Bell Gorge and Mt Hart Wilderness Area

 

The journey on the Gibb River Road begins and we discover the beauty of the Kimberly region. Hard to believe how far from home I am. We are travelling along the length of the Gibb River Road with detours up to the Mount Hart Conservation Area and then another detour up to the Mitchell Plateau

After travelling through savannah grassland we came to the King Leopold Ranges, now known as the Wunaamin Millwundi Ranges. (Turns out King Leopold of Belgium was not a nice man!)

We stopped under Queen Victoria for morning tea

Deb and I at the Lookout over the Kimberly Region, This was one of the cooler days- only about 30 degrees at this stage.

We arrived at Bell Gorge, which involved a hike down to the gorge, it was rather warm by this stage

So a swim at the end was welcome, even if the water was rather fresh! 

The lovely Bell Gorge waterfall

Then we headed on to Mt Hart Wilderness area where we are staying for the next two nights in our safari glamping tents. It was originally a cattle station, now is a conservation park. The lodge is over 5 acres, and the rest has become a conservation park.

It was a beautiful spot, lots of artesian water to keep the area around the lodge nice and green

Comfortable accommodation and amazing food. We didn't think we would be needing blankets at night but in the early morning we were pulling them up.

Look how clear the water is in this shallow water crossing into Mt Hart Lodge

They have some local dingoes, they are not fed at all so do not create any issues for humans, apart from stealing shoes and socks if left outside at night.

There was a family of Barking Owls sitting up on the pergola, it was a good place to catch insects at night when it was lit up

We had two gorges to visit the next day- 2 swims! For someone who doesn't swim much, it has to be hot, I ended up doing and awful lot of swimming. First of we walked down into Matthew Gorge.

We had a water monitor keeping an eye on us there

After lunch we headed down to Barker Pool, which was such a peaceful spot

 Deb and I getting ready for another swim

This time we got to swim with a freshwater crocodile, this is actually a baby one, about 75 cm long. It is the saltwater crocs you don't want to swim with.

Late that afternoon I went for my first helicopter ride, this was an extra, it was pretty amazing being up high and seeing the extent of this region

You certainly get a bird's eye view of the place

The sun was just starting to set as we flew back

A fun way to end the day

Kimberly Tour from Broome- September 2026

 After getting up at 4:30am, catching a flight to Melbourne and then direct to Broome we landed at 11:30am, so had an afternoon and a morning to explore Broome before my friend Deb and I were picked up to begin our 15 day tour of the Kimberly area in north west WA with Outback Spirit. We were able to get into our hotel room early which was good, then went out for a bit of an explore. We walked into the town centre and had a bit of a wander. It was pretty quiet in town, the tourist season was coming to a close.

While we waited for our room we enjoyed a cold drink overlooking Roebuck Bay at the Mangrove Hotel where we are staying the night. The colour of the ocean is stunning.

Found somewhere close by for lunch

Then wandered into town, it was a 10 minute walk into town from where we were staying. After leaving Canberra where the top temp was going to be 18 degrees, 33 degrees in Broome was feeling pretty warm!

The streets of Broome had a number of statues depicting the early history of the town, including the pearling industry

Lovely sunset back at our hotel

We had time in the morning to wander back into town and enjoyed breakfast at the Green Mango Cafe

After breakfast we wandered the still quiet streets of Broome. Most of the shops are made of corrugated iron. It turns out this is due to the heritage rules, meeting strict cyclone building regulations. Also it was an affordable and cheap material to transport in the early days. Red, green and cream were the heritage colours from the early days.

It was a pretty town and well cared for

Then we headed back to the hotel, packed up, checked out and waited in the foyer to be picked up for our adventure in the Kimberly

We were first to be picked up by our guide Jason, and boarded our bus, known as Wahoo. It was a very comfortable 4 wheel drive bus, seating 24 passengers, turns out we had a group of 18. We got to see a bit more of Broome as we drove around to pick everyone up. We enjoyed a picnic in Town Beach Park, where we got to meet our fellow travellers, learn the lie of the land before departing for Derby where we are spending our first night on tour.

Willare Bridge Road House- where we see red dirt, which we will see a lot of in the next two weeks

Just outside of Derby is the Boab Prison Tree, believed to be 1500 to 2000 years old. It has a 14 metre diameter! Boab trees are endemic to the Kimberly, they became a very familiar sight.

Before heading into Derby we turned onto the Gibb River Road to get a photo. Tomorrow we head down the notorious Gibb River Road, it is about 760km long, the first hour is sealed then it is dirt road and corrugations the rest of the way.

We drove out to the Derby Jetty. Derby is known for some of the highest tides in Australia, up to 12 metres in difference from high tide to low tide. The mudflats extend for 2 to 3km inland.

View of the Boab tree lined street of Derby

We quickly checked into our hotel for the night and then headed out to watch the sunset over the Sculptures in the Marsh ( mudflats) and get some photos as the sun was setting.

And that was the end of our first day on tour!

Melbourne and Home

 Time to say goodbye to Kerrie and Bendigo and head to Melbourne. Called in to Melton and caught up with my brother Gary at his warehouse . Gary gets excess stock and returns from various places including excess stock from Canberra Costco, so I brought some items to bring back to Canberra!

Headed to Boronia, where Amy and I were staying with friends- Louise and Ron Vinck, they spoil us!

Over the next 5 days we caught up with my brothers Kim and Michael and families which was nice. 

Louise and I enjoyed a lovely walk in the Dandenongs, one of my favourite places. Rainforest is good for the soul.

We finished our 5km walk with lunch at the Kallista Tea Rooms

Another day Amy and I popped up to Olinda and Sassafras in the Dandenongs, had a look around Juet, a lovely sculpture shop- would love a bridge like this for my dry river bed!

Managed to get a few walks in, including this park in an old quarry at Upper Ferntree Gully

Went for a walk at the 1001 Steps near Berwick, mum used to take me here.

Then called in at the Berwick Cemetery for a quick hello to mum and Simon, love that this place overlooks Berwick, is just up the road from where we used to live, and you can hear tennis balls being hit on the tennis courts near by.

Louise and I caught up with Brigit at the Hatter and the Hare for brunch one morning

Quite a magical place

The food was delicious

And so were the cakes

Then it was time to head back to Canberra. We headed home via Lakes Entrance where we stayed the night. We stopped for a lovely lunch at the small town of Rosedale. This cafe is now on our must stop list.

Home made hearty vegetable and barely soup with a very yummy warm cheese scone!

Enjoyed a walk across the lake at Lakes Entrance

and a walk along a tiny section of 90 mile beach

One of the statues along the foreshore

The next morning we drove to Orbost, then instead of heading to Cann River then up to Nimatabel, we took the Bonang Highway from Orborst to Delegate. Not sure you would call it a highway but it was 110km of winding road. ( We did know what we were getting ourselves in for)

It was a lovely drive, up through National Parks, Old Growth Forests and not much in the way of civilization so quite remote. It was a lovely drive. Stopped a few times to smell the forest and listen to the birdlife and check out the pink wildflowers.

We came across a sign warning us to slow down and watch out for the emu! Fortunatley we did and he was just around the corner. We stopped to take a photo, we didn't get out the car as he was coming over to check us out too!

Nice to finally arrive home after lunch in Nimatabel. We had very enjoyable adventure.