Kimberley trip summary

Part 2 of my Western Australia odyssey began bright and early on the 12th of July when a big 4wd bus came to pick up the 5 of us at 7am. I have to say, day 1 was quite daunting for several reasons. First, I noticed that the trailer had the following written on it: “5:30 wake up, 5:45 roll up, 6:00 eat up, 7:00 get on sit down shut up”. Are you serious?? Apparently yes, as I found myself waking up before the crack of dawn for 8 straight mornings. Our new guide was called Freckle, a small skinny guy who looked to be in his 40′s and clearly had been doing this for some time. He’s got kind of a hard exterior, but as the trip went on he became more likeable and amusing. He told us all straight up that however much alcohol we thought we’d be needing for this trip, we should double it, and make sure we bought it at the first roadhouse, as we’d be paying more than twice the price if we ran out while on the road. Upon hearing this, Dave immediately doubled his already-enormous supply of drink. I was mostly concerned about the impending lack of sleep, and the possibility of freezing my tuckus off like I did in Karijini. Freckle’s a stickler for rules, and had already ruled out the possibility of sleeping by the campfire.

 
 
 
 
We were joined by 15 newcomers, and our bus was completely filled. On day 1, I was stuck sitting with Lars, a 19-yr-old Dutch guy and the only one on this tour younger than me. He completely talked my ear off the entire ride while I envied everyone else who got to doze off. We were literally the only ones talking… and he asked me the most random questions, like if I’d ever done drugs, or if I was a racist. And then he began to bust my chops about everything, accusing me of being lazy, antisocial, and a complainer, before I’d even had much of a chance to prove that any of these were true! So I was put off from the start, and beyond annoyed before we even reached our first destination. But over time, it got better, and we became friendlier at least. And everyone else thought he was weird too… but he’s also pretty cool.

Our group was pretty diverse, and everyone got along reasonably well. There was the usual cluster of Germans and Brits, plus people from Canada, Switzerland, Wales, Ireland, and Sweden. After setting up camp each night, it got dark so early so all there was to do was just sit around the campfire and chat. We somehow discovered that Huey Duey & Louie have different names in different languages [some more amusing that others!], and animal sounds also sound different. So funny!

As a whole, this 9-day trip seemed like an eternity. We had really long days that began super early, and by 8:00 each night I’d be struggling to stay awake. I could barely keep my eyes open on the bus every day, I was always so tired. We went so many hours between meals, which was hard at first but I got used to it after awhile. Looking back, I almost feel like I didn’t see enough of the Kimberley. Packing, unpacking, and driving just took SO MUCH TIME with this massive truck and ridiculously bumpy dirt road by the name of Gibb, even though we weren’t covering all that much distance. But still, I don’t know how it could have been done any other way.

We had to be at our campsite before sunset (so, around 5:30), at which point we had to take all our bags down from the top of the truck, get all the swags out from the back, and then dig out all the cooking gear and prepare dinner. We were put into 5 different groups, which rotated cooking and cleaning during the trip. And we had a set order for being served our food, which was especially annoying when it was 9pm and none of us had eaten in 7 hours and had to wait til everyone else was served if we were the last ones up. Dave, Ruth, and I were group 5… so we ate last most often, but only had to cook once. The night we did cook, it was some kind of veggie stew where we had to chop up the meat and veggies and then pour in some jam and pineapple juice. Sounds disgusting, but it was actually quite amazing. We put in so many random leftovers that we’d never be able to duplicate it if we tried, which is a shame because it was delicious. And Ruth was in the best mood we’d ever seen her in, laughing and joking around the whole time we cooked! It was so strange… and so short-lived. We suspect she’d indulged in a drink of some sort earlier in the evening.

The truck was really crowded and old; in fact, on day 1 it rained, and water leaked through the roof and onto the people stuck in the back. There just wasn’t enough room, and it was uncomfortable. It was so dusty and bumpy, but the bumpiness wasn’t so bad actually. I was stuck wearing glasses the whole time, of course. The weather was really quite comfortable, though, after the initial rain on day 1.

 
So it went. When this part of the trip finally ended, I had mixed feelings about it. I’d enjoyed part 1 way more of course, but I was undecided as to whether or not it was worth it doing the Kimberley. Had I not done it, I think I would have regretted it more because it seemed so alluring to me before. But had I known how long, tiring, and tedious the trek would be, in retrospect I think I would have spent my $1500AU on something else. But man, I wish I’d enjoyed the Bungle Bungles more than I did! I’d expected them to be the trip highight, but I left them feeling unsatisfied. And all the gorges we saw were nice, but they’re no Karijini. I guess you can never really know until you try, right? But we did drive through some gorgeous mountain ranges, which were even more stunning in the right light. And crossing riverbeds every day never got old, either.

But… I can say I survived the Gibb River Rd! I didn’t get assaulted by any of the deadly Australian creatures, didn’t crack my head gorge jumping, didn’t get sick on the bumpy bus, didn’t freeze to death in my swag, and went without eating for several hours at a time. And we didn’t get stuck in one of the most remote places in the world either! Our truck didn’t break down (only went through 3 flat tires). We crossed a road that is completely flooded out during the wet season, and only meant to be taken on by experienced drivers with 4wd vehicles. So really, I guess this part of the tour was a success.