DAY 85 - GIBB RIVER ROAD

23 May 2008

DAY 85 Pilbara – Kimberley Trip

GIBB RIVER ROAD
EL QUESTRO to NORTH CREEK REST AREA

Well we are finally on our way to do the Gibb. Before leaving El Questro we went for a final dip in Zebedee Springs. We do love this spot.

Driving out of El Questo there were corrugations on corrugations and what vibrations. The El Questro road is bad. Once we turned onto the Gibb the road improved incredibly. All steep sections are bitumen.

The Wyndham side of the road was in great condition all the way to Kalumburu turn off. After Kalumburu turn off the road deteriorated, as there were corrugations, but nothing close to what we had experienced at El Questro.

Initially it was up and down – crest then dip, crest then dip whilst the escarpment on the side had two distinct parallel lines running along it as if someone had cut rectangular blocks of stone and built a wall for as far as the eye could see.

Yellow kapoc flowers

added to the colours surrounding one as we travelled - pale grasses, the greens from the tree canopies of a range of trees including a splattering of ironwood, bloodwood and boabs, pale mauve road surface then changing to a dark reddish brown and back again and the blue sky with distant white clouds. The boabs here have nearly all lost their leaves and the nuts in all their glory decorate the tree branches. As we travelled on the Kapok bush was no longer to be seen but there were many flowering woollybutt trees.

Soon we reached the mighty Pentecost River crossing.

The water crossing was a bit of anticlimax having done the Chamberlain River crossing yesterday. There was a lovely wake from the vehicle as we crossed it.

The breaks squeaked on steep slopes from the dust. The dust was bad. Luckily for us we met no road trains. From my perspective there was very little traffic but from hubby’s perspective there was an incredible amount of traffic for a road that is considered one of the great 4WD outback tracks that require lots of preparation and is considered to be in a remote area. We felt more remote around Mt Augustus and the Kennedy Ranges earlier on our trip.

The views from Lookout Cockburn Range were spectacular. You could see the twin rivers – Durack and Pentecost.

We went over Rollies Jump Up and the crossed the Durack River that was also flowing.

The scenery changes as the countryside became much more rocky and the distant ranges had disappeared. Termite mounds blended win with the rocks.

On one side of the road the ground has been burnt whilst the other side is lush and green. Then at the sign 300m to Kalumburu turn off the corrugations were back. We sat in the rest area at this turn off for about half an hour debating whether to go to Drysdale and risk going to Mitchell Falls even though that part of the road is still closed. The Kalumburu Road is still only open to Drysdale Station according to the notice at the junction. Since leaving Kununurra the steering block has been loosing oil. We’ve experienced this problem before when we first got the Oka and it had been fixed. Anyway, it can be managed. We had decided to replace the steering block when we get back in order to get a smaller turning circle. In the meantime Hubby has been topping it up daily with oil and has rigged up a container to catch the oil he is loosing in order to monitor it. Then he remembered that we had Stop Leak and he has put that in. It will take a bit of time to see whether it will do the trick. In the meantime a decision was made not to risk it over a road that is technically still closed. Something left to do for when we return here some time in years to come.

Once that decision was made we had to decide where to spend the night. We travelled on and there were cattle grazing in areas rejuvenating from recent burn offs. The scenery on the other side of Kalumburu Road was also subtly different. We’ve stopped at a lovely rest area called North Creek. The creek has a natural stone wall on one side. Soon after we arrived another young couple arrived. They have just been up to Cape York. We soon found we had acquaintances in common through skiing as he had worked at Guthega Pub and we knew many of the same people. What a small world.

As we were having dinner tonight a car came through. Couldn’t believe it as it was so late.