Our Guide to the Gibb River Road – PART ONE

January 15, 2025

Hey guys! Welcome back to another weeks blog! We are super excited about this one as the Gibb River Road was one of the most challenging roads we have done with the caravan in tow! We hope that it is super informative and helps you with planning your experience. We spent nearly two-weeks on the Gibb River Road and saw so many places, so this one will be broken down into three parts. Enjoy!

Please note that this blog is being written on the 6th – 15th of August in 2021 and that this is written from personal experience and should be used as only a guide. Also note that the road conditions on the Gibb River Road are constantly changing. The exact road we drove today, could be different tomorrow!

DAY ONE

Campsite: Lennard River Campsite (FREE)

Attractions: Derby Prisoner Tree

Take advantage of your last Woolworths in Derby before hitting the Gibb!! We visited the old Prisoner Boab Tree before leaving Derby which was great to see. The first day of the Gibb we drove to Lennard River Campsite and spent the afternoon having a fish by the river. We saw one little freshwater crocodile who was having a sunbake on the sand bank near the bridge. It was very easy to get our van into this spot and there is a large area which would be fine for people with larger vans than ours to get into.

We were surprised to find out that the first 100km’s of the Gibb are bitumen!! It didn’t even feel like we had really started the Gibb yet!

DAY TWO

Campsite: Dog Chain Creek Campsite (but, we recommend March Fly Glen Campsite) (FREE)

Attractions: Winjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek & Lennard Gorge

On day two we started our day by heading to Winjana gorge and Tunnel Creek. The campsite we were at was just past the turn off for these attractions, so it was super handy to leave the van unhooked for the day and explore in the car. We visited the gorge first, which was a beautiful short walk through the middle of a gorge, with the water on one side, and walking right up against the other side of the gorge. There were about five freshwater crocodiles that we saw, some not bothered by us walking by them at all!

We then headed off to Tunnel Creek which is about a 30-minute drive from Winjana, and this part of the road is pretty rough and corrugated! We were so glad we didn’t have our van. So if you have your van with you, it could be a good idea to leave it at the campsite near Winjana gorge. It just makes the drive that much easier and comfortable when you are not towing. Now lets talk about Tunnel Creek… this place, you have to do!!! What an experience! When you first enter the area, you read about the Aboriginal leader and “outlaw” Jandamarra, who used Tunnel Creek as his hideout, it is a really cool story to know about before entering. When you enter, there is still some light, but then you are in pitch black darkness, with only your torch for light. Majority of the tunnel you can walk through in around ankle to waist deep water, however, there is one part where you have to swim about 5-10 metres across the tunnel. As you walk/swim through the tunnel you will see multiple fresh water crocodiles, when you shine your light around all you can see is the two little red eyes looking back at you. They keep their distance though, as long as you don’t approach them, you will be fine and shouldn’t be concerned about them. Once you get out to the end, make sure you go for a walk to the left and to the right where you can see Aboriginal Rock Art, it is amazing!! I have been wanting to see some for so long, so that was such a highlight! Then you head back through the tunnel the same way you came and it is over. The whole tunnel would probably be about 750m.

After we had some lunch we headed to Lennard Gorge, we took the van with us and the road wasn’t too bad and there was only one small creek crossing. We didn’t really rate this spot as it was about a 3km round hike over rocky terrain to go to a lookout, which was pretty… but we wanted to swim! Now that we have bumped into other people who have been, they have said that they walked down from the lookout to go for a swim and it was absolutely amazing down there!! So if you are feeling adventurous enough to do that, then go, but if you just want to go to the lookout, we probably wouldn’t recommend it!

We then headed up to Dog Chain Creek Campsite, which was another free camp. It was pretty busy when we rolled in and we got the last spot, which wasn’t on the river. The next morning when we took off we pulled into March Fly Glen Campsite (another free one) which was AMAZING!! We were spewing we didn’t know about it. So definitely add that one to your list, it was so beautiful!!

DAY THREE

Campsite: Froggies Campground (FREE)

Attractions: Bell Gorge & Adcock Gorge

We set off to Bell Gorge with the van hooked up, it was a pretty corrugated drive with three little creek crossings. We stopped at Silent Grove which is a Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPAW) campground, where we unhooked the van for the day and used their FLUSHING toilets. We headed into Bell Gorge which was only another 10km’s but we were happy we unhooked as it was a very windy road and just as corrugated as the start. If we were to do it again, we would have unhooked the van at the beginning of the road and left it there or left it at a free camp nearby. The hike into Bell Gorge was about 2km and is a beautiful walk along a creek and then up onto the top of the gorge where you look down the waterfall to the pool down below. We wore thongs and regretted that decision as it is very rocky terrain as well. When you walk down to the pool, make sure you go for a swim or walk down to the right where there is another pool which is quieter than the main pool & really beautiful.

Once we got back to Silent Grove we had some lunch and headed to Adcock Gorge. This once we would definitely not recommend taking a van down, we parked ours up at Froggies Campground, there is also Rogers Hollow directly across the road from Adcock Gorge where you could park it. It is a little 4WD track in, make sure you drive right down as far as you can go! It was pretty fun. It is a short walk in to the gorge along the river, which is filled with lily pads! So pretty! Adcock Gorge itself is absolutely stunning, there is so much vegetation growing on the side of the gorge wall, it looked magical. We are not sure about swimming at this spot, the water was very dark and we weren’t too sure who was lurking beneath the water and didn’t risk going for a swim.