Thread: Gibb River Road advice

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Originally Posted by 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

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). going to hire a camper trailer for the trip altho might just tent it see how we go

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