Karijini National Park

After completing the Gibb River Road we headed to Karatha and spent a couple of great nights with our friends Pieter and Phyllis Zeitsman attending their local church. After this it was straight on to Karijini National park. The gorges in Karijini while different from those in the Kimberley were by no means less beautiful and the outstanding rock formations were a sight to behold. These couple of clips give you a window in to the gorges of Karijini.

Gibb River Road in the wet

While we were on the Gibb River road the Kimberley received a very unseasonal downpour which resulted in the closure of the road and even the great northern highway. Oblivious to this (as there is no radio or mobile phone coverage) we headed out of the Gibb River road and this video clip gives you a taste of what you could drive through if you are caught in the Kimberley after some rain.

Bell Gorge was gorgeous

This place was truly spectacular. Hope you enjoy this snippet of one of the highlights of the Gibb River road.

Tunnel Creek and Windjana Gorge.

Check out this video of these two tourist hotspots along the western end of the Gibb River road.

The beautiful flora of the northwest.

Here are some of the flowers found nestling discretely among the rocks up north. The most beautiful in my view is the deep red Sturt's desert pea found growing on alongside the road from Karatha to Karijini.

Wandering through Wunnumurra Gorge.

After Bell Gorge we visited Mt Elisabeth station, and went bush along a very rough and rocky 10 km track which took an hour to traverse. At it’s end however was another wonderfully spectacular gorge, known as Wunnumurra Gorge. Swimming in this gorge would be a wonderful way to finish of a hard week’s work on the station. The gorge also contained some beautifully preserved aboriginal artwork, some of which you can see below. The crystal clear pandanas lined rivers and creeks in the Kimberley set against their backdrop of red cliffs and rock formations are hugely impressive and each new gorge offers a new vista to marvel at and appreciate. I’m so thankful to be able to take it in and enjoy the wonder of this part of God’s good creation.

Return to the Gibb River Road.

After having our car repaired in Broome (an expensive exercise), we set off again for the Gibb River road to complete the section that we missed. We waded through Tunnel Creek (a large and dark limestone cave through which a creek passes), ambled through Windjana Gorge (where we saw our first fresh water crocodiles) and after camping alongside Bell Creek, journeyed into Bell Gorge. As you will see by the photos and video this gorge was certainly one of the most beautiful that we visited on our Kimberley trek. Our journey through the Gibb included many memorable events; one was driving past two large road trains (with three trailers each) bogged in the center of the Gibb River road. One obviously got bogged and the other tried to go around him and got bogged also. Unfortunately we didn’t get a photo of this, but these two rigs ended up closing the Gibb River road to all traffic. Graders had to be sent from Derby to extract them. Another notable near misadventure was the sudden appearance of a huge big black wild boar. It rushed up the side of the road and directly in front of our Prado. I hit the brakes and then watched as it, seeing us, increased it’s speed and with a piggy snort dashed off the other side of the road and within 10 seconds was at least 50 meters away and safely hidden in the bush. I wouldn’t like to be facing one racing toward me on foot that’s for sure.