Over The Range & On To Bell Gorge

It’s Sunday morning, 8.30am. After a yummy banana, peanut butter and strawberry Jam fried bread, well you’ve got to improvise out here, we pack up camp and I call Neville from Over The Edge Tyre Repairs. He’s 50km back up the road. There’s just an answering machine so I leave a message to call me back in the next 30mins as we are hanging for yet another tyre fix.

Our options today are as follows:
1. Abandon the 4WD, eat our remaining chocolate and run into the wilderness in despair.
2. Chance the 230km drive from here to Derby with no spare tyre with two thirds of it still on dirt, therefore option 1. also may come into play.
3. Stay here at Imantji Campground another night as Neville will be around tomorrow for sure.

It’s looking desperate so Jen gives Neville another call, “Obe one, your my only hope...” and a customer picks up. Great, ask Nev nicely if we can drive up for a tyre fix as we know it’s Sunday. No worries is the response in the background from Nev. Relieved, we are now in business again.

I carefully drive the 50km back up the Gibb River Road avoiding every ground rock, pebble and corrugation that I possibly can. It seems to take forever and the closer we get to Over The Range Tyre Repairs, the more corrugated the road becomes. Neville has a perfect business and he must rough up the road in the middle of the night on his doorstep to capture a few new tyre blow outs on their way through. Just kidding Nev, the man is a saviour even if he supports the West Coast Eagles.

We finally see the sign and turn off the Gibb to drive into a car yard in the middle of the outback. He has old clapped out Toyota 4WD’s and blown out tyres strewn about the place like tomb stones in a cemetery, each telling a story about a terrible demise on the Gibb.

Neville is a kind hearted, friendly bloke who is built tough to live so remote in the Kimberley’s but he is also as soft as butter and a good laugh to boot.. He has a wife and 3 year old daughter living in the wilderness. He’s a man in love with The Kimberley’s and his photography book of the wet season up here is quite impressive.

As soon as we arrive, a few more cars join our line to be serviced or repaired. Sunday like any other is not a quiet day for Neville and he takes business in the peak dry season when he can get it.

After a bit of banter and chat about the footie, he fixes us up with a new tyre and we are on our way again.

On the road, we have really learnt to appreciate the genuine help that local folk give in such an isolated and remote area. They always smile and nothing is too much trouble to them. There generosity and spirit shines through.

We drive back to Imantji Roadhouse and find a couple of meat pies in the warmer so that’s our treat for lunch. We can’t resist buying a few more veggies because they look so mouth watering good.

From the Roadhouse, it’s 27km to Silent Grove Campground as we head South West, our base for tonight and access to Bell Gorge.

We find a nice shady spot in the campground, that’s always my prerequisite and set up our table, chairs and tarp on the ground to secure our spot. Then it’s just a 10km drive to the car park for Bell Gorge.

Bell Gorge is a 1km easy walk from the car park and on reaching the top of the falls first, we traverse across stepping stones/rocks to cross the trickling river. Following sign posts, we climb over the gorge and then down into an expansive pool fed by the waterfall we had just crossed. It’s still flowing ok, not quite like a wetter season flow but still beautiful. Jen likes Bell Gorge and thinks it’s the most picturesque swimming hole we have been to. Besides it has warm rocks that a lazy lizard can lie on after a dip in the gorge.

As we go in for another dip, someone mentioned a sighting of a small freshie slightly further down the gorge so I gently push Jen in that direction as an offering...!

It’s quite busy here and to make the most of the swimming hole, you need to capture the midday sun before it crosses and gives shade to the towering walls of the gorge.

Back at camp, it’s my favourite time of the day, 3.30pm. We are set up, I pour myself the last of our red wine and sit to relax and enjoy sunset.

Strewth, is there anyone out there close to the Barossa Valley that could send us some Shiraz up the Gibb River Road for us. Don’t mind if you deliver it personally!!!Leia mais