Gibb River Road: Bell Gorge to El Questro

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Bell Gorge

   Bell Gorge is one of the best-known swimming holes of the Kimberley, a series of falls tumbling over red sandstone into a deep green pool in the King Leopold Ranges in the north of Western Australia. It sits well off the Gibb River Road, reached by a rough track of around thirty kilometres from the main road to the Silent Grove campground, and then a walk of about a kilometre or so over rocks to the top of the falls. The dry season, roughly May to October, is the only time you can sensibly get here; in the wet, the road is cut by floods and closed.

   Read the complete Bell Gorge write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Bell Gorge is where the day begins. Next is Mount Barnett.

2. 2. Mount Barnett

   Mount Barnett is a cattle station in the middle of the Gibb River Road, and a roadhouse that every rider on that road ends up in, whether by plan or by thirst. It sits roughly halfway along the Kimberley's famous 660-kilometre track between Derby and Kununurra, and the Aboriginal-managed station runs the store, the campground and the fuel pumps that let you carry on in either direction.

   Read the complete Mount Barnett write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Mount Barnett comes up about 213 km into the recorded legs. Next is El Questro.

3. 3. El Questro

   El Questro began as a cattle station and became something else. This vast property in the East Kimberley, a short drive from the Gibb River Road's eastern end, was once a working pastoral lease, and it has been turned into a wilderness park, with gorges, hot springs and waterfalls set in a country of red cliffs and baobab trees. Emma Gorge, with its cool swimming hole beneath a high waterfall, and Zebedee Springs, a series of warm pools among palms, are the best known, and the walk into El Questro Gorge ends at a deep pool shaded by rock walls.

   Read the complete El Questro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 797 km.