The Kimberley & Problems

In Broome we had arranged to fly into the Horizontal Falls from Derby. The flight went out over the Kimberly Gulf and the seaplane landed next to a floating houseboat. Here we spent the night out on the Talbot Bay in the Buccaneer Archipelago with 18 other tourists and 5 staff. Dinner consisted of fresh grilled Barramundi with Salads and BYO drinks. The sunset in the middle of the Kimberly hinterland was very scenic and the twice viewing and navigating the Horizontal Falls (actually a tidal movement through a narrow gap between two cliffs) was exciting and unique. The nurse sharks, which were fed, and hence circled around under the houseboat constantly, also provided entertainment. Unfortunately this meant Bobbie did not go swimming here - except in the tiny "Shark Cage" on one of the pontoons.

Sunset in the Kimberley

The Horizontal Waterfall

 Bobbie and I then returned to Derby and prepared for crossing the Gibb River Road (GRR) - 600km of gravel road and a side trip to Mitchell Falls - 250km of gravel road.

Gibb River Road

The country along the GRR is remote and beautiful. Everyone must stop along the way and go into the various gorges along the route. These served as waterholes for the aboriginals, and later the pasturalists and drovers. On the edge of the road into one of these gorges we saw a camper like ours lying beside the track. It happens that it was being carried on a trailer (not a ute) and the trailer flipped. The owners are apparently talking to the Insurance company about its recovery.

Bobbie swimming in Manning Gorge - GRR

Trayon Camper at side of the road

Mitchell Falls, On the Mitchell Plateau, is a spectacular three level water fall in the far north of the Kimberley region. It is a 1.5 hour hike from the nearby campground. Bobbie and I took lunch and bathing suits and spent 5 hours visiting and viewing the falls.There are warnings not to swim in the lower pool, due to the possible presence of Salties (Salt Water crocodiles). The Mitchell River drains into the Admiralty Gulf of the Timor Sea. We did manage to go for a swim in one of the upper pools and in a nice pool in the creek near our campsite - Well worth the trip - which was not without its difficulties.

Mitchell Falls

This leads into our next adventure story which occurred on our way into the Mitchell Falls. Over some quite rough road, we discovered that: 1. the bullbar was falling off the truck 2. One of the tray mounts on the truck had perished. We pulled off the track and spent 2 hours replacing one of the bolts on the bullbar, and tightening the rest, and adding a ratchet strap to fasten the tray onto the chassis where the support was weakened. At Mitchell Falls we then rechecked the bullbar bolts, and with a little "bush mechanics" used a bicycle wrench, borrowed fencing wire, cable ties and the ratchet strap(for good luck)  to repair the tray mount. We then proceeded in 2 days to cover the remaining  550km of gravel road out to the nearest highway, with no further problems.

Bush Mechanic - Tray support

We arrived in Kununarra on a Thursday and made an appointment to get the tray supports replaced the following Monday. Friday we got new tyres (Cooper XT Maxx) which we had been planning anyway, and had the Bullbar rebolted and inspected by an off-road specialist. Our confidence reestablished, we then headed down into Gregory River National Park, and took two 4WD tracks to various places there. All be it, these tracks were only 6km and 20km long - but much rougher that those previously encountered.

Gregory River track

We had seen much of the Northern Territory previously, so have decide to take another cross country shortcut towards the east, and are now camped at Top Springs on the Buchanan Highway, a 500 km gravel road going southeast. From here we will go on to Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and Mount Isa in Queensland, for our next trek up to the top of Australia - Cape York.