At breakfast I met 2 ladies (Freda from Port Hedland and Yvonne from Perth) about to head off to do the 660km unsealed Gibb River Road full of gorges, rivers, cattle stations and bush camping, and the Bungle Bungles, with tents and a Subaru Forester. Here was my very own tag along right on the doorstep! Broome would have to wait until my return journey.
After doing my washing by hand in the shower (because the washing machines were unavailable), I made a quick trip to a 4WD place to ask advice. A huge thanks to the guys at Straight 'N' Up in Pembroke Road, Broome who kindly checked my car was 'trip ready' even though they specialise in wheel alignment, tyres and suspension. Then I restocked the larder and water, and by
11am we were heading down the 200km stretch towards Derby, the town at the start of the GRR. On the way we stopped for lunch at the Boab Prison Tree which with its wide girth was used in the 1800s as an overnight cell for Aborigines being taken to Derby for trial. Also there, was Myall's Bore, the longest cattle trough in the Southern Hemisphere at 120m long. Aborigines used to place the remains of their dead inside termite mounds and the termites worked quickly to seal up the mound again.
I bought a map of the GRR at the visitor centre in Derby and camped our first night at Birdwood Downs cattle station where there were horses wandering around. Freda had done a lot more research than me which wasn't hard as all I knew was the small amount I learned at the Broome Info Centre, the bundle of brochures they gave me which I hadn't read, and my map. True to form. Still I knew my car had higher clearance, and I was well set up in terms of fridge, battery, solar, fuel capacity, food and water so I figured if they could make it so could I.
