Sunday, 24 May 2026
This morning we had to deconstruct the camp, a task that took at least as long as it took to erect it. Maybe longer? We are really going to have to be better at making camp and breaking camp if we don’t want to embarrass ourselves on the Simpson Desert Tagalong tour.
We drove back out to the Mount Barnett Roadhouse, where we refuelled for $3.30/litre. And, in the absence of any Splices, Bernie purchased four Frosty Fruits for the freezer. Bernie says the freezer operates more efficiently with food in it and now that we have eaten a number of items from it, it needed to be re-stocked, ha, ha. Shame we couldn’t buy Splices though.
Back on the Gibb River Road, we drove the 14 kilometres to Galvans Gorge. Another day, another gorge … or two. The car park here was literally right beside the GRR and it was a one kilometre walk to the main pool. A lovely easy walk it was too, to reach yet another stunning waterfall and swimming hole. We hadn’t carried out bathers in, which really shouldn’t have been an impediment to swimming. There were several other couples quite obviously taking a dip in their underwear!! We decided to settle for photographs without dipping our toes in this particular waterhole.
Less than a kilometre south, the road was bitumenised for the jump up into the Phillips Range. There was a Phillips Range Lookout, which we pulled into, but it was less of a range view and more of a tree scape, which was disappointing. Nineteen kilometres further on, we reached the turn off for Adcock Gorge, described in our atlas as ‘worth a look’. It was supposed to be a five kilometre 4WD track and a 500 metre walk. Sounds easy right?
The 4WD track ended at about four and a half kilometres. Then we found that we would have to walk through water to access the rest of the track. Back to the car to change into our water shoes. Off we set, walked through the river, walked past the turning circle at the end of five kilometre 4WD track, then still had to complete the 500 metre walk to the falls. Make that yet another rock scramble.
A per usual I was already terrified at the prospect of snakes. The longer we go without encountering a snake, the more likely it seems that it must be due to happen?? Then I was walking over rough terrain in water shoes rather than hiking boots, which heightened my anxiety. Add to that, my camera swinging across my front as I scrambled over rocks, on what was described as a ‘short walk’, and it was all just too much. I got shitty, Bernie got shitty and I may have threatened to fly home from Broome.
Anyhow, since we had made it into another pretty gorge with ANOTHER spectacular waterfall, we decided that … we had carried our bathers in, we may as well change into them and swim. A group of four young people were just leaving. As they went to pass us, one of the girls says to us – ‘Oh hello, you stayed with us last week at the Bungles’. Turns out it was a group of staff from the APT Bungle Bungles Wilderness Lodge on their week off. Not sure if they could tell how tense things were between us or not? Anyway, having a chat with them probably defused things a bit. We almost had the HUGE swimming hole to ourselves, but no sooner had we thought it than another couple arrived.
After a quick swim, we re-traced our route to the car where we ate a quick lunch from our pantry box, before tackling the rough track back to the GRR. Soon after re-joining the main road, the bitumen petered out again. We arrived at the turn off for the Charnley River Station. The gates were shut and a CLOSED sign hung across them. We had thought about staying here, but our research indicated that it was no longer operating. Not sure if that’s forever or just this season?
Not far past the gates, we pulled alongside another MU-X pulled over on the side of the road with the driver in the midst of changing a tyre. No problem we were told, it’s all under control. The tyre sure was a mess, shredded, in fact. As we continued on our way, Bernie said, that’s what can happen when you run highway tyres on the GRR. Hopefully our light truck tyres will take us all the way without incident.
We passed the turn off for the Mornington Wilderness Camp, which was also CLOSED. It is, or rather used to be, 82 kilometres into the camp. Maybe that is too far for most people to deviate from the GRR and it has closed due to lack of patronage?? It’s hard to know why some accommodation providers continue to survive and others have closed up.
About 2.30pm we crossed the sheen of water flowing across the road at Saddlers Springs and, almost immediately, made a left hand turn into the track leading to the APT Bell Gorge Wilderness Lodge. Unlike the 50+ kilometre 4WD into the Bungle Bungles, this APT lodge is just 200 metres from the GRR. We checked in and we were shown to our glamping tent. The staff we had seen earlier had already told us that we would love the lodge as it has been renovated and is appointed to a much higher standard than the Bungles.
We are not disappointed. We have power in our room/tent to charge and run devices. Yay! Better still, I have an ensuite tonight. So very, very happy about that after two nights of being in the swag a million miles away from the amenities block. I buzz cut Bernie’s hair and we both enjoyed hot showers and a change of clothes. We were pretty stinky after all these hot and sweaty hikes.
Dinner is included in our room rate here so, at 6.30pm, it was off to the dining room for a four course meal. It was nearly a full house with (I think) three tour groups in and then eight independent travellers. Our places were set up at one end of a table for eight, with another couple at the other end. We soon decided if we were going to have any sort of conversation with them, we needed to shuffle along, rather than try to talk across the empty seats.
They have just completed the Kimberley Cruise from Darwin to Broome so now they have hired a car to explore the Kimberley further by 4WD. They are doing the GRR from Broome to Kununurra, then driving back to Broome on Highway 1, before flying back to Sydney. They were able to give us the heads up on exploring Bell Gorge tomorrow. Yes, yet another day exploring a gorge and waterfall. You could say we are gorging on gorges??!
Steps: 12,201 (7.79kms)
