Gibb River Road – Imintji Store, Mt Barnett, Ellenbrae

Disaster had struck! Was there any way out???

Whilst packing for the trip – all the essentials of course – I had included a dozen assorted bottles of red wine neatly stored in one of those compartmentalised cardboard boxes and stored in the back of the camper trailer. Red wine, it is often said, should be served at room temperature. However, the wise sages that say this probably didn’t envisage what is essentially a closed Aluminium box out in the Kimberley sun in air temperatures in the low 40’s as an appropriate sort of room.

At Silent Grove I had occasion to partake of some red wine. “Hmmm – feels a bit warm” I thought as I took it from its box. One taste removed all doubt. Far too hot to drink – bloody awful. I was forced to wait an hour or two to let it cool down to an acceptable temperature – although I did trade taste for immediacy somewhat. I tried cooling the bottle with water, but all the water in the area was of a similar temperature and was of limited use.

The Imintji Store is a little store located 2/3rds of the way down the Gibb River Road. It is an unassuming structure constructed from a couple of transportable 12x3m “Atco Huts” and covered by a big tarpaulin-type structure. It’s located adjacent to the Imintji Aboriginal Community. It has everything you could possibly imagine in such a small space. Dr Who’s Tardis sprung to mind. It had things ranging from the up-to-date footy scores scrawled on a blackboard out the front, to diesel, to food, hardware, spare parts, camping gear, clothing, cappuccino’s and most importantly, ice.

We had a lovely half hour at the Imintji Store, sipping cappuccinos on a little lawn in 40 degree heat whilst watching 4WD’s travel by and the friendly folk of the Imintji community going about their business.

Most importantly, as we left Imintji, we picked up a couple of bags of ice. Hot red wine no more! Nowadays I have to decide in advance what I’ll be drinking (usually decided by the ever reliable “lucky dip” method) and take it from the esky a while before I need it. We also found that icy water also makes the perfect medium in which to store apples.

We said our farewell to Silent Grove and made our way up to Mt Barnett station. We arrived in the early afternoon and set up camp. We then back-tracked along the Gibb River Road a short way to visit Galvans Gorge.

We did our pre-walk ritual of sunscreen and hats and water etc.. and walked into the Gorge. We were quite hot and were looking forward to a bit of a swim when we got there. Along the way we saw quite a few “Ta-ta Lizards”. These groovy little guys will scamper off and stop a short distance away as you approach them. Then, as they stop, for a few seconds, they will wave ta-ta to you with one of their front legs.

When we arrived at the end of the Gorge, we saw a pretty area and a place where a waterfall usually is and a body of water that was just a bit too still for swimming. Either that or we weren’t hot enough. In any case when we balanced it all up we decided not to swim and returned to the Beast.

Just not hot enough to swim in this just now

But a lovely place all the same

When we arrived back at the Mt Barnett campground – we decided to check out the the swimming hole at one end of the campground. Wow! Were we surprised! It was a beautiful place. Rock and sand and shady trees and cool water that flowed by. Our plans of spending one and a half hours (one way) trekking to Manning Gorge suddenly evaporated and we stayed and swam in the creek/river all afternoon. We got up at about 6:00 the next morning and went for another swim in the swimming hole before brekkie and packing up and leaving. Manning Gorge will have to wait for another time.

One part of this handy swimming hole at the campground

Cooling off...

At Mt Barnett campground we saw many camp fires being lit and fed during the evening.  It made us wonder.  Keyla and I don't often have a campfire when camping - except if we need to cook on one or for warmth.  The evening was very warm (read: hot) and our biggest priority was in fact finding a supply of damp cloths we could use to drape over ouselves and try and keep cool.  As we lay in bed and tried to sleep, we wondered why anyone would need to be any warmer on a evening like this.

Our plan for the day was to travel approx 180km up the Gibb River Road to Ellenbrae Station and stop there. Well. The corrugations were fairly light-on and even after our late getaway from Mt Barnett after a swim, we still managed to reach Ellenbrae by about Midday. As we approached the turn-off to Ellenbrae, we were invited by some hand-made signs to drop in and have some tea and scones. Then, as we proceeded up the turn-off (5km) we were hit with a stream of hand-made signs encouraging us to keep going and that we would be most welcome and that the scones were really nice.

It was all true.

Ellenbrae homestead is a mini-oasis in this seemingly dry part of the Kimberley. As we approached we were greeted by vistas of wide lush green lawns and shady trees. We parked and approached the homestead, we were greeted by a cheery fellow who engaged us in delightful conversation for a full 5 minutes before inviting us “in” for tea and scones. The outdoor kitchen was covered with a huge roof and verandah all around. We decided to sit in the garden next to a large 750 year old Boab tree and watch dozens of finches flit about around a bird feeder.

Not an unusual sight - Keyla hugging Boab trees

Finches around a feeder at Ellenbrae

Our scones and tea (again in 40deg heat) were fresh and delightful and made for an excellent lunch.

As it was quite hot (even the locals were complaining) and it was so early in the day, we decided to press on to Kununurra. When we arose that morning we hadn’t intended driving half of the Gibb River Road in one hit – but that’s what we were about to do.

The road conditions were surprisingly good and we made good progress (even up to 80 km/h). The scenery became very dramatic and spectacular as we started to descend off the Pentecost Ranges. At a bit of a road-side pull-over (near Home Station where a fair bit of the recent movie “Australia” was filmed) we had the opportunity to stop and take a few photos of the Cockburn ranges in the distance. Thanks to the wonderful lady at Ellenbrae she also said that spot is the only place for miles around that gets a mobile phone signal (probably from Whyndam approx 80km away) so while I spent some time taking pics of the spectacular vista, Keyla was doing a quick check-in with Tari and Elodie and sending photos from her phone to as many people as she could.

A small part of the Cockburn Ranges

Keyla doing a quick "catch up" in this speck of mobile reception.

The last 30km of the Gibb River Road was the roughest in terms of corrugations. For those family members on the Simpson Desert Trek last year – if we rated the worst corrugations on that trip (say the Knolls Track or the Western end of the Rig Road) as a 10 then these were a 7 or 8. Pretty harsh but not mind-blowing/soul-destroying. Luckily there was only 30 odd km of the worst of them.

We arrived in Kununurra just before dusk and settled into the relative luxury of a shady caravan park.