Four Wheel Driving in Australia

Before coming to the Kimberley we had stuck rigidly to sealed road, but to see many of the sights in the Kimberly you really need a four wheel drive and get onto some of the unsealed tracks. Now that we had a four wheel drive campervan we could and it was some some! Driving through rivers, steep hills, rocky dry river beds, sand dunes ... great craic ... and that's all before you even get to the place that you wanted to see. The portion of the Gibb River Road we were on was fairly well graded, but the track to El Questro was a little more rough and tumble. It was great practice before heading into the Bungle Bungles - 3 hours to drive 53km to the campsite! Tough driving in every condition the whole way. Great fun but you'd be tired after it. We had to engage L4 (maximum torque) several times.

Preying Mantis

I was leaning over a railing when this guy walking by says, "Hey, buddy, watch out for the preying mantis there." Hanging off the railing under my arm was this huge thing ...

Lizards

There was a huge lizard strolling through the caravan park in El Questro. Got some good shots ...

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Road Trains

Finally got a snap of a road train, and this isn't even the biggest you can get. So big that they can take up to quarter of a mile to stop.

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Cable Beach

Cable Beach in Broome. I think it got it's name because the telegraph cable, connecting Australia with the rest of the world, used to surface here.

... nice beach ...

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Wolfe Creek

I still haven't seen the film 'Wolfe Creek' and by the sounds of it I'm probably better of not until I've finished travelling through the Kimberley.

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The Bungle Bungles

The Bungle Bungles in Purnululu national park were definitely one of the highlights of Australia so far. It a mountain range of huge beehive shaped sandstone mountains and the tough 50km dirt track into the park is definitely worth the effort.

From Australia, Th...

From Australia, Th...

Cathedral Gorge

Walking into the range there's an amazing gorge called cathedral gorge. Just look at the pool at the end.

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Echidna Chasm

Another half hour drive around to the other side of the range is Echidna Chasm. This is really strange - a giant, but really narrow chasm carved into the mountain. It was like something from an Indiana Jones movie.

From Australia, Th...

From Australia, Th...

From Australia, Th...

El Questro

We visited El Questro, a wilderness park with lots of gorges and walk in The Kimberley, just a little bit down the Gibb River Road. It was really, really nice so we spent two full days here, but if we had had more time we could have spent a week. Have a look at some of the spots below.

Champagne Springs

The 11km round trip hike to Champagne springs was amazing. We left at the crack of dawn so we still managed to see some of the wildlife too. About ten minutes into the walk we came across some kangaroos in the bush. About 10 of them jumped up and started running off into the distance. The springs at the end are a well deserved swim!

From Australia, Th...

Zebedee Springs

These were a hot springs, permanently at about 32C. I had a bath here for about an hour one morning.


Emma Gorge

An amazing gorge in the middle of the Kimberley.

From Australia, Th...

From Australia, Th...

Watch out for those Horses!

Yes, the horse is officially the most deadly animal in Australia, killing an average of 21 people a year! ... scary to think that these killing machines are allowed to wander freely in many estates back in Ireland as we speak!

The Gibbs River Road

The Gibb river road is a huge 600-700km road cutting through the Kimberly. We took a short excursion on it to get to El Questro, before back tracking to the highway. Even though it's a couple of hundred Kms shorter than the highway, it's definitely not a short cut to Broome and can get fairly hairy in part as the entire road is unsealed. That said, if we were going to try and visit all the major sights in the Kimberley, driving this road would be a must.

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Lake Argyle

Just outside Kununurra we made a stop at Lake Argyle. This lake was created back in the 1960's by placing a little dam on the river Ord. The backed up water created lake argyle and is now the largest man made lake in the world. It only took one wet season to fill - which might give you some idea of the ridiculous amount of rain which drops here during the wet season.

From Australia, Th...

From Australia, Th...

Cane Toads

Cane toads aren't native to Australia, but since they were introduced they have totally infested the country. They were even offering a beer for each one caught at one point in the Northern Territory! I'm not sure if this is a picture of one that I got here, but it probably is ...

From Australia, Th...