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. Part One has already been posted, so if you are new to our blog, check out part 1 below.
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 FOUR
Campsite: Manning Gorge ($25 each Night One including gorge permit), $15 each second night
Attractions: Galvans Gorge, Manning Gorge, Manning Gorge Campground Waterhole
We woke up and headed off from Froggies Campground for Galvan’s Gorge. It was only a short 30-minute drive down the road, so we got there quite early and had the place to ourselves! Galvan’s gorge quickly became our favourite gorge we had seen so far with green vegetation growing on along the gorge, a beautiful waterfall and a boab tree at the very top of the waterfall, making for a very picturesque surrounding. Best part, you can swim here!! A couple we had met earlier rocked up and we decided we would climb up to the top of the Gorge to see if there was a water hole at the top. We were so glad we climbed up because there was a beautiful little waterfall and the water trickling down was warm! So into our bathers we got, and had a nature shower (with no soap of course). We headed back down and had a swim in the gorge and swung off the rope swing, it was absolutely gorgeous! We headed off from Galvan’s and bumped into some of our traveling friends (The Dirty Lux, Wandering Aus & The Travelling Campers) and had a long carpark chat about how the Gibb has been so far, and worked out that we were all heading to Manning Gorge that afternoon! So we left them there and made our way towards Manning gorge.
To visit Manning gorge, you need to purchase a permit for $10 per/person from the Mt Barnett Roadhouse, or alternatively you can spend the night at the campground for $25 per/person which includes your permit. So we decided we would treat ourselves to a paid campground for the night and we also walked out with a box of hot chips and $200 worth of fuel (at $2.05 per litre). Now if you take anything from this it should be this… GET A BOX OF HOT CHIPS FROM MT BARNETT… my god they were that yum! We also had a chat to the workers there and they told us about what it is like living on the Gibb and how they manage in the wet season. Last wet season, it was so bad that they couldn’t get out and they had to get food flown in by the helicopter! How crazy is that!! So before you complain about the cost of your choccy milk or your fresh vegetables, remember that! They live in the middle of no where and going and getting their groceries is a mission!! I would say that if you are going to do the Gibb and you can’t afford expensive food, then bring enough with you, we just brought 2-weeks worth of groceries so we didn’t need to worry about stocking up along the way, so the price of food wasn’t an issue for us and buying the hot chips was fine by us because we were supporting a business on the Gibb.
Now lets talk Manning Gorge Campground… this place was AMAZING!! There is a waterhole at the campground and it is so beautiful! We just spent the afternoon hanging around there and decided that we would do the walk to Manning Gorge the following morning. If you are stopping through in the afternoon, please not that you must start the walk before 2pm and they ask that everyone leaves the gorge before 3pm so that you are back by dark and not walking in the extreme heat of the afternoon as it is a long hike (about an hour). So this is probably one you want to rock up in the morning too or stay the night here.
DAY FIVE
The next morning we headed off to Manning Gorge, the walk begins with a swim across the waterhole, so wear your bathers! They have little blue tubs which you can put your shoes, clothes and backpack in and swim it across so they don’t get wet. We just hiked with our wet bathers under our clothes to keep us cool, worked a treat! The hike is about an hour, but not a super hard walk and you are rewarded with beautiful Aboriginal Rock-art to your right when you walk in and then a swim in the gorge when you climb down! We spent hours here exploring to the top of the waterfall and jumping into the gorge off the rocks. It was great fun. We headed back to camp and decided to spend a second night there with our friends we mentioned earlier. So we moved our caravan down to their site and spent the night around the fire having a few drinks together and sharing stories.
DAY SIX
Campsite: Drysdale River Station Homestead ($37)
Attractions: Gibb River Rest stop, Drysdale River Station Bar
After spending the night around the fire, we all began to pack-up and conveyed to Drysdale River Station where we were going to prepare for the drive up to Mitchell Falls. We had a stop over at Gibb River where we had a little swim and then got back on the road. As we were going to Mitchell Falls and knew the road was quite bad we decided to leave the van for the night and go back to our old RV3 tent days!! So we moved the fridge back into the car and packed our bags for a night away in the tent. Once we had packed the cars we headed down to the Drysdale Station bar for a drink, where the kids put on a talent show for all the parents. It was so cute!! We headed back to camp, had some dinner and went to bed, ready for the next days adventure up to Mitchell Falls.
DAY SEVEN
Campsite: Munurru (King Edward River) Camp
Attractions: King Edward Day Use Area
We said goodbye to our van and headed towards Mitchell Falls and braced ourselves for what is said to be the worst part of the Gibb River Road. We decided that we would spend the day at Munurru (King Edward River) Camp and then head up to Mitchell Falls Campground for a super early start to the next morning to do the hike in. The day use area was great and there were some beautiful little spots to have a swim and spot some fresh water crocodiles. We headed off for Mitchell falls and were turned around by a closed road due to a bushfire. The camp hosts were yet to have any information on the fire, so we decided we would spend the night at the Munurru campground and then see whether the road was open the next day. We were up nice and early to check, but the road was still closed!! Keelan and I were shattered as we had driven all that way just to see Mitchell Falls and it was looking as though it wasn’t going to happen. The other families were going to head up to Honeymoon Bay and do it on the way home if they were unable to do it today. We headed up to the camp host to see if they had anymore information, and they said they were getting a call at 8am regarding whether they’d be opening the road again, so we sat tight and decided that if the road was still shut at 8am, we’d call it and miss out on Mitchell Falls.
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Read Part Three here:
The post Our Guide to the Gibb River Road – PART TWO appeared first on SARAH AND KEELAN TRAVELS.