The Gibb River Road
THE GIBB RIVER ROAD
About 5 weeks ago now I hit the Gibb River Road and people had warned me about the state of the road, but I though how bad can it be. Well once I turned off the highway and started the long 670km drive, I realised that what I was in for was going to be a long drive as my car was shaking like I had never expierienced before on any dirt road. Though if you ever got into any trouble at all, a helping hand was always close by as there was a lot of traffic going through there.
ELQUESTRO LOOKOUT
This lookout is a little difficult to get to, it has a sign posted at the bottom before you head up, 4WD only, and without a doubt its the only way to get up unless you are on foot. The track is a very steep and long and not in your life would a 2WD car make it. But I seem to be lucky and get yellow skys in my sunrises or sets as I got a nice one at Uluru as well a while back.
EMMA GORGE
My first stop was Elquestro Sation which is only a short drive of no more than 30kms along the Gibb, so I set up my tent and relaxed for a while before planning the next days travel which took me back to Emma Gorge. This is taken in the base of the tall waterfall which is about 1.5km walk amongst some steep climbs, rocky walkways but mostly is a reasonably easy track and is well worth the walk.
ELQUESTRO WALK
This walk is not for the faint hearted, it has 2 stages and the first one ends with a waterfall that is running into a smal pool over a massive bolder and is quite a nice and easy trek. To get to this is reasonable easy and anyone can do it, but once you climb over the bolder you see the blue guided tags turn from a blue to a red you only know it will get harder from here on in. And I was right because with out a doubt its from here on it that the walk becomes very difficult. I started this trek at 7.00am and returned stuffed and exhuasted around 1.00pm, but not before falling over a few times from climbing over the bolders along the way or climbing up steep and narrow walkways but just the long walk that just seem to keep going and going. But it was worth the effort as I was told it would be by the rangers that were behind me in the first stage.
Great shots Casey and really interesting to see your take on these locations that I know quite well. My favorite is first one, I am always a sucker for those driving into the outback shots and this is gorgeous.
I did the Gibb same time as Casey and have done it before as well, and Casey, it was in prime condition! Having just been graded the road was much better than September last year, it gets much much worse late in the season. And then there’s the Mitchell Falls of course, makes the Gibb feel like a highway
Thanks Flemming, I am glad I saw the road in good condition and not later in the season. It was bad enough for me. Maybe the Gibb is like the what the Bungles are like now. Just shocking.
nice work Casey.
love the bottom shot. that water looks bloody nice!
you managed some incredible colours in the sky for your lookout image!
wow
Thanks Stephen, I am pretty happy with what I have back so far, I will have more from Karijini next week as well.
Lovely work Casey – I enjoy reading and seeing from others travel experiences, especially if they are places that I have been fortunate enough to visit myself.
In particular I like the Elquestro lookout image – great control and IMO you can tell it’s a film shot not a digi/stitch as the sun does not have that digital blown out look and lack of dynamic range in highlights.
I also love the last shot purely for it’s aussie tropical outback oasis quality. Great saturation and very inviting !
cheers,
Hi Tony, thank you for your kind words and yes you are right that shot was taken on velvia, in fact all these shots are taken on slide as I didnt do any sticthing shots with the Canon.
Elqestro is nice and can range from 25 bucks a night for camping up to 2240 for the most expensive.