Gibb River Road advice

[Sparksdisco]

since im up in the pilbra i am going to do the gib river road some time next year.

I plan to spent around 2 weeks to do it. (Is this enough time to do it?)

Plan on taking my diesel D1 which has 2 inch lift bullbar and spotlights running 225/75/16 cooper ATRs. (do i need bigger or mud terrain?)

Plan on doing it in around april next year. (Is this a good time to go?) dont mind a bit of heat or a bit of rain but not torential rain.

going with the wife and baby aprox 1 year old when going. (any advice on traveling with baby?)

Not planing on going with anyone (but would love some company from some landy people (if you had a D1 or even a 300tdi it woud be even better;););).


just getting a feel on what we will do and where are the "GOOD" spots are. also thinking on starting from broome and doing the gib river road then comming back on the highway.

Anyway any comments or anyone wanting to come on this adventure or catch up anywere along the way would be great.:):)

also can you carry beer along the journey or is it dry in some places.
Also will you be likey to be hassled by the "locals" or is it ok

anyway

Cheers

Sparks

[PhilipA]

Two weeks is plenty .
Tyres-No I did it on BFG Long Trails 205x16 towing a camper.

April may be early . It would depend on the wet. One of the Kununurra Kids can answer better. I did it July and there was still some water in the pools.

Advice with Baby? You better take a papoose as nearly every gorge is hard walking, and you will have to take lots and LOTS of water. You will have to stock up in Broome with baby necessities as Mt barnett is just about the only shop along the way..

You have to carry lots of beer as you cannot buy any anywhere along the road. It was galling to me to be out of beer at Mt Barnett and have a group of young "locals" rock up with a slab of VB.

No I don't think you will be hassled by the "locals" unless you consider $30 a day for a campground with no hot showers hassling.
Good spots/
Each gorge is different . Emma Gorge is tops but crowded as are all the El Questro attractions. Home Valley is worth a visit. Mitchell Falls a must, Mt Elizabeth station and the "hard" gorge, Manning Gorge.
Get Ron Moon's book
Regards Philip A

[midal]

If you've got a young baby you may wish to leave it until May-June (cooler season)....also for the sake of any late rains. It's alright to say you don't mind a little rain, but it doesn't take much to make the going either very hard or impossible. They usually grade, or start to grade, the road after the wet season and after a few semis have been through the mud it really needs it so may be a bit rough in places. Locals won't bother you, but if you divert and head up the Kalumburu road that may be a different story, spoken to a few people that have had some "incidents"....most of the locals are good folks and no problems, usual story of a few making it bad for all.
One little trick was to stop tourists on the Kalumburu road and tell them they had to pay a "toll" to travel any further. All BS of course but some of the elderly tourist folks were quite intimidated. Don't know if it's still happening.
Station folks are generally helpful in any emergency but they object to being taken for granted. A few stations you can camp on, some tourist accom available but you will be expected to pay. Same with fuel, it's there (at a price) but bear in mind that it's the station stock also.
Some great country up there, great camping and wonderful photo opportunities.....make sure your vehicle is in good shape and reliable, no spare parts dealers there for sure.

Cheers
Mick

[LandyAndy]

After the wet finishes is a good time to travel the Gibb.Countryside will still be green and plenty of water flowing.
The road is graded towards the end on the wet.Being warm still will give you the chance of catching a Barra if you are that way inclined.Also try get some Cherabin,they are a freshwater prawn,throw net and pellets is one way they are caught.
ENJOY
Andrew

[BigJon]

Disco will do it easily. I did the GRR about 8 years ago in a Kingswood ute...

[LandyAndy]

And its got more bitumen,from memory my Derby mate said up to the Gorges turnoff and more to come.There is a diamond mine out there subsidising the sealing of the road.
Andrew

[vnx205]

When I did the Gibb River Road ten years ago, the road was closed until about the start of May. My brother who had lived in Darwin for about thirty years assured us that if we aimed to start along the road on 1sy May, we would be right, but that year, there was a late cyclone and the road was still closed at the start of May. A late cyclone could delay you.

However one advantage of the late opening was that we were almost the first at the campsites, so they were not dusty or crowded and the fall all had more water than any of the photos I had seen on calendars and postcards.

I'm sure I read somewhere that if you do the trip from west to east, you will see some of the best views in your rear vision mirror. It might be worth investigating whether you should reverse your direction.

I know that I read that if you only see one gorge on the Gibb, you should see Bell's Gorge. I am inclined to agree.

EDIT: You don't need anything special by way of suspension and tyres. I did it is a bog standard Series III LWB with the 4 cyl petrol motor and 750x16 retreads.

[Sparksdisco]

After the wet finishes is a good time to travel the Gibb.Countryside will still be green and plenty of water flowing.
The road is graded towards the end on the wet.Being warm still will give you the chance of catching a Barra if you are that way inclined.Also try get some Cherabin,they are a freshwater prawn,throw net and pellets is one way they are caught.
ENJOY
Andrew

Yea thaught it would be good just after the wet as gorges have flushed out and are still full and a little less dust. Is it REALY busy at that time with tourests as im not to fond of noisy generators and ****ed idiots. (alto i dont mind a drink myself:D:D:D). going to hire a camper trailer for the trip altho might just tent it see how we go

[LandyAndy]

As far as I know the main tourist run is late may till late august,basicaly when its cold anywhere south in Australia.
Mate in Derby tells me easter is about the end of reliable Barra fishing up there.
Go the camper trailer,too crowded in a disco with the 3 of you!!!!
Andrew

[Ean Austral]

Gday Sparks, Did most of the gibb last july.. was very busy, but did it easily enough..
Tyre's are the main, would take 2 spares, and drive to conditions, seen some real idiots doing 100km/h not worried about the people coming the other way.

Do the camper trailer, 80% of people tow them now, and Drysdale river station will let you leave it there whilst you do mitchell falls...this is a must, but be careful in april as the water was up last year in July, but they did have record rains..Alot of suspension damage was done due to corrigations..

Most stations do camping, but I will take a generater next time as the un-powered camping is far better than the camp grounds with powered sites, and less of the crowding...

I never did the Derby end but was told there is alot of bitumen now..

Never had any probs with the locals even in kalumbaru, and been there about 4 times over the last 15 years, but its the idiot travellers that you need to worry about, plenty of stealing was going on.

We took our own amber fluid but Home valley had a great bar, but was a tad expensive as was El questro..
El questro has no powered camping and if you go there see if you can get the private spots as they are the same price per night but are far better and you dont have the crowds...If you dont ask they wont offer..

Just get a map as all the spots are well marked and accessable, just have to watch the late rainfall...Think the trade off will be spectacular waterfalls but will need to do some water crossings to get to them..Maybe late April will be worth a look..

Get on the BOM wbsite and check rainfall for Kalumbaru, this will give you an idea on how things are looking..

You will have a ball..

Cheers Ean

[p38arover]

I did a short section of it in May 2007. The road had been graded and was an easy drive. Keep the speed down. I was in the Disco and stayed at about 80. I was being overtaken by Cruisers towing off-road campers. Many were travelling at well over 100km/h.

Ah, here we are:


<snip>
Also if you need Internet access, there are computers for use at the Derby Tourist Visitor Centre and also at the library.

I was up in Derby a few weeks back (I took a dark red Discovery 1 up there to my daughter who is a nurse at Derby Hospital - but she's on holiday in Vietnam at the moment. She'll be back in Derby in about a week's time).

When I was up there, I took the Discovery out on the Gibb River Rd as far as Windjana Gorge. The road was pretty good. There were some sections that were very corrugated. I kept the speed down to 60-80km/h and had no problems. I passed one rolled Land Cruiser. I was overtaken by many 4WDs doing 100-110km/h. I suspect they are the ones who will damage tyres.

My daughter did it in the Discovery about a week later but only as far as Tunnel Creek then back.

When you get to Imintji Roadhouse (diesel fuel only) stop and and ask for Miriam. She's a Swiss national who lives there with her boyfriend. She'll tell you of good camp sites. Tell her that you were told to ask for her by the fellow who is also married to a Swiss and who has the daughter who is a nurse in Derby (she met me at the bar at the Spinifex Hotel in May).

Just past the turn off to Windjana Grorge, there is a refreshment stop at Lennard River. It looks very basic but do stop and say hello to the chap there. He use a speech generator as he has had throat surgery. The river there is a great place for a swim. (when I stopped there, he knew of me from Miriam)

I had been told to drop my tyre pressures a bit before going onto the GRR to make them less susceptible to cuts from sharp rocks. It was also recommended I carry two spare tyres. I didn't have a second spare at the time but got one for my daughter before she went onto the road.

I was told in Derby that a lot of Miriam's partner's business is fitting tyres to 4WDs. He buys second hand tyres in from Perth ready for the unwary traveller.

Ron

Well, the daughter is no longer a nurse in Derby, she's studying medicine at Uni of New England.