Ellenbrae Station 13/8/15
We drove off direction Ellenbrae Station – famous for the best scones on the Gibb! Our first stop was at the Bindoola Falls. The falls were all dried up (the Kimberleys didn’t get a proper wet season last year either), but there was an impressive drop off into a water hole, made out of mainly square-shaped rocks, enough rock-hopping for Sarah and a little croc sunning itself down there. I’d love to see this scenery with some more water! We’ve also found a little ringtail dragon, which was very friendly and Sarah was nearly able to pat it, before it ran away.
Ellenbrae Station Homestead was a real surprise. Settled in the midst of some lush green gardens was a small café and a young, very friendly couple running it. The scones were fantastic (we went back the next morning for some more) and the atmosphere was very pleasant and relaxed. It seems most people just come for the scones and stay for the night at Home Valley Station or ELQ. Good for us!
The couple is employed to take care of the campsites and station. They live here all year round. During the dry (tourist) season they work 7 days a week for the full 6-7 months and during the wet they often can’t leave because the roads are flooded. They do get a weekly mail plane all year round. It will also bring some fresh food if needed and they may take it for a flight out. But otherwise they are stuck there for most of the wet.
Every 2-3 weeks the man is going shopping in Kununurra – 3.5 hours to get there, then shopping, packing everything neatly in the van and then another 3.5 hours return trip (and for sure the road is not always as smooth as it is right now). They also have to get the ingredients for the scones and all the other supplies for the campground. In July they sold about 2,700 scones (peak tourist season).
They run 2 campgrounds – one is for tour groups and the other for individuals. It’s bush camping at its best, i.e it’s very dry and dusty and camp fires are allowed, but it is probably the cleanest campground in the area. There was a little, very unique toilet block with toilet, shower and bathtub! For hot water you have to put some wood under the donkey boiler, but we are used to do this by now.
We also met another family from Darwin (Mitch, Torri, Jack and Luca) – more playmates for Sarah.
The station itself has about 1,000,000 acres (4,000km2) and approx. 4000 head of cattle. The cattle just run wild and every couple of years they get some contractors in to round them up and transport them to Darwin. The whole process and especially the transport to Darwin is very expensive, so they end up with about $30 - $50 per head.
Overall it was one of the nicest stays we had in a while. Highly recommended!
Gibb River Station 14/8/15
After a long bath for Sarah in the bathtub and some more scones we drove off again. The road was already good, but kept on getting better. Turns out we’re just behind the grader :-)
We stopped at the turnoff to Kalumburu / Drysdale station for lunch. There was one tour bus there when we arrived. And we’ve seen 3 more shortly after. Otherwise there is very little traffic. The tourist season is already slowing down a lot.
We decided not to do Drysdale / Mitchell Plateau / Kalumburu. It is such a long drive (about 800km return) and the road is said to be very rough (even though the grader was on the way to Drysdale now). Also the main attraction – the Mitchell Falls are nearly dry. And we have to leave something to see for when we return ;-)
We stopped at Gibb River Station. It’s an Aboriginal Station / Community with a small shop, a little school and a Diesel bowser. About 30-40 people live here. But most move on when the wet arrives. We filled up the car ($2.05/L) and had a chat to the bloke who ran the shop. They just recently opened the store to the public and are trying to build up the tourism side of things. They have a small truck and drive it about every fortnight to Derby to get supplies. It’s a day to get there, 2 days shopping and a day back. A supply truck would cost them $5,000 just in transport cost!
Another 20km on near perfect road and we found a little free camp just before the Hann River crossing. Fantastic! Just us, a lonely cow, the birds and the stars in the evening.
Our Hann River camp and the Gibb River before Hann River
Our caravan battery didn't charge properly on this last drive leg, so I went in search of the problem. After some reading in the manual and running around the car and van with a multimeter in hand for a while I figured out that the fuse for the Anderson Plug has shorted. After a long search trough all my spare parts (Where did I put those fuses??) I found a replacement - all good now.
Manning Gorge 15/8/15
The next day we drove a short distance to the Barnett River Gorge. We towed the caravan about 5km in on a very bumpy road. We decided to park car and van and walk the remaining distance. It was a bit too long for Sarah, so after a short walk she and mum returned to the car. I went in search of the gorge, but could only find some camp spots and wasn’t sure where to search for the water hole. On my return to the car Sarah had found the nicer spot at a little creek just 50m away and was trying to catch some fish…
Sarah fishing at Barnett River Gorge
Next stop was at the Mount Barnett Roadhouse. We had some lunch (bacon and egg roll) and bought some fresh fruit as well as the camping permit for Manning Gorge campground. It’s about 7km of rough road from the Roadhouse and provides basic bush camping, very dusty, old amenities and a generator for the water pump running from 6am to 9pm.
But why everyone likes it, is because of the fantastic swimming opportunity with a short white beach, green trees and a little boat to cross the water. On the other side is the start of the Manning Gorge walking track.
We left camp at 8am to do the walk to the Manning Gorge (2.5km), but after about 1.5km decided to have a snack and then return to the camp as it would have been on the limits of Sarah’s ability and I had no intention to carry her back 2.5km in the midday sun. However Sarah was fine all the way back leading the way.
While Sarah had another swim and boat ride, I got the caravan ready and Regine drove us back to the roadhouse (first time off road with the caravan) to fill up petrol and buy some milk. On my normal check around the van I’ve notice one wheel on the van was flat. A big nail stuck in the rubber. As the roadhouse doesn’t do tyre repairs we changed the wheel over and rewarded ourselves with ice cream and mango smoothie to get rid of the dust in our throats.
Next stop was Galvin Gorge. We reached the swimming hole after 15 minutes easy walking. Sarah and I had a bit of a cool down (the water is always very refreshing in those gorges).
A short drive later we found – as told by the roadhouse people - the bush mechanics “Over The Range tyre and mechanical”. It was Sunday afternoon, the 3 guys were watching the footy in their open air workshop, a beer in the hands. They more than willingly fixed our little problem and after a happy chat, beautiful pictures of the region in the wet, ‘high fives’ between the guys and our bare feet “bush girl” - as they called her - (who was watching and commenting the whole process) and $65 later we all waved bye-bye again. What an idyllic place to live a happy and simple live! They also recommended a free camp just a few km further and we happily parked there for the night. It’s a big, level, field with gravel / sand - for once no dust! ;-) There was a fire pit and the wood already sitting next to it, so we lit the fire and had some damper on a stick for tea.
