajar which had the effect of sucking dust into the rear of the vehicle. Next morning we set off for the Mitchell Plateau to set up camp, but little did we know what was ahead.

Guess What, Oh No Again…. We had 188 kms to travel with the last 18 km, from what we were hearing along the way, being the worst. A nice morning tea at the King Edward River and then things went downhill from there. Gary and Judy’s brake line to the front right hand disc brake of their Nissan Patrol broke which meant instantly, no brakes. Not a good idea on a single lane 4WD track. This meant some urgent mechanical repairs had to be undertaken. He removed the offending part, crimped the pipe and refitted. We now had a Nissan with only one front disc brake and definite left tendencies. This took an hour to repair and during that time a car load of aboriginals traveling along at a ridiculous speed nearly collected us. They all travel at incredible speeds on these outback dirt roads which explain why all their cars are wrecks within months. With all repairs carried out we set off once more with Gary and Judy leading the way just in case there was any mechanical problem further along the track, when all of a sudden we come across six packs of UDL vodka, lime and soda all strewn over the road.

At first, we thought it was the aborigines rubbish, but then quickly realized that it was Judy’s supply of drinks which had fallen from their camper trailer. Eighteen of the cans lay there with half of them punctured and squirting vodka, lime and soda everywhere. Rob and I had a lovely time drinking the rejects as we cleaned up the mess and offered drinks to some of the other 4WD drivers as they came along. We managed to luckily rescue 8 undamaged cans for Judy, and gave her a damaged one to drink as we thought she might need one at this stage. Rob sang ‘Good Old Collingwood Forever’, Gary’s football team. He felt it was time for some light relief after the last hour of drama, even though Melbourne (Rob’s team) had just beaten Collingwood by 45 points.

An Absolute Highlight…… The Mitchell Plateau track is definitely a 4WD track but not as bad as we expected. There were plenty of corrugations and rough patches, a couple of creek crossings and some nice little ups and downs but fairly uneventful, although exciting for Gary with only one front brake and towing a trailer. What was most outstanding along this track were the Livistona Eastonii palms that are everywhere. These palms can grow up to 18 metres tall and can be up to 250 years old. The landscape around the plateau varys from mangroves to woodlands and lush rainforest patches. We decided to walk into the Mitchell Falls and helicopter out, so we set off quite early the next morning as by lunch time it is very warm. The walk in is 3.3 km and along the way you come across Little Merten Falls and aboriginal rock paintings some of which are Gwion or Bradshaw art (picture) with a minimum age of 17,000 years, and the Wandjina paintings which depicts headdress, halos, no mouth and a large nose, considered to be 1000 years old. The 2000 Sydney Olympics used the Wandjina paintings as the aboriginal symbol.

There was not enough water in Little Merten and Big Merten Falls for a waterfall, but when we reached the top pool of the Mitchell Falls, the water was still cascading over into the Lower Mitchell Falls and down into the gorge below. It was well worth the walk in and we spent the next three hours swimming and relaxing in the upper pool. It was then a helicopter pick up from the plateau and a 35 minute flight over the falls to see it from the air, an orbit over Surveyors Pool, and then a bit of crocodile spotting along the Mitchell River and out to Admiralty Gulf. It was a fantastic flight with the helicopter flying much lower – this enabled us to get some great video and photos. We then were brought back to our camp ground.

Uneventful Be Damned…… Our adventure that day did not end there. Just after dinner on our last night, Rob let out an almighty “holy shit” as a 3.5 metre snake visited our camp site. There was a mad scurry to close the tent doors as we didn’t feel like sharing our bedroom with this visitor. None of us had ever been so close to such a reptile. From then on, especially Judy and Liz were on snake watch. The next morning we packed up and made the 85 km slow and uneventful trip out to the Kalumburu Road and turned left to head for Kalumburu, 103 kms further north.

Is There A Doctor In The House…. The road deteriorated from then on with a few good patches, lots of corrugations and rough patches. We arrived in the township of Kalumburu around lunchtime. What an education that was! Liz was having problems with an infected big toe of all things, so we found out where the clinic was located and fortunately it was open for business. There were two nurses on duty with a doctor visiting only on Tuesdays. The clinic consisted of a room about 10 ft x 12 ft with no particular waiting room, so Judy and Liz went in and treatment was commenced by one of the two dogs in the room sniffing the toe then licking the antiseptic that dropped on the floor. The next minute there were 6 aboriginals, 2 nurses, Liz, Judy, the two dogs in the room, plus Rob, who decided to come in to see what was going on. Thank goodness it was only a big toe that was being treated and not something more personal. We had to laugh as it really was quite funny with “every man and his dogs” present.

A Resort, You’re Kidding…. It was then on to McMahons Island Beach “Resort”. This place was about 15 kms out of Kalumburu and as we drove Rob commented that it felt like an atomic bomb had gone off and we were the only survivors. The area had been hit by cyclone Ingrid in early February and had stripped the trees of leaves, branches and many trees were uprooted. It was quite desolate with the exception of a rather large rubbish tip about 3 km out of town. We reached the camping area and here there was total destruction of the caretakers house (picture opposite) and surrounding sheds. We managed to find two camp sites with million dollar ocean views in the front and a million dollar total wreckage at the back. There was rubble everywhere.

The view across the bay and the beach were really beautiful but unfortunately, there was no swimming due to salt water crocodiles and a shark sighted by Gary the next morning. Liz and Judy coped brilliantly. There was one toilet which needed to be “hand flushed” with a bucket of water and a cold water shower in the same cyclone damaged out-house. The shower was quite good. It was so hot during the day that the water ended up being beautifully warm for a nice shower. There was one other shower and toilet attached to the aboriginal’s house which was in constant use by the campers.

Been There, Seen That…. We spent two days here and visited the township of Kalumburu for repairs to Gary’s vehicle, a few supplies and some sightseeing. This was an eyeopener. A very smartly dressed uniformed warden sat outside the takeaway café run by the Catholic Diocese of Broome. The warden seemed to be a very shy person and he sat eating his morning tea frightened to look sideways. His job as stated in the “Kalumburu Tourist Information 2005” brochure, was to “escort you off the reserve if you did not comply with any instructions given to you by the warden”, ie. no alcohol was permitted to be consumed in the community (a very good idea) and all tourists had to obtain a $35 entry permit from the Kalumburu Commission, which was only opened part of the day and not at weekends.

We would have liked to have visited the museum, but the Catholic priest was on sabbatical leave and was not due back until 5 July. We also learnt that the administrator of the township had left and the general store had closed down, not because of the cyclone, but due to a tax bill of $110,000 and debts of unpaid grocery bills of $200,000. A new administrator was due to commence within the next month. It was hoped that he would make a few changes to the town.

The camp fees were $10.00 per person per night but the caretakers had “flown the coup” the aboriginal owners had done the same, so nobody was collecting the fees until the morning we were packing up. Somebody in the camp decided to become the self appointed caretaker and was moving into the aboriginal house and was going to restore law and order. His name was George and he appeared with no receipt book to collect the campers money. You can imagine what happened. The four of us requested a receipt but we were advised by George that the Aboriginal Commission were unable to provide him with a receipt book, so we were given two options – paying the money to George or having an account mailed to us at home. We decided on the latter.

It Never Rains But It Pours and Pours And Pours…… We left the township and drove back down to the Gibb River where we found a beautiful camp site on the banks of the Gibb River. Little did we know that Broome and Derby had had an absolute downpour, and Mount Elizabeth Station which was 56 kms down from our camp site had 76 mm (3 inches). We had a nice camp fire for our last night and another delicious dinner. The meals had been well organized by Judy and Liz. This was to be our last farewell before Judy and Gary headed off to Kununurra and Liz and Rob returned to Derby.

At 3.50 am that night it started raining. Just gently with most of the heavy raindrops coming off the eucalypts. We awoke to wet tents and decided that it wasn’t too bad and that we would pack up and continue on. After 10 days of lots of laughter, fun, adventure and “character building” moments, we said goodbye and went our separate ways. Ten minutes down the Gibb River Road heading back to Derby we hit the rain and came across puddles and some corrugations filled with water. This started getting worse with the red dust turning to red mud and the corrugations filling up with water to make the driving for Rob quite difficult at times. The car and the windows were covered in red mud with inches of red mud hanging from the underside of the car. There was nowhere to pull off the road and wait for the rain to stop so we continued for 106 kms from the Kalumburu Road to Mt Barnett Roadhouse where we were to spend the night at Manning Gorge. As you can imagine, Liz was relieved to see the turnoff to the roadhouse.

On arrival we learnt that Mount Elizabeth Station had received 76 mm (3 inches) and Mt Barnett Roadhouse 52 mm (2 inches) with Manning Gorge and the campers isolated . It was then decision time, and fortunately Rob talked to two sensible young 4WD drivers and their partners who were prepared to continue on with us in convoy. We left an hour later and in convoy with our UHF radios in use, arrived at Galvin’s Gorge where we actually visited the gorge for sightseeing before proceeding.

It was amazing to see the change in the road conditions. The road became clear of water in parts but very heavy, mudwise. We continued onto Derby after the other drivers turned off to Bell Gorge. We arrived safely in Derby around 5.00pm and had traveled just over 400 kms for the day. It was great to see the bitumen meet us 63 kms from Derby.

The funny things that happen on the road: At the start of the Kalumburu Road we ask the road conditions of a group that had just come from Kalumburu. We were told it was good with some bad patches but we should remember: “At the end of every straight section there was a bend” I didn’t know that! As we left the roadside stop, across the CB came a ladies voice in another 4WD just driving into the roadside stop and she said. “Oh look, we can have coffee and cake with the Nanavan”. What is a Nanavan you ask? A group of older people on an organized 4WD tour bus way out here in the outback. And the classic statement came from Judy Armstrong after an exhausting day: “It was an uneventful trip except for everything that happened” hence the subtitle for this section of our trip.

We had a clean up in Derby but we still have a very dirty vehicle which hopefully we will be able to wash in Broome. We are really looking forward to our forthcoming luxury on the Kimberley Quest II.

The highlight of this section of our trip was no doubt the walk into Mitchell Falls and the helicopter flight out. You are able to see so much more in a helicopter (with no doors) than from a light aircraft because it travels lower and can turn tightly to get a good look at attractions.

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