You can't conquer the Kimberley's

Jon Says: The Gibb River Road and Kimberley country are not something that you can conquer. It is not a challenge that you can claim as a victory when you exit the other end. This country decides if she wants to let you pass through unscaved or not. It is country that you have to treat with respect. It is beautiful and inspiring and breath taking and every thing that you could hope for but it can knock you down any time she wishes.

We escaped relatively un harmed this time with no flat tyres and no shockie damage. We did have to replace a set of bushes in the rear springs in Kununarra but this was the worst of it. Each day I would check over the car fairly thoroughly and every 3^rd day or so I would find something else that had rattled loose and needed attention to prevent it becoming a disaster. A few stories of the adventures people we spoke to had, 3 punctures in one day, 4 punctures over 3 days, 3 shock’s gone on the car and one on the trailer then waiting over a week for parts to be flown in, broken wheel stud, snapped torsion bar, broken roof racks, cracked chassis, shockies on every 3^rd or 4^th car that travelled the Mitchel Plateau, damaged rims and it goes on and on. There have also been 30 car roll overs this dry season already.

I have a new worst road travelled this year. The 78km into the Mitchel falls now has this trophy and took 3.25 hrs to negotiate having the worst corrugations I have ever seen. We have a new dearest fuel price too at 195.9 cents/litre for diesel.

But as much as I could try to describe how amazing this country is I would fall short so all I will say is God is very clever. If you ever get the opportunity to explore this land, DO IT….. Prepare your car properly and allow enough time that you can drive steady, don’t expect to spend much time over 60 km/hr.

First time in a helicopter for both of us. It was sooooo cooool. No doors. We flew over the Mitchel falls and got to see them from the air. Great fun.
The aboriginal art was very good on the Mitchel Plateau and lots of it. Very different to the pantings I've seen on the east coast which are more like hand prints and boomerangs.
Looking over the Pentecost River to the Cockburn Ranges, the colours on sunset were incredibly vibrant. We saw our first salt water croc in this river. We took the torch down at night and shone it from the banks to see red eyes looking back at us. This made Kirsty grateful she was sleeping in a rooftop tent.
No wonder some of the roads are such poor condition....
Where's your phone mate?.... Well it's in the fringe cobber!.... Of course it is.... Calling home to say that we won't be off the Gibb Rd when planned, we are taking longer to soak it up.