CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Gibb River Road: Windjana Gorge to Mount Barnett
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 210 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 11
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Windjana Gorge
Windjana Gorge is where the Lennard River slices through the Napier Range in the west Kimberley, and the gorge walls are the remains of a Devonian reef, built by algae and corals when this country lay under a warm sea about 350 million years ago. Walking beside those cliffs you can see fossils in the limestone, shells and marine creatures, and the sheer scale of the place is humbling. The walls rise some thirty metres or more above a sandy river bed, which in the dry season shrinks to a chain of green pools.
Read the complete Windjana Gorge write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Windjana Gorge is where the day begins. Next is Bell Gorge.
2. 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 comes up 171 km in. Next is Mount Barnett.
3. 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
The route ends here after 210 km.
Leg by leg
Windjana Gorge to Bell Gorge
Windjana Gorge → Bell Gorge is 130 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Bell Gorge to Mount Barnett
Bell Gorge → Mount Barnett is 211 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Gibb River Road: Derby to Mount Barnett · 422 km
- Gibb River Road · 852 km
- Gibb River Road: Derby to Bell Gorge · 473 km
- Gibb River Road: Bell Gorge to El Questro · 797 km