Australia: the Kimberley, Broome and the Gibb River Road

1. Day 1: Arrive in Broome

   Broome International Airport to your hotel in Broome, then Cable Beach

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Broome
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Broome (BME), which sits almost in town, and a driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the few minutes to our hotel. Broome is Rubibi to the Yawuru people, and it is a pearling town before it is a beach town: Chinatown's corrugated-iron shopfronts and the cemeteries of Japanese, Malay and Koepanger divers tell that story, and we walk it tomorrow. The afternoon is free to rest after the flight or swim. At 4:30 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the road ahead: the 4WD, the gorges, the river crossings and the simple nights on the Gibb. Then we drive out to Cable Beach, reportedly more than 20 km of white sand facing west, and watch the sun go down over the Indian Ocean before a welcome dinner together. On some full-moon evenings in the dry season we can add the Staircase to the Moon at Roebuck Bay; dates are checked at quoting.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Broome International Airport (BME)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide at 4:30 pm
   • Sunset at Cable Beach
   • Welcome dinner in Broome

   Optional experiences

   • Staircase to the Moon at Roebuck Bay, on some full-moon evenings in the dry season (dates checked at quoting)

   Free time: Free until the 4:30 pm briefing

   Activity: Land by early afternoon to settle in; later arrivals are met and join the group at dinner.

   

2. Day 2: Broome's pearling story and camels at sunset

   Broome: the Historical Museum, Chinatown, the Japanese Cemetery and Gantheaume Point, then Cable Beach

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Broome
   Day 2 details

   A slow morning in the town pearls built. We start at the Broome Historical Museum, where the galleries cover the pearling luggers, the hard-hat divers who came from Japan, Malaya and Timor, and the Japanese air raid of 3 March 1942, which is reported to have destroyed the flying boats at anchor in Roebuck Bay. Then a walk through Chinatown and down to Streeter's Jetty, and the short drive to the Japanese Cemetery, where the headstones of many divers face the bay. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Chinatown. The afternoon is yours: the pool, the shops for pearls, or the optional Willie Creek pearl farm. In the late afternoon we stop at Gantheaume Point, where red pindan cliffs meet turquoise water, then ride camels along Cable Beach as the sun sets, about an hour on the sand. Dinner is wherever you like, and opening hours for the museum and the camel ride are confirmed at quoting.

   Included

   • Broome Historical Museum, entry included
   • Chinatown and Streeter's Jetty walk with your guide
   • Japanese Cemetery
   • Sit-down lunch in Chinatown
   • Gantheaume Point
   • Sunset camel ride on Cable Beach

   Optional experiences

   • Willie Creek pearl farm tour (price in the written quote)
   • Horizontal Falls seaplane trip from Broome (price in the written quote)

   Easier option: Watch the sunset from the sand or a beach cafe instead of riding the camels.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Broome

   Activity: Easy walking in town. Camel riders mount and dismount with the animal kneeling; the ride is gentle but has a lurch at each end.

   

3. Day 3: To Derby and the King Sound tides

   Broome to Willare and the Fitzroy River on the Great Northern Highway, then Derby, the Boab Prison Tree and Mowanjum

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Derby
   Day 3 details

   We leave Broome at 8:30 am on sealed highway through pindan scrub and boab country, crossing the wide Fitzroy River at Willare, and reach Derby in under three hours. Just south of town is the Boab Prison Tree, a huge hollow boab said to have held Aboriginal prisoners being walked to Derby in the 1890s; your guide tells its story plainly. After lunch in Derby we visit the Mowanjum Art and Culture Centre, run by Aboriginal artists of the region, where Wandjina paintings and the artists' work can be seen, subject to the centre's opening days. Late in the afternoon is free, and at sunset we walk out on the Derby wharf. King Sound has some of the biggest tides in Australia, so the mud flats below can look very different between morning and evening. Mowanjum opening days are confirmed at quoting. Dinner is together in Derby.

   Included

   • Boab Prison Tree
   • Lunch in Derby
   • Mowanjum Art and Culture Centre
   • Sunset on the Derby wharf
   • Dinner in Derby

   Optional experiences

   • Horizontal Falls seaplane trip from Derby (price in the written quote)

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Derby

   Activity: About 2.75 hours of driving on sealed road with a coffee stop. Easy walking only.

   

4. Day 4: Windjana Gorge and onto the Gibb

   Derby on the Gibb River Road to Windjana Gorge, then east into the ranges of Wunaamin Conservation Park near Bell Gorge

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Bell Gorge (Gibb River Road)
   Day 4 details

   Today the tar ends. We leave Derby at 7:30 am, head east on the Gibb River Road and turn south onto dirt for Bandiln͟gan (Windjana Gorge) National Park, which DBCA says is open between May and November, reaching the gorge by about 9:30 am, before the heat settles on the gorge floor. The Lennard River has cut through the Napier Range here, a limestone reef from an ancient sea, said to be hundreds of millions of years old, with fossils in the walls. We walk the gorge trail, listed by DBCA as 1.9 km return (confirmed again before the season), past freshwater crocodiles where freshwater crocodiles live and nobody swims, and your guide tells the story of Jandamarra, the Bunuba man who is said to have fought the police from these ranges in the late 1800s. Lunch is a picnic in the shade at the gorge. Then we drive back to the Gibb and east into the ranges of Wunaamin Conservation Park, which some maps still label King Leopold Ranges, arriving at our camp in the late afternoon. Tonight and tomorrow we plan a fixed safari tent or a station stay, simple but with a real bed. Dinner is at camp.

   Included

   • Park entry for Bandiln͟gan (Windjana Gorge) National Park
   • Windjana Gorge walk with your guide
   • Picnic lunch at Windjana Gorge
   • Dinner at camp

   Easier option: Walk the first few hundred metres into Windjana to see the crocodiles and the reef walls, then wait in the shade.

   More active option: Walk the full length of the trail open on the day with your guide, and stay longer at the fossil walls.

   Activity: About 4 to 4.5 hours of driving, most of it on unsealed road, to be confirmed with the 4WD partner, split by the walk and the picnic lunch at Windjana. Tunnel Creek is not on this trip.

5. Day 5: Bell Gorge early, then a free afternoon

   Bell Gorge (Dalmanyi) in Wunaamin Conservation Park and back to camp

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Bell Gorge (Gibb River Road)
   Day 5 details

   We drive the corrugated side road to Bell Gorge after an early breakfast, 4WD country per DBCA, to have the falls before the day traffic arrives from the camps along the Gibb. Bell Gorge, Dalmanyi, is a stepped waterfall dropping into a deep pool in red rock, and, when the falls are flowing and depending on the season, it is the swim people come back for. The walk in is over rocks, with a creek to cross above the falls, then a scramble down to the main pool. Swim, sit on the warm ledges, or follow the creek up to the quieter top pools with your guide. We are back at camp for lunch, and the afternoon is free: rest in the shade, read, or walk the track near camp. No packing today. In the evening your guide lights a fire and we eat together under a sky with no town lights for a long way in any direction.

   Included

   • Bell Gorge (Dalmanyi) walk and swim with your guide
   • Park entry for Wunaamin Conservation Park
   • Lunch and dinner at camp

   Easier option: Stop at the top pools above the falls, a short flat walk, and skip the scramble down to the main pool.

   More active option: Climb down to the main pool below the falls and swim across to the waterfall.

   Free time: Afternoon free at camp

   Activity: Uneven rock with a creek crossing on stones. Water shoes help.

6. Day 6: Galvans and Manning gorges

   Bell Gorge base east on the Gibb River Road to Galvans Gorge and Mount Barnett for Manning Gorge

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Mount Barnett (Gibb River Road)
   Day 6 details

   East on the Gibb this morning, through the ranges and across wide grassland dotted with boabs. Our first stop is Galvans Gorge, a short walk from the road to a pool and, when it is flowing, a waterfall, a boab growing out of the rock and a Wandjina painting on the wall beside the water. Lunch is at Mount Barnett, where Manning Gorge access would be arranged (fee as published, confirmed at quoting). In the early afternoon we cross the Manning River at the start of the trail, by a method that depends on the season, and walk to the falls and a long, deep pool under red cliffs. We swim, rest and walk back in the cooler late afternoon to tonight's simple station stay or safari tent nearby. Dinner is together.

   Included

   • Galvans Gorge walk and swim
   • Lunch at Mount Barnett
   • Manning Gorge access fee
   • Manning Gorge walk to the falls with your guide
   • Dinner where we stay

   Easier option: Swim at Galvans Gorge and at the river crossing at Mount Barnett, and skip the Manning Gorge walk.

   More active option: Climb above Manning Falls with your guide for the view over the gorge.

   Activity: Manning Gorge is a long walk over rock and sand in the heat, starting with a river crossing; bring a dry bag. Galvans is short.

7. Day 7: The long middle of the Gibb to El Questro

   Mount Barnett east on the Gibb River Road, across the Pentecost River, to El Questro and Emma Gorge

   • Drive about 6 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in El Questro (Emma Gorge)
   Day 7 details

   This is the one long day, about 5 to 6 hours of driving on corrugated dirt, because we have not planned an overnight between the central gorges and El Questro. We break it every hour or so. The road crosses open station country and creeks, and lunch is at a station or stop along the way, to be confirmed. In the afternoon the Cockburn Range rises ahead, a long wall of red cliffs, and we stop at the lookout over the Pentecost River before fording it. Main Roads WA calls the Pentecost the major river crossing on the Gibb, warns that levels can rise quickly and that there may be a crocodile or two, and El Questro reports saltwater crocodiles there, so nobody gets out in the water. We reach El Questro Wilderness Park in the late afternoon and settle into a planned fixed safari tent or station room at El Questro (Emma Gorge area), confirmed at quoting, under the cliffs. Dinner is at El Questro, and the evening is quiet.

   Included

   • Lunch on the Gibb River Road
   • Pentecost River lookout and the river crossing below the Cockburn Range
   • El Questro visitor permit
   • Dinner at El Questro

   Free time: Evening free at Emma Gorge

   Activity: About 5 to 6 hours of driving on unsealed road, broken by stops about every hour and a sit-down lunch.

8. Day 8: Zebedee Springs, Emma Gorge and on to Kununurra

   El Questro: Zebedee Springs and Emma Gorge, then the Great Northern Highway to Kununurra

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Kununurra
   Day 8 details

   Zebedee Springs is open to the public in the mornings; El Questro publishes 8am to 12pm, and we confirm the hours and any seasonal limits for your dates. It is a chain of warm pools under palms, reached on a short walk. After a soak we walk into Emma Gorge, which El Questro calls a challenging, partly shaded walk of about an hour, with rock hopping along the creek to a large waterhole. Lunch is back at El Questro. Then we leave the dirt behind for the last time, joining the sealed Great Northern Highway for about an hour and a quarter to Kununurra, the town on the Ord River at the eastern edge of the Kimberley. The afternoon and evening are free: a cafe, a shower that lasts, laundry, and dinner wherever you like.

   Included

   • Zebedee Springs in the morning
   • Emma Gorge walk and swim with your guide
   • Lunch at El Questro

   Optional experiences

   • Chamberlain Gorge cruise at El Questro (El Questro lists it as about 90 minutes; price shown in the quote)
   • Ord River cruise from Kununurra (price shown in the quote)

   Easier option: Stay at Zebedee Springs longer and skip Emma Gorge, or walk only the first flat section of the Emma Gorge track.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Kununurra

   Activity: Emma Gorge is rocky with some scrambling; El Questro describes it as about an hour's walk, so allow 2 to 3 hours with the swim.

9. Day 9: The Bungle Bungles from the air, Lake Argyle at sunset

   Kununurra airport for the scenic flight over Purnululu National Park, then Lake Argyle and back to Kununurra

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Kununurra
   Day 9 details

   DBCA puts Purnululu National Park 304 km from Kununurra by road, the last 53 km a high-clearance 4WD track taking 1.5 to 3 hours, so we plan to see it from a light aircraft. The morning scenic flight leaves from Kununurra, with the route and length set by the operator and confirmed at quoting, and shows the Bungle Bungle Range, a World Heritage site where the sandstone domes are striped orange and black by mineral and microbial banding, as commonly described. Back on the ground, we drive about an hour south to Lake Argyle, the reservoir made when the Ord River was dammed. Lunch looks over the water, then there is free time in the heat of the day. In the late afternoon we board a cruise on the lake for the islands and the sunset over the ranges, operator and times to be confirmed. Dinner is back in Kununurra.

   Included

   • Scenic flight over the Bungle Bungle Range in Purnululu National Park (length confirmed at quoting)
   • Lunch at Lake Argyle
   • Sunset cruise on Lake Argyle
   • Dinner in Kununurra

   Easier option: Stay ashore at Lake Argyle during the cruise and watch the sunset from the lookout above the dam wall.

   Free time: Middle of the day free at Lake Argyle

   Activity: Light aircraft seats are usually allocated by weight, so expect to be asked your weight at quoting. The drive back from Lake Argyle, about 70 km on sealed road, is after dark.

10. Day 10: Mirima at first light and fly out

    Kununurra to Mirima National Park, then Kununurra airport

    • Drive about 18 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 10 details

    One last walk at first light. Mirima National Park sits on the edge of Kununurra, and its layered sandstone ridges and gullies, often called the mini Bungle Bungles, can glow red in the low sun. We walk the short lookout trails with your guide, with a chance of rock wallabies in the cracks of the rock. This is Miriwoong country, and your guide tells what is shared publicly of its story. Breakfast is back at the hotel, with time to pack. Then we drive you to Kununurra airport, a few minutes from town, for your flight. Onward flight links are checked at quoting. Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your flight, or drops you at a hotel in town if you are staying on.

    Included

    • Mirima National Park walk at first light
    • Drop-off at Kununurra airport (KNX) or your Kununurra hotel

    Easier option: Stay at the foot of the Lookout Trail and watch the light on the rock.

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 12:30 pm, or stay on in Kununurra.

    

Wildlife and weather: We plan only the dry season, May to September: usually hot, dry days with little rain, and cooler nights on the Gibb, so bring a warm layer. Main Roads WA says the best time to travel is early in the dry season, when rivers and waterfalls may still be flowing. Freshwater crocodiles bask at Windjana Gorge, where DBCA says there is no swimming. Saltwater crocodiles are present in the Pentecost and Chamberlain rivers, so no swimming or fishing there. Swimming depends on park and station rules and conditions on the day; crocodiles can occur in Kimberley waterways. Boab trees line much of the road; wallabies and birds are sometimes seen at dusk.

• Broome2 nights
• Derby1 night
• Bell Gorge (Gibb River Road)2 nights
• Mount Barnett (Gibb River Road)1 night
• El Questro (Emma Gorge)1 night
• Kununurra2 nights