Friday, 22 May 2026
I guess I have to record that … I hung on all night! I was up soon after daylight though for a quick walk down to use the amenities. With just under 200Ks planned for today we allowed ourselves a fairly leisurely start. We had lovely hot showers. Certainly not the worst shower we have had on this trip, even if it wasn’t en-suite. We had the camp kitchen to ourselves again to make our breakfast, with it somehow getting to twenty past nine without us realising.
Right, we had better get moving. We packed up the truck and drove back out to the Gibb River Road, turning right, to continue westwards. Seventy kilometres later (244 kms since the start of the GRR), not a single vehicle had caught up to us to overtake our leisurely pace. There were, however, quite a few vehicles coming from the west, travelling towards where we had come from. Approaching the Kalumuru Road Junction, we climbed into the Gibb Range.
We pulled in at the rest area at the Kalumuru Road Junction, which we had to share with a tour group. Luckily we were not desperate to use the loos, as we had to wait for all the old people on their Kimberley tour to be done, ha, ha. While we were there, it appeared that the ‘lads’ from yesterday had caught up, and had found a few more friends. Five vehicles – all with only a single male driver on board – barrelled out of the Gibb River Road from the east, and turned onto the Kalumuru Road. Thank goodness for that, they were not headed the same way we were.
After our short break, we continued on the GRR, heading towards Derby. From this point the Gibb River Road started to head in a more southerly direction. Another 55 kilometres on the odometer had us arriving at the Hann River crossing which still had quite a bit of water in it. No depth marker, but we could tell that it wasn’t as deep as our river crossings of yesterday.
We passed the turn off for the Gibb River Station because we had no plans to stop there, as we were not in need of fuel. However, just past the turnoff we decided to execute a U-turn to photograph the sign … since it was for the station that shares a name with the road. Bernie was bemused that the sign included an addition telling us that Gibb River was an entrant for Tidy Town in 2015.
Sixteen kilometres from the Hann River we reached the turnoff for Mount Elizabeth Station. There are a couple of self-drive trips to gorges here (Warla Gorge and Wunnamurra Gorge) but we decided in the planning phase that we simply would not be able to visit EVERY gorge along the way, without adding weeks on to our itinerary.
We completed another 38 kilometres today alongside the picturesque Barnett Range, crossed the Barnett River and pulled into the Mount Barnett Roadhouse. We purchased two rather over-baked sausage rolls for lunch, two apples, ten litres of water, some Aeroguard (and then found our second can of Bushman’s, of course!) and campground access for two nights at the Manning Gorge campground.
After eating our lunch at the roadhouse, we drove the seven kilometres into the campground. Then I am sure we entertained the campers and caravaners already settled into their campsites with our dithering around about selecting a campsite. So many considerations. Will it get enough sun tomorrow to charge the spare battery? Is it clear enough of trees to ensure good StarLink reception? Important because the Essendon vs Richmond ‘Dreamtime’ game was being played tonight at The G. My concern, about the second spot that we looked at, was how close it was to a big fallen log and what that log might have living in it!! So not a camper and waaaay outside my comfort zone with this two night stop.
We set to, making our camp and eventually had a cozy little set up organised with the awning erected on the side of the truck and our swag set up at right angles to it. We put the ground sheet down and set up our table and chairs ready for cooking and eating.
We managed to cook up steak and three vegetables for dinner on our trusty little two burner Jet Boil camp stove. Then came the washing up. Bernie had purchased a super compact, foldable washing up bowl. Now, I use the word bowl rather loosely. This washing up thing was more like an oversized shower cap!! It was so squashy that when our heated water was tipped into it, it sort of spread like a pancake and we nearly lost all our washing up water. I had to try to hold the handles on the side, at the same time as I was trying to actually wash the dishes. Not enough hands! We eventually managed a reasonable job of cleaning our plates, cutlery and cooking utensils, ready to be used again tomorrow night.
The amenities here are even more confronting than last night. They turn the power off at 8.00pm so, while you can still use the loos, you have to do it by torchlight. Aaaargh! No fluids for me after 6.00pm in the hope that I can make it through the night again. I went down at 7.30pm to make sure I could brush my teeth while there was still lighting. Bernie plans going down later for the loo, so I will tag along for a torchlight pee before bed. He reckons he’s going to clean his teeth at our campsite and spit his toothpaste beside the nearby tree.
Steps: 7,890 (5.13kms)
