most people would associate the gibb river road with dust. fair enough, there is plenty of that on the road (i give the air filter a quick clean every couple of days) and even in the camps. nat and her friends were banned from using the skipping rope the other day because it caused a mild dust storm.
we still had a good swim almost every day; kris even commented that it’s healthier to go for a swim along the gibb than in the ocean up here. in the ocean there is a fair chance to run into a salty or at least box jelly fish whereas the rivers and gorges here are at worst inhabited by freshies, which, in truly aussie style, are not even signposted (she’ll be right mate).
for example: we went for a swim in the river just adjacent to the mount barnett campground – it was cool but not cold and a beautiful spot with an amazing rock island in the middle. we left nat to play there with the other kids, I mean: what could possibly go wrong?
she came back asking if she could go croc watching with her new friends in the evening? croc watching – what crocs? we asked the camp manager and sure enough he said there were a couple of little freshies in the river but they generally hid when people were having a splash. nat’s croc hunting party found two freshies and a cane toad.
there are many gorges along the gibb and the recommendation is generally to bring swimmers and footwear that does not mind a bit of water.
and even in this winter weather a quick swim in the usually chilly water is a welcome reward after the trek out to the gorges.
we also found a few other things that we were warned about not to be as bad as feared. kris’ biggest worry was the ‘fresh fruit and veg’ situation: we found that there are a number of roadhouses / shops along the gibb that stock most basic supplies, bread, dairy products, meat and fruit and veg.
and while it is true that there is not mobile phone reception we discovered that at several roadhouses wifi based internet was available, for a charge of course.
camp sites are unpowered but there are flushing toilets and warm showers. go figure. I just wish the amenities were more sustainably powered; the generator in imintji sounded like it could power an entire city. filling up the caravan tanks with drinking water and the car with diesel is also not an issue; there are the roadhouses and some stations sell diesel as well.
the price for all of these goodies – except the water – is significantly above what we would expect to pay in the metropolitan areas but then it’s a bit harder to get it out here, too, so that’s expected and fair.
for the hard core off-road outback campers that means the frontier may have been pushed back a little.