Gibb River Rd – Ellenbrae Station – 12 to 13 August 2010

We left King Edward River reluctantly and retraced our steps to Drysdale Station and then back to the Gibb River Road. We had lunch again at Drysdale Station and not long after lunch we encountered the two Whippets, one a 1926 Vintage and the other a 1928 Vintage. We stopped, chatted and donated to the Make a Wish Foundation, their fund raising project. The Whippets, built in the old Holden body works in South Australia on a Willys Overland Chassis and Engine were doing fine, but the trailer of their support vehicle had broken a spring. So much for modern engineering on these primitive roads!!
Having rejoined the Gibb River Road we drove on in relative smoothness to Ellenbrae Station, now owned by Rino Grollo, and an oasis of scones and tea in the pastoral landscape. We loved the series of welcome signs as we drove up the entry road, and the welcome was indeed warm and friendly.





At the campsite were happy to see an old style “Donkey” hot water service, which reminded us of our first house. Being experts so to speak we fired it up in the morning for our hot showers, much to the delight of other campers, all of whom were foreign German, French,Dutch and Japanese tourists possibly intimidated by the imposing bulk and presence of the Donkey, like some dark sentinel in the middle of the camp kitchen.
We enjoyed our brief stay here, there is a nice waterhole by the campsite and we had the luxury of tea and scones before setting off in the morning. The Double Barred Finches were almost tame as they flocked to the seeds in the bird feeder.

Gibb River Rd – King Edward River, Mitchell Plateau – 9 to 12 August 2010

The road into Drysdale Station is not great, but as we wanted to see the Mitchell Plateau and Falls we traveled the next 105km so we could camp at King Edward River. [ Collect firewood on the way in as this is a National Park.] Starting very early we drove the 87km up to the Mitchell Falls for the day and then back to King Edward River for dinner.
At the Mitchell Falls we chose to walk from the information bay to the top of the falls.

After the Little Mertens Fall’s we missed the turn to the Rock Art so John walked the two kilometers back in order to photograph it, before we walked on to the Big Mertens Falls.

At the top of the falls we had our lunch and a swim before taking the Sling Air Mudcrab helicopter flight back to the information bay, via the JCR and Lower Mitchell Falls. This let us see the Mitchell River winding its way to the sea in the Cambridge Gulf near Wyndham. Most people we talked to took the helicopter up and walked back, but we would highly recommend this way of doing it as it means the glorious view and easy trip back is saved for last.


We liked the King Edward River Campsite and we stayed an extra day here. We did a walk to their tiny waterfall, swam in the plunge pool and showered in the waterfall. This was a splendiferous end to a lovely camp.

Gibb River Rd - Drysdale Station – 8 to 9 August 2010

From Mt Elizabeth we drove to Drysdale River Station, a fully working Station. This is a very efficient and impressive operation, with an attached camp ground, shop,[with minimal but adequate food to purchase] fuel pumps and cafe. The cafe’s specialty is the Kimberley Hamburger [with the lot!] which makes a great lunch.

As we like to support these local stations, we also had dinner there.
Dinner is the same meal as is served to the Station hands, which gives the opportunity to talk to the locals [including the truck drivers] around the bar before dinner. This is a great place to pick up local information on road conditions and hear the local gossip. Stations like this one remind us of medieval castles, totally self sufficient communities.
This is the Gibb river crossing on the road to Drysdale Station.

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.

Gibb River Rd - Mornington Wilderness – 5 to 7 August 2010

From Bell Gorge we drove back to the Gibb River Road, and then after a short distance took the turn off to to Mornington Wilderness Sanctuary.
The Sanctuary is owned and run by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, and part of the property has been destocked to provide a habitat for the endangered Gouldian Finch. It is a haven for many other bird species.

We swam in Cadjeput Water Hole and went out to Sir John Gorge at sunset. We had a dinner at Redtails Restaurant in the lodge; it is a set menu.
The next day we canoed up Dimond Gorge.

 


We did the bird walk at Mornington at 6.00a.m.

After breakfast in the lodge we said goodbye to Mornington Wilderness, a very special place.

Gibb River Rd – Lennard River Gorge, Bell Gorge – 4 to 5 August 2010

We left Mt Hart and rejoined the Gibb River Road, stopping to explore the Lennard River Gorge.
We then continued to the Silent Grove National Park, set up the van and drove the short distance to Bell Gorge, where we enjoyed a swim in a beautiful pool, near a magnificent waterfall.
 


Leaving Silent Grove in the morning we crossed Bell Creek on our way back to the Gibb River Road, and the Imintji Store, a very well run roadhouse with a wide range of groceries, fruit and homemade pies.  The tables and chairs were of solid rock.  Fred Flinstone is alive and well in the Kimberly's!
 
 

Gibb River Rd - Mt Hart Wilderness – 3 to 4 August 2010

We drove on to Mt. Hart Wilderness Lodge managed by Taffy Abbott and Kim in partnership with the Department of Environment and Conservation.
Mt. Hart has the lodge for visitors who fly or drive in and an attached camp ground away from the homestead on the Barker River. This is a good camp spot. Free of saltwater crocodiles the river is a great place to swim at the end of the day.
We walked up Annie Creek Gorge in the afternoon.

Although the resort dining room is for lodge visitors, if there are spaces available for meals these are listed in the campground laundry. We booked dinner by putting our names on the list at the laundry before 3.00PM. Dinner was an excellent three course buffet meal for $35, with the evening’s cook being the owner Taffy. The meal started with an unusual grace: “For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful I didn't mess it up.”
After dinner we remained at the bar and paid to use the satellite internet, our last connection for a while. Mt. Hart Station was operational from 1914 to 1987 and had a succession of highly eccentric owners, none of whom appeared to have made a cent from the operations. We liked the sign in the bar, “Drive Carefully – We have two Cemeteries – No Hospitals.”
The King Leopold Conservation Park has some unique geological landforms and is a very stable landmass remaining more or less unchanged since it arose from the ancestral glop. It was declassified as a farming lease in 2000 and gazetted as the King Leopold Conservation Park, with Mt. Hart excised as a lease from the Park.