What's Up Down Under Adventure - Day 8

 


Day 8 Blog

Location: Gibb River Rd, WA



Of course, another beautiful day, and lovely breakfast. We pack up everything and hit the road again. I am now an expert at setting up and packing up my swag now, and have it done in about 5 minutes or less. Never used a swag before and impressed how good they are, comfortable and easy to manage. I sleep really well with the inbuilt mattress, large sleeping bag and just a travel pillow. Certainly, a great way to travel and camp if you want to keep things really simple! The crew advised they did see some saltwater crocs early in the morning…Oh! Everyone is packed up quickly, so we hit the road and head for Ellenbrae station on the Gibb River Road. 



Not long after leaving the Pentecost River we lose the bitumen and hit the dirt, dust and corrugations. I’m sure most of us have driven on some form of corrugations before, but I can assure you nothing like this! It was unreal, I thought the car was going to shake to pieces. It was very slow going from there on. In parts we could get up to around 50-60kmph, and many other parts struggled to do 30kmph because of potholes rocks and the dust is unbelievable. We must keep a good distance between the convoy as visibility is reduced to around 50m or less! This is where travelling with others is a great idea when you can, as we had Dean giving us lots of warning for any hazards over the UHF radios. Mobile coverage is now totally gone, so it's just my ZOLEO Global Satellite Communicator while we travel, and my Iridium GO! exec when we stop for calls etc. 



Only a short way on the dirt and our first casualty. Macca blows the left rear tire, so a good time to stop for lunch and see if we can fix it. Unfortunately, the puncture is too big for the repair kit, so the spare is put on. It's very hot dirty work for the boys do the change over, and Dean enjoys a quick shower after the work is done. Lunch is packed up and we are off again. Very slow going, as the road doesn’t improve and I can understand why it's 4WD recommended only, you wouldn’t want to take your city car on the Gibb, the suspension just wouldn’t handle it! My driver Jude is doing a great job for her first experience on such bad corrugations, and the roads are very wide which is great, so you can use all the road to avoid some hazards when it's safe to do so of course. We finally arrive at Ellenbrae Station late afternoon, and after a quick camp set up, we head over to the station owners’ home, and enjoy a lovely dinner and relax around the fire. Macca managers to squeeze his nightly meeting in, and tomorrow is a relaxing day for everyone, which is great news! Off to bed for another good night sleep in the swag!



Check out more images below!

These are a range of images & videos from our trip to the Gibb River Rd, WA!
























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