Kununurra to Mount Barnett Roadhouse

Friday 22^nd June. Left the showground at 8am and headed down to get the new tyres on the van.  We then went and got fuel and were on our way by 9am.  Stopped at the intersection to let the tyres down and then continued on our way.  I was driving :D as Darryl’s knee was still painful.

The Gibb River Road is one of the last true Aussie outback adventures.  It was originally created in the 1960’s to transport cattle from outlying stations to the ports of Derby and Wyndham and travels 660kms through the Central Kimberley Plateau from King Sound in Derby to the Cambridge Gulf in Wyndham. With spectacular scenery and many gorges, waterfalls and rivers along its length; road conditions vary from bitumen to natural rocky earth, suitable for high-clearance four-wheel drive vehicles only.

 the start of the Gibb River Road

We poked along at about 40 - 60km per hour and there were some real idiots passing us doing great speeds. [We were left to slow down to wait for their dust cloud to clear]  We crossed the Pentecost River – the ?biggest crossing on the road and the most spectacular with the Cockburn range in the background - and I left Darryl there whilst I drove back across and turned around so that he could get our photo as I came back again :)

dropped Darryl off - now to go back :)

Crossing the Pentecost with the Cockburn range in the background

that was fun - can we do it again????!!!!

We then continued on for another 9km and pulled into the Home Valley Station.  Far out!!!!! Expensive.  $16 per person PLUS $16 for power and Darryl wanted to make sure everything is charged before we head off from here..... We were going to have dinner in their restaurant but the prices here were excessive too so we decided to have our own steak and vegies J

 the entrance to Home Valeey Station

 The view from the driveway

 Sunset on the Cockburn Range

We were surprised when we opened the van to find everything on the floor from Darryl's seat.  Some of the tins had fallen out of the top cupboards and so had Darryl's medicine box....  Three of the windows had come open on the dirt road and there was dirt inside :( I had noticed the one on the driver’s side on the beginning of the road and we taped it shut - but it was not until we got to HV8 that I found the others open...  We also found that one of the shelves in the door of the fridge had broken.  Bloomin’ heck – what next……

I felt really weary and after lunch I lay down and slept for 2 hours.  We then went for a walk around the camp grounds and let Buster stretch his legs.

I am concerned for Buster - he doesn't seem to be drinking enough water and he hasn't eaten his dinner for the past 2 nights.  He won't even accept any treats.......

Saturday 23^rd June.  We were up and on our way by 8.30am.  We continued on our way and I was driving again.  Darryl's leg is slowly improving with the rest.  We made it to Ellenbrae Homestead 7XL by 10.30am so called in for fresh scones with jam and cream - yummo - so light and tasty.  Saw a green snake climbing down (slithering) the boab tree whilst here :)

 can you see it going across the tree?????

The one thing that we have noticed is that there aren't as many Boab trees visible along the roads - don't know why but they just aren't there.  Continued on our way with Darryl driving.  We were going to stop at Russ Creek for the rest of the day - but could not find the rest areas that were mentioned in the book :( 
So we continued on to the intersection of the Kalumburu road and stopped for lunch.  We hit the corrugations about 20km after Ellenbrae Homestead and they didn't ease up until just before we reached Hann River - approx. 100km.......

can you see the corrugations??

It was a good sized area and would have been ok to stop for the night but it is designated a day stop (mind you there was evidence of people having campfires) and so we continued on our way and crossed the Hann River.  It was here that we turned around again and decided to pull in for the night.  It was 3.30pm and we were all getting tired.  Mind you there was plenty of traffic both east and west before sunset.

 Hann River crossing - the deepest so far.

Buster finally ate dinner tonight but I think it was because I put my leftover pasta and sauce in with his meat loaf and he has drunk quite a lot of water today.  We will have to keep him close as there are signs on trees saying that '1080 Baits have been laid' to try and kill the wild dogs in the area.

Sunday 24^th June. Today we left the Hann River stop and headed for Mount Barnett.   After about 1/2 hour we came across the LIFE guys and pulled up and gave them a drink and had a chat and then agreed to meet them at Mount Barnett.  We arrived and had to wait about an hour for the boys to arrive.  When they did it was to be told that Tommy's bike rack had broken the day before and some 'random tourist' had said that he would take it to Barnett River Gorge and they could fix the bike there.  When the boys arrived at the Gorge they were unable to find the pannier bags, his sleeping bag and his tent OR the flag that was to indicate where it was stashed.......

The boys searched the gorge area and could not find anything.  So Markus gave Tommy his sleeping bag and then Markus froze during the night.  It got down to 1 degree and the poor chap was awake from 2 am as he was SOOO Cold.

They then thought that they would find it at the Roadhouse but when they arrived there - there was no equipment for them J  They were trying to contact the tourist on his mobile and contacted nearby places to see if the gear had been left there - all to no avail.  As we were having lunch a chap came over with the flag that was the indicator for where the gear was.  He said he found it at the gorge the day before and thought the boys had lost it so picked it up to return to them when he saw them.  So now they knew the gear was to be at the gorge, Darryl drove Nick back to the turnoff to the gorge and Nick then cycled in to retrieve the gear [the lads advised Darryl not to take the car or van in as sometimes there was nearly a metre difference in the road level from side to side].  When he got there, there were lots of people about and he explained the situation and everyone got in and helped him scour the gorge for about 2 hours before they decided to give up.  You could see the spot where the gear had been put but it wasn't there.  Darryl and a very unhappy Nick returned to Mount Barnett Roadhouse to give Tommy the bad news.

Tommy had been given the lend of another sleeping bag by the owners of a B+B in Perth and all they ask is that the boys return it to them when they arrive and then they will also shout them a night at the B+B.

We left the boys at the Roadhouse at 4.45pm and headed out of town to find a camp for the night.  We found one at a lookout over the Phillips range just as the sun finally went down and settled in for the night.  It has turned quite cool and so we had soup and bread for dinner.  Buster again did not eat his dinner.  I did manage to get him to eats some liver treats and a schmackos – but that isn’t enough to keep him healthy!!!!!