Our day began, of course, by waking up at Mt Elizabeth Station. When we checked in they mentioned they had two gorges on the property that could be visited, one was a little tough and you were recommended to having high clearance on your vehicle, the other did not have anything in particular that seemed difficult so we decided to take on that gorge, which was the Warla Gorge on the Hann River.
The track was on the way out of the property, back towards the Gibb River Road, which also worked for us as we were happy to continue on to Drysdale Station after the gorge. We watched our km gauge and at exactly 9.3km from the station entrance/exit was our tiny hidden track to the gorge. Before we entered, there was a large number of cattle by the side of the road. Somehow cows are just stunning to us and I thought why not get out and take some pictures. Well I got semi close, but like all animals they started to run away. Except for the bull, he stood his ground and after everyone of the cows left I decided it was best I leave too…I got a nice shot though of the cows before they retreated don’t you think?
Now back to the track. At first it seemed to be easy, we went through yet another cattle gate on the property and then the real fun began…
To start off the track was a single lane, which is normally not a problem, but it was extremely rocky, with branches and big holes all in the middle of the track. We were quite uncertain given our only new found skills behind driving a 4WD, we definitely took our time, had some tense muscles and chatted very little, there was need for extreme focus you see.
When we finally arrived at the gorge. It felt like we were at a strange beach, with it’s white sand all the way down to the waters edge, but it was a very nice space to relax. As we suspected there were not many people there at all, and they seemed to all leave right after we arrived, which for us was worrying because we had to get back through that track and what if something popped or went wrong?!
Nevertheless we spent a few moments on the sand, had a quick dip and then we got out of there. We didn’t stay long partially because the track had taken us about an hour to get there, and because other than us on the beach there was a somewhat creepy man who watched us the whole time in the water.
The journey back began and although it was a crappy track we took our time again and somehow the time went a lot quicker. Once back on the road out of the station, through there many gates (2 max), we were back on the Gibb in no time and begun our journey to Drysdale Station.
Drysdale Station was off the Gibb River Road and up the Kalumburu Road, which was in the direction of Mitchell’s Plateau and the famous Mitchell Falls, our ‘ultimate’ destination. We arrived in the mid afternoon at Drysdale and booked to stay one night. They had a bar, which opened at 4pm, so we headed there for a nice well deserved drink after 5 days. There is nothing better than a welcoming cold beer, especially after drinking warm tap water only, oh and maybe some tea.
Before we went to the bar I must note that whilst setting up our camp we met a lovely older couple, Sue and Russell who had just been up to Mitchell Falls. Sue thought Russell could offer us some advice on the road, as news had it, it was terrible, so she offered us some tea and they came over for a chat, it was very cute.
Russell was lovely, he told us that yes the road was terrible, but if we took our time we could sit on around 20-50 km/h. This confirmed most of what we had heard so at least we felt prepared as such for what we would encounter the next day or so. Alex asked about tyres and the right level of pressure for the track, Russell went to get all his tools and gadgets, then worked on our car a bit with Alex. Again we had made friends with a couple who could definitely be our grandparents, but it was really sweet to have the advice and hear their stories of the road.
Our cool beers and a yummy dinner of tacos, even after 5 days in the bush as such, along with again hot showers, was a great end to the day.
anda_ontour 