Drysdale Station to Wyndham

Drysdale Station to Wyndham

We were able to book on a scenic flights over the Mitchell falls and up to the George Sound and Prince Frederick Harbour the next morning and took off in a single engine plane with four other people and the pilot. Single engine planes have a pay load limit, so due to the fact that we had a couple of heavier people on board, we were right on the limit. Due to the absolute weight limit, they put the “skinny” pilot on and dumped some of the emergency rations for take off. The flight took us over areas where you cannot get to any other way, over the Drysdale Station, past Mt Hann, Mt Trafalgar, King Cascade falls, Prince Regent river, the King George Sound, and over to Prince Frederick Harbour before coming back over the Donkin Falls and the Mitchell Falls. The pilot was very good and did left and right hand turns so passengers on both sides of the plane had a good view. Heinz was in the co-pilot seat which he thoroughly enjoyed. Again, another great experience. In the afternoon we visited the Drysdale River and the Miners Pool, where you can swim, although freshwater crocodiles appear early morning and late evening. Drysdale Station also has a quirky Telstra phone box set up in a refrigerator which attracted a lot of attention.

Next day we headed for Ellenbrae Station, which is on the Hema Maps, but not on the normal brochures of places to stay. This was another experience altogether, as it is a property, with two small camping areas not far from the homestead. The homestead is in a very pretty setting with lovely gardens and their claim to fame is hot scones with jam and cream for morning tea, so after trying the scones, we headed off to the “Ringers Camp” to pitch our tent. It was so peaceful there and they have a very interesting covered area, all made from local rocks, which houses the bbq area, a toilet and shower. There was hot water available for showers, but you first had to light the “donga”, a large boiler which provided the hot water. It reminded me of Fred Flintstone’s cave. Here we met a girl from Queensland who was travelling on her own, doing a trip around Australia, with no fixed time agenda. She camped next to us and joined us each night around our camp fire. Great company and interesting to hear the places she had been so far. Also at the camp site were four mini-mokes who were doing the Gibb River Road!Next day we headed for Ellenbrae Station, which is on the Hema Maps, but not on the normal brochures of places to stay. This was another experience altogether, as it is a property, with two small camping areas not far from the homestead. The homestead is in a very pretty setting with lovely gardens and their claim to fame is hot scones with jam and cream for morning tea, so after trying the scones, we headed off to the “Ringers Camp” to pitch our tent. It was so peaceful there and they have a very interesting covered area, all made from local rocks, which houses the bbq area, a toilet and shower. There was hot water available for showers, but you first had to light the “donga”, a large boiler which provided the hot water. It reminded me of Fred Flintstone’s cave. Here we met a girl from Queensland who was travelling on her own, doing a trip around Australia, with no fixed time agenda. She camped next to us and joined us each night around our camp fire. Great company and interesting to hear the places she had been so far. Also at the camp site were four mini-mokes who were doing the Gibb River Road!

We went down to the billabong for a swim, at least Heinz swam, I dipped. It was a very relaxing stay before tackling the next part of the Gibb River Road. We did find it was not possible to do more than a 150 km or so each day as the road conditions are really quite corrugated and there are many stony patches and river crossings.

We set off the next day to get to El Questro, which is very close to the end of the Gibb River Road. It was very rough and we fell victim for the first time to the rough conditions, where there was some road work taking place, and had our first puncture and damaged the muffler after some 12000 km on the road. We had already passed a bus which had a puncture so were not the only victims. However, due to Heinz expertise, we were able to repair the tyre and make some temporary repairs to the muffler, enough to get us to El Questro. We were hoping to get right up the 660 km of rough track without incident but it wasn’t to be.

Not long after that we had to cross the Pentecost River, which is reasonably wide, but not that deep. However, a salt water crocodile warning meant that we couldn’t walk through first – and I sure didn’t volunteer! After watching others cross, we tied a tarp to the front nudge bar and drove through without a problem.

We arrived at El Questro early afternoon and got accommodation in a safari tent. It is a lovely resort, although very busy, with plenty to do and a good restaurant. Once settled we found the mechanics were able to fix the muffler for us the next morning. The mechanics were certainly kept busy with all the vehicles needing attention (some trailered in), with tyres being the main repair. We went out the following day to look at the Chamberlain Gorge and then went over to the Zebedee Thermal Springs for a dip. The pools are set in rocks and there are many waterfalls. It was a very popular spot and we were really enjoying soaking in the pool and sitting under the waterfall, but on exit I slipped on some rocks in the pool and damaged a couple of toes (later confirmed by x-ray as broken). That put an end to any of the famous gorge walks that day but we just relaxed at the resort and enjoyed the garden and rock pool.

The next day, with me hobbling, we left and drove over to Emma Gorge, hoping to do at least part of the walk up the gorge, but it is a very tough walk and we decided to go on to Wyndham. We eventually hit the sealed road mid-morning after achieving our aim to drive the Gibb River Road, and the various gorges along the way, so overall travelled over 1000 km on unsealed roads.

Just a couple of comments about the Gibb Ri ver Road. It was built in the 1960’s to bring the cattle from stations in the Kimberleys to Derby and Wyndham to market. It is very corrugated, stony, and dusty., the first 60 km sealed and there were short sealed sections on each of the ranges. It was relatively busy, seeing a car at least every 10 minutes and as we got closer to the end, every couple of minutes. A lot of the 4WD trail off road trailers and while many are very considerate and drive to the conditions, i.e. lights on, slow down and move over to pass, but many, particularly in the later stages, didn’t slow down, so sprayed stones and dust everywhere. When someone passes, you cannot see for a minute or so, so these inconsiderate drivers really add to the dangerous conditions. We were very lucky to encounter only one “road train” and that was the BP tanker just out of Derby. We met many other drivers who had had trouble with tyres etc. and we were glad we hadn’t decided to drive to the Mitchell Plateau, as it claimed at least two of the adventure buses and many cars. We were lucky that we only had one tyre puncture, a punctured muffler which could be welded, and one broken egg! We heard of others whose soft drink cans popped open!

While we were pleased with what we had done, we encountered a few cyclists who were either on the road, or about to do it. Now that is some feat!