The tour didn't get off to a glorious start. Nobody on the tour stocked up on alcohol before leaving Broome, and with the next bottle shop or bar being a solid four days away, the result was a much needed, though unwanted, detox. Perhaps it was optimistic to expect a bottle shop in such a remote location, such as the Gibb River Road, but I guess none of us were thinking particularly straight.
The Gibb River Road is a gravel road which stretches for 660 kilometres through the heart of the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. While not nearly as shocking as the roads I encountered in Bolivia last year, the "Gibb" still made for a very bumpy ride and attempting it in anything other than a 4WD is risky business. The most striking characteristic of this particular road is the amount of times it disappears underneath a river, stream or creek. It certainly makes for quite an adventure when driving through water is needed every 20-30 minutes. Indeed during the wet season (November to March) the road is closed as the water levels make it impossible to negotiate safely.
In total we spent 5 days traveling along the Gibb River Road, exploring the stunning scenery the Kimberleys has to offer. First up was a trip to Tunnel Creek, a large, pitch dark cave, filled with very cold water, inhabited by freshwater crocodiles. It was quite impressive, but my enjoyment of this natural phenomenon was heavily restricted due to the insane decision to walk through the caves barefooted. Every step was reminiscent of a very small, but very painful, cactus rubbing against my foot. Walking on sharp, tiny stones is not the best way to spend the afternoon, and after such hardship, I decided that, going forward, a grain of salt would be needed when taking advice from our tour guide, and my flip-flops would not be parting with me again!
After Tunnel Creek, the remainder of the first 5 days was spent visiting various gorges, which being brutally honest, got extremely repetitive. Don't get me wrong, most of them were extremely picturesque, but when you've been to 16 gorges over the space of a 21 day trip, you start to lose a bit of interest after awhile. It really is a sign that you are all gorged out when you start providing a critical analysis of each individual gorge visited. Having said all that, some of the gorges we witnessed were absolutely stunning, and thankfully didn't involve as much scuppering over cliff-edge rocks, like in Karijini National Park on my previous trip. The most memorable were Bell Gorge, Manning Gorge, and Emma Gorge. In addition to this gorge-fest, we got to see some Aboriginal rock art, located in some seriously remote places. Some of this artwork was extremely impressive, while others looked like the scribblings of a three year old child.
On day 6 however, the tour exploded into life, upon visiting Purnululu National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Purnululu is best known for its main component, the Bungle Bungle Range, an area made up of hundreds of distinctive beehive shaped sandstone towers. The Bungle Bungles are approximately 99 times the size of the world famous Uluru (Ayers Rock), and in my humble opinion, about 99 times as beautiful. I am not being dramatic when I say that this remarkable landform is the single most picturesque thing I have seen in all of Australia, and considering how stunning this country is, that is quite an honour. What makes the Bungle Bungles even more remarkable is the fact that most people have never even heard of them, the fact it was apparently only discovered as recently as 1982, and the turbulent journey needed to get there in the first place. 55 kilometres on a winding, gravel road full of rolling hills, which took over an hour and half to negotiate and resulted in a few of the group feeling the need for a good cleansing of the stomach!
After the Bungle Bungles we visited Lake Argyle, the second largest artificial lake in Australia. Considering it is man made, I wasn't expecting to be particularly impressed, but the whole area exceeded my expectations greatly. The landscape is absolutely beautiful, and quite reminiscent of what I witnessed on the ferry between Wellington and Picton in New Zealand.We took a 90 minute boat ride through the lake, and went for a swim in the surprisingly warm waters, incorporating the occasional rock jump from a solid 7 metres high.
On day 8, we left Western Australia, and crossed the border into Northern Territory, an area around 10 times the size of Ireland, but with a population of just 230,000 people, with over half of those living in Darwin. Upon crossing the state border, we lost one and a half hours of our lives. Not one hour, not two, yes one and a half. I do find it a bit odd that they have a time zone 8.5 hours ahead of GMT, but no time zone that is 8 hours ahead, but I won't bother questioning their reasons! Another thing I noticed about the Northern Territory is the large indigenous population. Approximately 30% of the territory are of Aboriginal origin, compared to just 3% nationwide. Unfortunately this also presents a massive social problem, with many (not all) of the indigenous people loitering around the streets drunk. In the bottle shops in certain towns they don't sell full strength beer until after 5pm, as a way of trying to minimise the problem of drunkenness on the streets. It is not the nicest image to be honest, and it also gives the Aboriginal people, as a whole, a bad name. Two years ago, in a bar in Quorn, South Australia, I had a chat with some very pleasant Aboriginal people. It is sad that some people tar them all with the same brush, as they certainly are not all wasting themselves away. Far from it.
Throughout the trip we saw plenty of animals in the wild. Kangaroos pretty much anywhere. Rock Wallabies at Lake Argyle. A snake which was stupidly sleeping on the middle of the Gibb River Road, which our tour guide proceeded to pick up and hold by the neck, much to the snake's disgust. We also saw many different types of lizards hanging about on rocks at the various gorges we visited. However until day 8, I had still not seen a crocodile properly (with the exception of one underwater on the first day). Considering these were the animals I was most looking forward to seeing, and that I was in a big crocodile region, this was quite disappointing. However, all good things come to those who wait, and on the way out of Lake Argyle, I saw a big freshwater crocodile lying on the bank of a river, catching some rays. We also saw a baby crocodile, which our tour guide again decided to pick up for everybody to get a closer look. Clearly he is a big fan of Steve Irwin!
With regards to the people I traveled with on this tour, it was a very different type of group to the one from Perth to Broome. On the first trip, most people were within a similar age bracket, while on this trip there was more diversity in that department. Obviously this had some downsides, with there not being as many crazy sessions going into the early hours of the morning. But for the most part it was a nice group to travel with. Of the new people on the trip, the best were two very fun girls from New Zealand, a lad from Switzerland who adores his banter with a passion, and a very nice family of four from England, with two very pleasant teen-aged children. On the contrary, we had to put up with an incredibly irritating, strange, rude, know-it-all 13 year old kid from the Netherlands, who had the remarkable ability to be more annoying than an attention starved beagle puppy!
Our tour guide Adam, also deserves a special mention. Just days before the start of the tour he fell off the roof of the 4WD and broke his foot. Despite this, he soldiered on and was always positive throughout, something which was hugely admirable, if not a little insane. His relaxed, carefree, attitude to life in general, and his amazing ability to squeeze the word "anyway" into a short tale as many times as possible will not be forgotten in a hurry. He had great knowledge of the Kimberley region and appears to adore his job. Again, as with my previous tour guide Simon, I have no complaints.
One minor inconvenience was the extreme heat. Every day we were undertaking hikes and walks in temperatures well into the 30s. In the words of Johnny Cash (who provided the theme tune of our trip with Ring of Fire), it burns burns burns!
Overall, the tour was hugely enjoyable, and the scenery in the Kimberley region is simply breathtaking. The only suggestion I would have is for Western Exposure to create a bit more variety during the first few days of the trip, rather than visiting every gorge known to man.
I'm now in Darwin, where I will spend a few days before beginning yet another trip with Adventure Tours. This time a 3 day tour to Lichfield National Park and the world famous Kakadu National Park. Hopefully I will spot more crocs!
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