Cockburn Ranges

Corrigated Gibb River Road

Severe corrigations, rocky terrain, deep bulldust holes and miles of dry mud flats provided diverse road conditions for our trek from Kununurra to Wyndham. We travelled for 61km along the Gibb River Road to the Pentecost River crossing. For those who have seen the movie Australia much of it was filmed in the Kimberly region and the famous Pentecost River crossing is featured. The Gibb River Road is such harsh terrain, large sharp rocks and unbelievable corrigations is how I could best describe the road conditions.  Just after we turned onto the Gibb River road it followed alongside the spectacular Cockburn ranges. So the unique scenery makes up for the road conditions.  As it was later in the day when we travelled this section the colours of the ranges were so rich, the rusty red colour was amazing.

Cockburn Ranges



Catching Barra in the Pentecost River



The mullet baitfish

We made it to the Pentecost River, when Darrin and I lived in Kununurra this was one of our favourite camping and fishing spots so we were looking forward to finding some of our spots again. As we drove alongside the river we realized that after 12years of wet seasons the country had changed a bit, places we had camped had been washed away and were just piles of bulldust and debris washed up river in the wet. We managed to find a grassy spot close what we use to call the rapids.  This river is very tidal and the bigger the tide the better the fishing. We had to wait for high tide to fish as there is not much water around at low tide. Once the tide is in there is a small window of opportunity to catch that big Barra before the tide turns and rushes back out.  Darrin and Emma got some live bait (Mullet) with the cast net. So we fished only using the live bait and it was fantastic. The girls had been busting to use their had reels (they have both  found one each on this trip), so we used our old method of putting the hand reels on the ground with cans on top and when you hear the tinkling of the cans the fish is on. We had so much fun reeling in Barra after Barra, mainly small ones but we were all excited and loving the great fishing. We found that the bait fishing was a real art and it was hard to land the big Barra so we lost some good size ones. We fished for a few hours until the tide went out too much and then the Barra really slowed down. 

Sunset on the Pentecost

Our Pentecost camp

Travelling the Karungie Track

It was time to move on and start along the Karunjie  4wd track. This track travels through El Questro station country and follows along the Pentecost River for some time. It also follows the Cockburn ranges providing awesome views. We stopped at little creek to camp the night. The girls were most excited about being able to have a swim.  We were visited by two horses for the evening, they were very friendly, I think they were lonely and enjoying company. Sitting by the fire with the two horses for company was a different experience.

Friendly horses visiting our camp

Cattle tracks are easily seen

Bulldust was amazing - Gary the Safari can did well - no dust



Dry mud flats

We finished the Karunjie 4wd track travelling over the dry mud flats. Once we reached the boundary of El Questro Station the road then followed the King River. This also is a very tidal river and we happen to stop for lunch at high tide so Darrin could not resist a fish, only scoring a Catfish, or the fancy name for them up here is Silver Cobler.  

Fishing the Pentecost

Boab Prison Tree

Further along was the famous Boab Prison Tree. The girls were so excited that they could actually climb inside the tree. This tree was used to house the prisoners overnight during transportation.  We also got to see some more aboriginal rock art, although it had faded a lot some of the art was quite interesting.

The Boab Nut Artist - Clinton

We made it to the town of Wyndham. Emma and Kate spotted the big Crocodile as we drove into town, so we had to stop for a photo and a look.  It was here we found an aboriginal man carving a crocodile on a boab nut. This was such a wonderful talent to watch, the man’s name was Clinton and he was using a pocket knife to carve with. We sat with him and his wife for about an hour while he carved the nut and he had a wonderful sense of humour we had so much fun.  The girls now have a carved boab nut to remember their visit to Wyndham and the fascinating boab trees. We finished the day by enjoying a wonderful Kimberly sunset at the Five Rivers Lookout.

Sunset at Five Rivers Lookout

We headed back to Kununurra via the 4wd track which followed the Ord River.  Camping overnight at the Mambi boat ramp, we enjoyed an afternoon fishing the Ord, landing only a few small Barra.