i stand corrected. when i rather unwisely opined that there was a choice between comfort and protection from flat tyres i was completely and utterly wrong. the gibb does not care and kills your tyre no matter what pressure you run (actually the gibb is a veritable tyre cemetery: there is a discarded / ruined tyre or at least chunks of one every few hundred meters).
all i did was quickly drive up the hill above home valley station where i could get a decent mobile reception; it’s apparently the only spot between derby and kununurra. just about 5 km up the road, half of it is actually sealed.
on the way back my trusty tyre pressure monitor starts beeping and sure enough one tyre is losing air. this time the gibb was kind enough to not rip a massive hole in the sidewall, it merely put a little puncture in the middle of the tyre. not a knock out punch, more a friendly slap on the shoulder.
it still took three beads to seal the hole. it’s holding up so far and we’ve made it to kununurra where i ordered two new tyres today. oh well.
but that’s it: today we crossed the penetecost river and completed the drive across the gibb.