Gibb River Road – it’s a wrap!! – The Travelling Dixons

20th September

We have finished the Gibb – and what a great experience!!

In the 13 days we were on the Gibb, we covered 1150km – 650km on the Gibb itself and 500km of side trips to gorges etc. More than 1000km were on dirt roads!!! The driving was slow going and challenging at times, but worth it for the beautiful scenery along the way.

Yesterday we did the last stint of the Gibb, from Windjana Gorge to Derby. It was supposed to be mainly tar, but the Gibb kept giving. Due to roadworks, instead of 100km or tar, we only had about 30km. Nonetheless, dirty, dusty and muddy, we made it to Derby and finished the Gibb!!

I don’t really think the Gibb is as tough as its reputation makes it out to be. For us, however, with our set-up, travelling the Gibb was definitely an achievement. It was only on the last day, when I took a photo at Tunnel Creek (see below left), that I realised that our car was one of the only cars travelling the Gibb without any sort of modification. Most have higher clearance, after-market suspension and other extras. On top of that, we are running on highway tires (not off-road tires) and were carrying one spare instead of the recommended two. Lucky we got through without a single puncture!! To add to that, apart from the friends we met in El Questro and ended up travelling with, ours was one of the only full size vans we saw travelling the Gibb. But, slow and steady – we were definitely the slowest vehicle on the road – we made it!!

From Kununurra to Derby, the Gibb changed from blue shale to red dust and everything in between, all with varying degrees of corrugations.

We drove through and past many of the beautiful ranges that make up the Kimberley. The passing scenery changed from ridges, to flat plains, to rivers – and back again. The gorges and waterholes we visited and swam in were stunning!! I have done a post for each of our stops along the way, with lots of pics. The link to each is at the bottom of this post.

The other great thing about the Gibb, was the people we met along the way. It was nice to gather together in Derby last night, with new friends, for sunset drinks and a celebratory dinner together!!