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