Gibb River Rd – Galvin’s Gorge, Mt Elizabeth – 7 to 8 August 2010

We rejoined the Gibb River Road. A number of fires were burning in the distance, with large billowing smoke clouds on the horizon. This is patch burning which will protect the countryside from fierce hot fires later in the season. Little incendiaries are dropped by helicopter and will ignite and burn a small area. Fires here are usually caused by lightening strikes during the buildup. If part of the country is burnt already in cool fires native flora and fauna are not so damaged and the lightening fires don't have an opportunity to spread and burn for a long distance because there is no ground fuel. In the past they would burn till they reached the sea.The burnt areas give animals a place of refuge. This is the traditional aboriginal way to manage the country.


We stopped at Galvin’s Gorge for lunch and a swim.

We then took the road north to Mount Elizabeth Station, where we stopped for the evening. Mt Elizabeth Station has a very bad road in. It offers hot showers and if you collect firewood on the way in it has varied containers to light a fire in.