Amalia Gorge to Wyndham WA

Today was our final one and 14th day on the Gibb River Road. Waking up with the sunrise we had our coffee and crossed the Pentecost River for the last time. No crocs spotted except the ones on our feet. Also from here on it’s bitumen all the way! Well except for the road into the gorges. The trucks came through early.

There are a couple of stations before the road ends.. Home Valley and El Questro. The later offered several popular gorge walks and thermal springs that we were interested in. 35km later we arrived at Zebedee Springs at 7:30 am and we just managed to get a parking spot. It was a pretty 600m walk through the palm forest. As expected the pools were busy. We had a dunk in the warm waters but didn’t linger long. 

Our next destination, Amalia Gorge, was on the road out. It was a 3.8km class 5 hike. It is more of a steep sided valley than a narrow gorge and offers spectacular views and a deep plunge pool and a waterfall at the end of the trail, which took us 50mins to get there. Some sections were a bit challenging requiring some climbing and clambering over rocky ledges and large sandstone slabs.

Back on the Gibb River Road we had thought of stopping to do the Emma Gorge trail, but the carparks were jammed packed and so we decided to give it a miss. 

So that was it…we drove to the end of the Gibb River Road and turned left onto the Great Northern Highway to where it ends at a little town, Wyndham,  a true Kimberley outback town. It is found beneath the Bastion Range and is situated at the mouth of the King, Pentecost, Durack, Forest and Ord Rivers in the Cambridge Gulf (will go to the lookout tomorrow).

It began to service the late 1800’s gold rush but when that ended it  continued to service the beef industry, with supplies delivered to and cattle transported from the port. From 1913, the government started construction of the Wyndham meatworks, which opened in 1919 and was involved in the export of beef to Britain. It was the town's major employer until it closed in 1985.

After passing the giant crocodile, we continued through the town to the jetty.

We then returned to the caravan park ($40 unpowered site, pool and all amenities). The afternoon passed quickly, even got some washing done getting rid of the Gibb River dust $4/load. 

Bombers play tonight … so that’s our day.

143km