The legendary Gibb River Road is an icon of outback adventure through the heart of the Kimberley in Western Australia’s North West. The 660 kilometre dirt but very 4W driveable track passes through remote ‘station’ country with magnificent scenery and plenty of opportunities to get out of your vehicle to discover one of the many fresh water gorges. The Gibb, as it is affectionately known, was built for droving cattle from Wyndham to Derby. Today it caters for a steady stream of four-wheel explorers. Trail signage varies as the area remains privately owned by cattle stations and Aboriginal communities. Every station has a range of beautiful rivers and gorges including: At El Questro, the Chamberlain and Emma Gorges; at Mount Barnett Station, the Manning Gorge Waterfall Walk; at the King Leopold Conservation Park,  Bell Gorge, the Gibb River Station; and the Barnett River Gorge and Mornington Wilderness Park at Diamond Gorge.

We can arrange 4WD hire and self drives along the route but please be aware that this is a very remote part of the country and most of the accommodation is very simple. Distances are huge and most of the feedback we get from our clients is that they didn’t realise quite how far the drive is. We highly recommend taking a small group tour or camping safari with one of the local operators,  which we can book for you, as they will take you to some of the really off the beaten track parts of the region that you would simply drive past on your own. If you would like the adventure of driving yourself but not the distance, you can drive a small part of the road from Kununurra as far as Home Valley or El Questro where some of the most spectacular gorges are located.

From Kununurra or El Questro you can also fly into the Bungle Bungle range in the World Heritage Listed Purnululu National Park. From the air, the Bungle Bungle range is an awesome site, rising 300 metres out of the plain. The orange and black stripes of these massive sandstone structures are easy to spot. As you sweep over the range, a hidden world of gorges and pools is revealed, with fan palms clinging to walls and crevices in the rocks. The park covers nearly 240,000 hectares and is home to other natural phenomena including Echidna Chasm, Cathedral Gorge and the soaring Piccaninny Gorge. If you have time we recommend an overnight safari staying in comfortable en-suite tents including a full days touring in the park.

For details of Gibb River Road or Kimberley accommodation click on the links on the right. Our experienced consultants can easily build any of these experiences into a tailor-made Australia holiday quote for you.