We left Kununurra around lunchtime and drove to El Questro. Along the way we stopped in at Emma Gorge which is where our friends Nicole and Brad had their wedding reception. It looked beautiful however, as we hadn't started out early enough it was way too hot to attempt the 3 hour walk into the gorge (even with the swim at the end) so we gave it a miss.
We continued onto the campground at El Questro. Shane and Rose booked a cabin for the night so we joined them for dinner. There were a couple of musicians playing at the shop/bar area which all the girls enjoyed listening to. Shane cooked us a fab pasta carbonara.
Ed and Shane together with Miles and Thomas went looking for cherebin for the fishing the next day.
The boating adventure up Chamberlain Gorge was not a raging success - the motor on the boat died and Shane and Ed had to row back with Charlotte and Miles in support.
Chamberlain Gorge
We were very relaxed staying there. After Friday night Shane and Rose set up camp next to us and we all chilled out together. The kids spent loads of time in the water keeping cool.
Rose and I took a drive with Olivia, Esther and Amelia to see Moonshine Gorge. We didn't walk through the whole gorge as after a short walk we stopped for a lovely swim. Rose did some super 4wding to get into the gorge.
For Fathers Day we got up earlyish and went to Zebedee Springs. It was only a short drive front he campsite. It was a lovely warm swim. They was several levels of pools to enjoy.
Charlotte under one of the waterfalls
We returned back to the campsite for a Fathers Day cook up breakie before the kids went off for another swim and Shane and Rose packed up.
We were sad to say goodbye as they had been great hosts for our time up in Kununurra.
Thomas caught his first Barra - shame it wasn't size and had to go back!
The Durack Tree
Home Valley Station
After a new tyre for the trailer was fitted we drove the short distance to Home Valley Station where we camped for 2 nights on the Penticost River. It was pretty warm there so the swim back at the homestead was very welcome. We did some fishing there and Ed swears that he had a 1m + barra on the line before it was gone taking his lure and line with him! The kids and I also had a bit of a fish with no luck.
Charlotte (on Midnight) and Olivia (on Zoro) enjoyed a horse ride around the Home Valley Homestead.
Mitchell Falls
We drove further along the Gibb River Road before turning off to go up to the Mitchell Falls on the Kalumbaru Road. We had lunch at Drysdale Station followed by another few hours of driving on a bumpy, corrugated road to the Kind Edward River campsite. This was a lovely spot close to water that you could swim in. It was a nice cool off in the water after setting up.
The next day we took off early and drove for nearly 2 hours into the Mitchell River National Park. We walked in up to the top near the falls and had a swim straight away. It was super slippery on the rocks and a bit of a challenge to get back out!
We then crossed the water and walked around to the viewing points for the falls. It was handy that a tour group had flown in via helicopter so we followed them to the 3 different viewing spots. The falls we beautiful and I was so glad that I had pushed to come up here despite all the bad road stories that we had been told.
The King Edward River - a nice place to camp!
The top pool where we had our first swim
Standing near the edge at the top of the Mitchell Falls
The Beautiful falls - the only way they would look better is in the wet with tonnes more water!
On the walk down we stopped at Big Merton Falls and had lunch and a swim in the lagoon which was very refreshing.
There were a couple of aboriginal art sites but as the kids said..'Thats nothing. The art at Kakadu is much better!'
Our last stop of the day was a Little Merton Falls. They were a series of smaller cascading pools. A lovely refreshing end to the days walk. Walking these tracks is so much better when there are swimming spots along the way.
We finished the day with a 2 hour drive back to our campsite. We had a wonderful day at the falls. The good thing about camping away from the falls was that it was 2 hours less driving the next day.
Manning Gorge
We drove back out to the Gibb River Road and onto the Mt. Barnett Roadhouse. We camped at the campground there and immediately jumped into the water to cool down. Unfortunately we were unable to walk into the gorge as a woman had broken her leg and they closed the track until she came out.
There was a large bushfire burning along the roads approaching the roadhouse which Ed kept an eye on. We could smell the smoke throughout the night.
The next day we swam across the water and then did a 2km walk into Manning Gorge. It was quite rocky but worth it as the view was fantastic and it ended with us having a swim under a waterfall.
This was one of my favourite walks as you had a swim at the start, the middle and at the end.
After our refreshing walk we hit the road again and stopped in at Galvins Gorge. It was a short walk into a lovely swimming hole with a cascading waterfall surrounded by palms.
We camped that night beside the Leonard River. It was ok except for the massive amount of flies - welcome back to WA. They were the worse we had seen on the whole trip!
The next day we explored Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek before finishing the Gibb River Road in Derby.
The soaring high, coloured cliff walls of Windjana Gorge were spectacular to walk through. Couple that with the legend of Jundamurra also known as Pigeon. It is a fantastic story also made famous by Paul Kelly. There are lots of fresh water crocs in the gorge and they were all out catching the morning sun.
We headed down to Tunnel Creek to explore it. Unfortunately we had packed all our torches bar one small mag light into the camper. We managed to have enough light to explore it through to the end. There were fresh water crocs there but we didn't see them We did see some small bats and spiders along they way in the dark.
We drove into Derby very dirty after a week on the Gibb River Road, but very happy that we did it with no damage to the car or trailer.
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