The Gibb River Road (6-700kms)? is an iconic, last frontier kind of road. A shortcut from Derby to Kununurra, that takes a lot more time than the main road. It is renowned for its scenery, ruggedness, remoteness and rough corrugations. We had been looking forward to this as on the map, it’s about the furtherest point from home and marks a change in direction, from constant travelling North to now heading East. ;-(
Unfortunately a couple of days before we headed off Ava came down with a nasty cough and high temperatures, so it was another trip to an Emergency Dept. to get her attended too before we headed out away from civilisation. She was found to have fluid behind her ears and a very red throat. So we headed off with a pile of drugs for her. Along the road we all managed to share her illness and none of us could run more than a couple of minutes without having coughing fits and struggling for oxygen!!! This meant we were a bit restricted in the walks and sights we could see.
One of the first things we noticed was the cost of everything. Our first 2 nights at a place called “Birdwood Downs” (Just out of Derby) cost $41/night for an unpowered dusty site. Although it did have the first bath in over 10 weeks. The kids really enjoyed cramming in it together. It made us realize how much they have all grown, because they don’t really fit anymore!!!
At Imintji we got 98 litres of fuel for only $243. ($2.365/litre) This was the cheapest we saw. The most expensive was $2.65/litre! They also advertised the “Best Coffee on The Gibb”. I probably should have checked the prices, but I had to fork out $17 for two coffees and one loaf of frozen bread. (and I’m assuming there must be some pretty average coffee on the Gibb, as it wasn’t the best we’ve ever had!)
Ellendale Station is said to have the “Best scones on the Gibb”. (and they were delicious!) but 5 scones with jam and cream cost $27.50!
Home Valley Station are happy to charge us a $20 surcharge/day if we want any power as well!
But………is it all worth it? Too right. It’s a great experience. The scenery is stunning, the stars at night are amazing, the grass is taller than the car, the cattle are taller than the car, the crocodiles are longer than the car, the corrugations are relentless on the car, the gorges are beautiful, the people are friendly, there are helicopters buzzing around, the trucks are almost 60 metres long, the graders have 2 semi trailers towed behind them with fuel, equipment, utes and sleeping quarters. Each station is unique have their own quirky features. We hiked, swam, fished, ate and relaxed our way.
Our car and caravan have survived and fared quite well. It’s a 14 year old caravan and it had a few minor dust leaks. A handful of screws came a bit loose on the caravan, one day we didn’t lock a sliding window properly and it opened a bit and let in some extra dust in.
But what we did see was cars driving towards us with driving lights hanging on by the wires, many rattly cars driving by, number plates fallen off, 1 car destroyed totally (no spare tyres left, ran out of oil and water leaks), 1 car with some oldies saying they were broken down but under control. Some people who camped next to us in Home Valley said that in 33 kms between El-Questro and Home Valley they saw 12 broken down vehicles. Mostly tyres and broken axles/springs. We even saw a helicopter towing a broken down/crashed helicopter.

Broome is full at this time of the month. Everywhere is booked out as everyone wants to see “The Staircase to the Moon” phenomenon. It happens over 3 evenings a month (March-October) when a full moon and very low tides happen at the same time. There was a market at town beach, carnival in town and so many people. (Broome has about 14000 permanent people, but at the moment there is around 45000 people! And I reckon 31000 were watching this phenomenon!! (Maybe slight exaggeration, but there were lots and lots of people!!!!!)
Regardless, it was quite stunning to watch and it reminds me of how perfect creation is. Genesis Chapter 1, verse 14-15. (and on the fourth day) “And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.

We had been getting Noah excited for this a week. Ava nearly came with us, but chilled with Mum and Maya doing craft instead!!
The excitement was worth the wait and Noah LOVED the ride on our camel called Jabul. We were in a camel train and Jabul was behind Gemma and in front of Janda. Noah has already repeatedly asked to go on a ride again next time we are in Broome. (Might be a while I’m thinking!!)

We had been encouraged to visit “80 Mile Beach” by numerous people back at home and on our travels. We were not disappointed, despite basically every available space taken up by tents, campers, buses, caravans, 4wds and 4 wheel motorbikes. We hadn’t realised that this was another long weekend for WA and I think every person and their dog from everywhere made the pilgrimage here. A couple of hours each side of high tide maybe 80-100 4 wheel motorbikes headed onto the beach!!! All wrestling for best beach fishing positions. Not to mention 100’s of 4wds in the camp and so many of these venturing onto the beach, all wrestling for the best fishing spots as well. Then there were the fussy people who didn’t want their vehicles on the beach walking to wrestle for fishing spots!!! Crazy!!

So we thought we should give it a go a couple of times in the 3 nights we stayed there. If you were a bit late getting onto the beach, you literally couldn’t find a place to throw your rod into the water without hooking your neighbours ear on a cast for maybe 2kms each way up the beach from the campsite. We had no luck at all catching fish.
We had been hoping to find some nice shells here as well and were a bit disappointed that we couldn’t find many nice ones. It took a big drive up the beach and then a long walk past some rocks to find many beautiful shells. The kids loved walking along exploring the beach for them, but we didn’t calculate the kids energy levels too well. Half way back to the car they were all too tired to walk another step, so we loaded them all up onto dads back for a bit to give them a break!!

There are lots of grey nomads who stay here for 3 months at a time and we met a lovely lady who makes shell animal figurines and lets all the kids choose one each to take home. On the day our kids discovered her, she gave away 110 shell animals to 110 kids. She very kindly gave Bec a great big shell with shell butterflies all over it. The kids chose a shell mouse each.
Sunday night was roast night and the caravan park cooked up a roast for dinner for anyone who donated $15 for the cause. It was great having this watching the sunset.

Oh, and you might be wondering how many fish were being caught? We saw a guy in a kayak pull in 1 fish and we heard of 1 other person catching one over the 3 days we were there!!!

We then went to “Barn Hill Station”. A rough sandy track led to a beautiful beach and a large area with heaps of caravans scattered around. A lot staying for months on end. The showers and toilets were a highlight for the kids and me as they had no roof, so you could see the stars and moon as you were doing various bits of business. Bec wasn’t so keen on the resident big frogs that enjoyed tucking themselves up under the rim of the dunnies!!

One night our neighbours pulled out a guitar and within minutes an impromptu concert/sing-a-long was had with about 15 people. Our kids had their noses pressed hard against the windows watching and listening and the “oldies” coaxed the kids out to join them for an hour or so listening to many old songs including Elvis and Slim Dusty favourites.
There were some great rock pools at low tide we enjoyed fossicking in for fish, shells and other creatures. The West Australian coat is stunning and very different everywhere you go!

On the road between Port Hedland and Broome (about 600kms) I was a bit intrigued as to why one side of the road was neater than the other. It was when we were about 60kms out of Broome we saw the tractors and mowers heading back the 600kms to Port Hedland!!!