The Gibb River Road: A short trip - A fantastic experience

by Sarah & Gerard
(Utrecht, The Netherlands)

We have recently travelled along the Gibb from Broome to Kununurra and on to Darwin, as part of a larger trip through Australia. This website was so valuable to us, as was the Kimberley Travel Guide. (A household name for any Gibb driver, the Lonely Planet for instance only dedicates half a page to the Gibb!)

So thanks so much for your help. I'll share our experiences for the benefit en joy of all.

We started in Broome the 23rd of August 2010, we picked up the 4WD Britz and stocked up on supplies and lots of water. Waking up the next day with a flat tyre provided us with the opportunity to practice for future ones, which turned out useful.

We had only 5 or 6 days for the Gibb River Road and 3 more to visit the Bungle Bungle. We had decided upfront to skip the places far of the main road, such as Mitchell Plateau and Mornington Wilderness Camp. We were short on time, but we still got to enjoy many beautiful places.

Since all main sites are well documented in the Guide and other itineraries, I'll stick to our personal highlights.

• Tunnel Creek: Fun!!
• Lennard Gorge, a beautiful gorge I would recommend to anyone.
• Bell's Gorge, we had the place to ourselves for a well deserved swim.
• Elisabeth Station. A perfect place for an evening in the company of wallabies and horses, really special.
• Homevalley Station. Please, go for the bush camp here. The 'normal' camp was extremely crowded, but the bush camp was empty with spectacular views of the Cockburn Range.
• El Questro Gorge, really beautiful and totally different from the other gorges we already visited. El Questro is also a really good place to do some 4WD-ing. Since the Gibb consisted of mainly corrugations when we were there, we really enjoyed the steep and sandy tracks ELQ has to offer.
• Then on to the Bungle Bungle. The drive in was 'bumpy' but with lovely views. We visited all the main attractions in two days. The Domes being the most extraordinary and the Mini Palms being the most surprising. It is true that the Bungle Bungle is nothing like we had seen before.

All in all, the small week we had ended up being the most impressive of our entire trip. The roads and camp sites were much better than expected but there were not many tourists, so we could really appreciate the remote and vast beauty of this place.

Even if you don't have much time, it is still worth the trip. We definitely intend to come back.