Y'all, I am behind schedule with this. You know it. I know it. We're all on the same page. But I've gotta finish the posts because the whole point of this blog is, theoretically, to remember my dang travels! So here goes.
When last we discussed my Gibb River Road trip, we were at Mornington Station. Jess had nearly lost the plot when her car key broke and the immobilizer fell out in the WORST place on the trip for that to have happened. We got it sorted out. Saturday morning we had a drive day to get to Manning Gorge, so we scooted along to get there. By that point in the trip we were getting pretty tired, so we didn't do much of anything that first night. I had some noodles and went to bed early with my book.
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| Leaving Mornington Station |
The next morning poor Jess was struck with more bad luck. She has a dodgy back (probably from years of hospitality work) and sees a chiropractor regularly. Not so on the Gibb. So her back chose that day to act up and leave her in bed resting for the day. Oceane, Gaia and I & Mia and Andrew went on separate hikes into Manning Gorge to enjoy the waterfall, nap on the river bed, and generally laze about for a few hours. I was so busy enjoying the water (and jumping from the waterfall) that I forgot to take photos. Whoops. Trust me, it was beautiful. When we got back, Mia and I went on a little driving mission to collect firewood from outside the campground area. We got ice creams at the general store, cooked a little dinner, and I went to be early again. All that travel was catching up to me!
Monday morning when we left Manning Gorge, we backtracked along the Gibb a few miles to check out Galvan's Gorge. We hadn't had the energy to check it out on the way into Manning, but had heard it's beautiful (and also holds the distinction of being the closest gorge in relation to the actual Gibb River Road!). We popped along and it ended up being one of my favorite stops along the way. It's a beautiful little hike along a creek to a tiny pool with a beautiful waterfall and a rope swing. And we had it all to ourselves!
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| Galvan's Gorge waterfall |
Our stop for the evening was meant to be Drysdale Station, but Jess' notes said we'd have cell service if we called into the Gibb River Station along the way. There was an art gallery and tiny grocery store there, plus this fine member of the welcoming committee:
It was really good to have an opportunity to check in with parents after a week of no cell service, but I was quite happy to send that message and then turn my phone right back off; being off-line was just too wonderful. The guy running the grocery store was lovely and told me a few yarns while the others did their phone things for a while. After some lunch and a rest we carried on to Drysdale Station for the night.
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| Why rush? |
Drysdale was really just a stopover on the way up north to Mitchell Falls, but we stopped at Munurru, the King Edward River, along the way. There's some really gorgeous rock art there, and we wanted to see it!
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| Munurru Falls |
We went for a little swim in the river before heading north toward the Mitchell Falls. We had heard that the road conditions were about the worst we could encounter on our entire road trip. Only the Bungle Bungles road (which we would see in a week or so) was considered a contender for being a more corrugated, rough stretch of 4WD track. So after our little swim, we braced ourselves and began the drive. It was pretty hairy, but we were making good time heading north. And then some guy traveling south flagged us down. There was a bush fire up ahead, he said, and they were telling people they might want to leave the area. After a brief discussion among the three cars, we decided to carry on. We were so close! And the road had been so bad! We could practically see the falls. So away we went.
Until we got to 6kms from the campground and we saw the open flames at the side of the road. We stopped to conference again and while we were are it, a park ranger, leading a trail of cars like ducklings, approached. She said the campground would remain open but we weren't allowed to leave it until the fire had passed. Which could be in 6 hours or could be in 6 days. So around we turned, hopping into the duckling line up, and spent two hours going back down the worst stretch of road I've ever driven. It was pretty hectic. By the time we made it down to the Munurru Campground, Jess' car had sprung a major leak from one of her car seals and about all we could manage was to crack a beer, eat some noodles for dinner, and head to bed. Mitchell Falls fail.
The only exciting thing that happened the next day was that Tessie got the first and only flat tire of our road trip. She didn't even do it in dramatic fashion, just got a little puncture with a slow leak that we found when we stopped anyway to get fuel. A really nice mechanic who was traveling the Gibb saw us mucking about with my little car jack and brought over his big industrial one that had the car up off the ground in a jiff, he had one of those gun things that remove the nuts without having to deal with wrenches and sweat and tears, and the whole thing was replaced in about 3 minutes (once he joined the fray). All quite anti-climactic, really. But Tessie was outfitted with her new shoe, we were able to plug the old tire with a kit I'd brought along (good as new!), and other than that we spent the day driving and then stopping at a little free campsite along the Gibb River for swims, some cold beers, and a generally less exciting day than the previous one.
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| Gaia finding the leak, Mia supervising |
The next day was an important one, not because of the natural splendor (though there was much to appreciate) or because of strife (though I'm sure we had some of that, too), but because it was Scone Day. That Thursday, you see, we passed Ellenbrae Station, known throughout the state as serving some of the best scones money can buy.
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| Gaia prefers the Cream Then Jam school of scone eating... |
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| ... while Jess follows the Jam Then Cream technique |
Can I just tell you that having some hot-from-the-oven scones in a delightful little garden oasis after a long few days of dirt roads and dust everywhere was just what the doctor ordered? Seriously wonderful. So it was kind of hard to get back on the road to carry on. We were all a little bit in need of a break from each other by this point, and we were all still pretty wrecked from the last few days of BIG drives (including the Mitchell Falls Fiasco), so our plans to carry on with another huge drive day were seeming less and less likely. We decided we'd pop into Home Valley Station, just down the road a piece, to check out the scene and make a longer term plan for the evening. Away we went!
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| A Kapok Tree alongside the Cockburn Range |
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| Gaia: Gate Girl |
We arrived a few hours later and almost immediately felt some culture shock. Not only was there a swimming pool (with chlorine!), but the shop had aircon, there was a little cafe serving all variety of cakes and snacks, and the whole lawn was manicured to look like a lush resort. We were all pretty tired so we sat in the cafe arguing about how much further we should drive that day. Things were a little tense. We hadn't eaten since the scones, it was the hottest day we'd yet encountered on the road (easily 38C/100F) One of the girls suggested we'd proceed better if we weren't all hot and hangry so some of them went to fetch lunch things from the cars and I went to ask the front desk folks how much we'd need to pay for a day entry into the pool. They smiled warmly at me and said there was no fee, we were free to use the pool, flush toilets, and air conditioned seating as long as we'd like. I nearly wept. So lunch fixings were brought into the pool area, swims were had, and naps were taken under the branches of giant, lovely trees.
After refreshing ourselves we decided that if the universe was smiling upon us and there was availability in the campsite, we'd happily pay to stay for the night. If not, we would carry on with the trek towards the Pentecost River and some of the free camp sites we'd heard about there. Fortune smiled. There was a bushfire near the free sites and Home Valley had availability, so we popped into our cars to drive the ten minutes down the station road to the camp grounds overlooking the river. And man, what views.
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| Views of the Pentecost River from our swags |
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| Dusk over the Pentecost River & Cockburn Range |
After the previous few days of free camping alongside rivers it was such luxury to have running water showers, Gaia's stir fry dinner, and a night's sleep that didn't come after a tumultuous day's drive. We were near the end of the actual Gibb River Road, but we still had another week of adventuring to do. Rest was good.
