Broome, East Kimberley via the Gibb River Road
Hey guys, heading North next month to tick off the Gibb and have a look around the East Kimberley. Been keen to do this trip for a while and finally a windows opened up with the July uni break for me and 2 mates to head up there. Will be taking a troopy and tinny. Fishing will probably play second fiddle to exploring and 4wding but we'd love to get into some good fish while up there. Obviously target species involve Barra, Jacks, Salmon, Trevally etc
Plan is to hightail to Karratha in the first week of July and meet up with some other mates at 40 mile for a few nights. From there we'll head to Broome for a couple of days. Hoping to put the tinny in for a fish in Broome and also have a look at Beagle Bay and Cape Leveque. Will then head to Derby and begin the Gibb River Road. Half way along the Gibb planning on taking the Kalumburu turnoff and heading up to Drysdale and the Kalumburu community. Will need a permit up here but seems pretty straight forward to get. Back on the Gibb and we'll make our way to Wyndham and Kununurra. Not the best time of year but hopefully some Ord River barra will play the game. After this will get onto the Great Northern Hway and head back towards Broome Via Halls Creek and Fitzroy. Will have a look around Fitzroy and the surrounding gorges for a couple of nights. Eventually make it back to Broome and begin the trip back to Perth. Eyeing off a Karajini stopoff on the way back to round off the trip.
We've given ourselves 4 and a half weeks up there so we can set up some solid camps and have a good look around.
Going to be school holidays so will be interesting to see how busy the Gibb gets and how the condition of the road holds up. We reckon we're pretty prepared for the drive in terms of fuel, spares, bearings etc but less sure about the fishing and camping along the way. If you've done the Gibb before any advice on campsites you've stayed at or some solid fishing options would be great.
Any other advice on places you'd reccomend, essentials we might not have thought of, good ramps, avoiding crocs etc would also be much appreciated.
Cheers 
clayd
Posts: 126
Date Joined: 07/12/15
Gibb
Did the Gibb last year. My recommendations:
1. Get the Hema maps app for your phone/iPad. Great way of tracking where you're going. We got lost along a side track once, checked Hema and found we'd travelled about 5km too far, and got out of there and back on the right track without any dramas.
2. Ensure you book in for a meal at Home Valley station. Over the holidays they're totally booked out 2 - 3 days in advance, so phone up and book. Same goes for El Questro. Also check which nights they have their restuarant and special meal nights on.
3. I'm probably a little soft, but booking powered sites where you can (Home Valley and El Questro) makes life so much simpler.
4. Take a puncture repair kit and know how to use it. We did 2 rear tyres at the same time. Both spares gone! Also meant the rear diff was sitting so low the stock car jack wouldn't fit under, so next time, i'd take a trolley jack which sits lower and is quicker to use in the heat.
5. Go easy. Seemed like every second person we spoke to had been at the scene of an accident, one of them a fatality and multiple injuries. Mostly people going too fast on the corrugated roads into a corner. The Kalumburu road seemed to be the worst.
6. Watch for croc's - assume they're anywhere there is water. Keeps arms inside your tinny at all times.
7. If you're in the public campsites by 2pm, you'll generally get an ok spot under a tree.
8. Assuming you'll take an Engel? We had the protection cover over ours which is grey and absorbed the heat like noones business. Ended up wrapping the reflective car window shade around it which worked a treat and meant our battery lasted twice as long. We also used the Engel as a freezer and an esky for other stuff. We'd then rotate 2L milk container ice blocks.
9. Side car awning is great for shade during the day
10. Yellow light at night = heaps less insects. We had a really good led light strip that changes from white to yellow.
11. Ensure you've got a Telstra mobile phone. There's partial coverage.
12. Snorkel for your car. Most crossings are fine, but there are some, particularly in El Questro, where they are needed.
Can't really help on the fishing front. I figured it's the wrong time of the year so didn't bother until we got to Darwin.
Awesome trip. It is pretty much impossible to have a bad time. We'll be doing it again in a few years. I reckon going West to East is best direction because you go from really basic camp sites and they slowly get better, so something to look forward to!
moondyne
Posts: 33
Date Joined: 02/03/13
cheers mate! plenty of food
cheers mate! plenty of food for thought there. have an engel but hoping to get hold of a dual compartment fridge/freezer to avoid switching between an esky etc. just had a look at the Hema maps app, will definately download before we head off. some really good tips there bud, thanks again
Silver Fox
Posts: 1097
Date Joined: 19/06/14
Good advice above
I did it last year too... Home Valley is a must me thinks.... Dusty bar and grill is an awesome place for a feed. Take it slow and enjoy yourself . If you're in Kununurra you have to go to Gullivers tavern for lunch. $10 lunches that are the bomb. Powered sites are a good idea ( gives you a chance to charge everything up properly) If you do El Questro Gorge make sure you go all the way to the end.... Don't stop at the caravan sized Boulder keep on chugging till you can go no more... Tunnel Creek has got freshwater snappydactiles in the creek inside the tunnel. I thought the eyes I could see with my torch were big freshwater Prawns... Wrong , wrong wrong. Just don't step on em and you'll be fine. It's all good up there and I want to go back!
My wife understands why I clean my rods n reels in the shower....
Tank
Posts: 358
Date Joined: 12/05/12
enjoy
Yep youre in for a fat time...camp on the river at Home Valley Station powerless and pieceful with your own fire...has toilets there...explore EQ station and chuck a lure in its water holes you will be surprised, I didnt as we thought the place was too commercial so headed bush but my mate did, had a ball...pop through the WA NT border to Zebra Rock mine a gem of a place, awesome Lake Kununarra fishing (BIG CATTIES), evening cruize with free drinks, cheap too...try googling it.
Definitly take either a highlift jack or a smaller bottle jack if you end up sitting on a rim it is real fun trying to jack the 4by up...
We two weeks up therewith two 40L fridges, one freezer one fridge and a thumper, charged the Thumper while driving through anderson plug, worked a treat. Froze some 600ml water overnight for the day esky little 20L one. As they thawed they were the drinking water.
O and join "Troopcarriers of Australia" FB page there done my recruiting for the week.
Have fun, were doing Kalumburu this July but now put off for 12 months....
Madmerv
Posts: 672
Date Joined: 24/01/15
Gibb
Did the trip with 2 families a couple of years ago.
Fishing is freshwater only until you get to Kalumburu, or just before, and at that time of year, unless there has been a good rain, the rivers will be lowish. Take your bream outfit to go for some sport fishing of the little ones around. Have a net also for the cheribin. Mmmm freshwater prawns.
The Kalumburu road was the worst road we went on, road not track, and it was closed off at the mitchell falls turnoff. We were there at the start of the season march/april.
After the Kalumburu road you start to get into the bigger river areas with a 100% chance of there being SW crocks in the water. This is the best Barra area and from what i saw having a net for livies is the best way to tempt them when it is colder and shut down a bit. I tossed and lost a stack of barra lures in the mangroves, due to slightly off casts while walking banks (i was not getting in to retrieve), and had no sucess but ended up with a couple of barra using livies.
Fantastic trip that took us 4 weeks with us wishing we had an extra 4 so we could cover all the areas we missed.
Had 2 x 60L engels, 1 on freeze that we had prepacked, vacpacked meals stored in. Much better after a day of exploring to pull out a pack of curry/spag boll, boil some rice/pasta, and eat. Beats the shit out of 1 hour prep/cook time after walking 10K to check out a waterfall etc. Had saucees frozen for the fresh fish caught and all frozen meals were stacked with vegies as getting things fresh up there is bloody expensive.
We found the drive times between camp spots generally didnt give enough time to fully charge up our batteries. You would think that the area is huge so driving would be enough but there are so many great spots that generally it was only a couple of hours to get to the next one. The 1Kva Yammy was worth it's weight in gold to top up both families batteries while we were off exploring the area and keep the freezer/fridges going during the hottest part of the day. Solar is another option but if you have a good camp site then you are under trees. Most camp sites have generator times ie: after 8am so we would set it up with enough fuel to run till 1-2pm start it and go off to explore. When you got back the batteries were fully charged, beers were ice cold. Ahh beer. Not many places sell takeaway beer due to the community rules so budget accordingly. Work out your average cans per day, double it and you should be close.
Hope there was something in that ramble to help you and have a great trip.
Sometimes when the water is quiet, you can hear the fish laughing at you !
clayd
Posts: 126
Date Joined: 07/12/15
Frozen Meals the way to go
Agree with the frozen ready prepared meals, they're the way to go. We did this too. Saves time and space. The mass of frozen stuff in the freezer keeps it colder longer too.
We only had the solar to charge our batteries. Exactly as you said, get a good campsite and it's in the shade and you don't get enough sun to recharge batteries. Other times you're parked in the sun and off exploring in the middle of the day. Freezer is working it's butt off in a losing battle to keep cool.
Wish we had enough room to take some extra beers. We were on rations.
Paj man
Posts: 359
Date Joined: 16/09/12
Did it in 2003
We had 2 spares and used them both so we had to buy a 3rd in El Questro. They were old tryes though - a lot of the time if you're running the correct pressures you'll be ok but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. Especially with tyres.
Fridges are good and so are pretty much everything everyone has said already. I would also include; spare nuts and bolts, cable ties, fencing wire, tape and WD40. Those corrugations can be fun. Wouldn't worry about a snorkel - it was a dry wet season and it's the dry up there at the moment. Trolley jacks are handy but bulky so unless you have a good spot for it, a small bottle or highlift jack are fine (can always dig too haha).
We walked up the river at manning gorge and got some nice sooty grunter - heaps of fun on bream gear. At Kalumburu the locals said there were heaps of queenies and trev's at high tide but we didn't catch any. which was apparently quite rare.
aka Nick
Chinbald
Posts: 315
Date Joined: 21/02/09
Great post and advice
Heading up with the wife and three kids aged 8-11. Will be on the Gibb from mid to end July. Cant wait to get away from this cold. Really good advice above, thanks for the detail. Will be on the road for about 5 weeks total so may run into a few of you over the travel's.
moondyne
Posts: 33
Date Joined: 02/03/13
Enjoy mate. Feel free to have
Enjoy mate. Feel free to have a chinwag if you want - look out for 3 young blokes in a troopy towing a tinny
Woodsy65
Posts: 162
Date Joined: 21/05/15
GRR
We did the Gibb River Road a few years ago in early June and cant recommend it enough. Towed a camper trailer with a stock 100 series cruiser, standard suspension and no snorkel. Never encountered water deep enough that warranted a snorkel although it would have been handy from a "peace of mind" point of view. Never had any tire issues with vehicle or trailer however it was new rubber all round. Good tires are a must I believe regardless of GRR or any long distance journey. Derby Wharf for the some of the best fish n chips you will have. Hahn River crossing for a good camp spot - cross the river (heading east) and look for track on the right (apx. 70 - 80m)and follow track down to the river. Charnley River Station - would pass on this. Drysale River Station - sensational I thought. Nothing to do here except eat, drink and sleep = relax. If you happen to go to Mitchell Falls, go a bit further North to Surveyors Pool. Further north again we spent 3 days at Port Warrender. Great place for a tinnie, but watch out for the geckos! Home Valley Station was very flash camping and ok. Didn't really rate El Questro and was happy to move on.
Ah the memories are flooding back, certainly will do the GRR again one day.
Stevo81
Posts: 1278
Date Joined: 16/04/12
Solid advice there fellas!
Solid advice there fellas! Sounds right up my alley. I'll have to add it to the list
•••••••• Electrical Contractor NOR ••••••••
Deleted
Posts: 6265
Date Joined: 26/04/14
yeah was just thinking my
yeah was just thinking my dream list gets longer and longer
moondyne
Posts: 33
Date Joined: 02/03/13
Cheers legends. unreal
Cheers legends. unreal response, sounds like we'll be vac-sealing plenty of frozen meals for the trip. havent got a generator so will probably cop the powered sites along the way to keep the freezer going. hopefully all goes well and we'll have some photos to put up when we get back
Paj man
Posts: 359
Date Joined: 16/09/12
Vac sealing is the way to go
Vac sealing is the way to go - this is what we did and organises the food and stores it brilliantly.
aka Nick
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1019
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Did the same trip and had 9
Did the same trip and had 9 weeks, felt way short, so plan your trips and do your homework.
You will have a great trip.
If you love your shooting, take your rifle, lost count of the number of feral pigs we knocked over.
NORUN NOFUN
Posts: 1019
Date Joined: 15/08/11
Did the same trip and had 9
Did the same trip and had 9 weeks, felt way short, so plan your trips and do your homework.
You will have a great trip.
If you love your shooting, take your rifle, lost count of the number of feral pigs we knocked over.
frog4364
Posts: 11
Date Joined: 17/08/10
Trip
Mitchell Falls...Walk in...Chopper out...Bit expensive for the chopper but hey ya only live once...:-)
Paj man
Posts: 359
Date Joined: 16/09/12
Did this one too
Best experience ever!
aka Nick