From Derby our first stop was going to be at Windjana Gorge, it's only a few hours out of Derby and bitumen most of the way. On arrival we were pleased to see only a handful of campers already there. We chose our spot and went for a walk to the beginning of the gorge where we were told there were some fresh water crocs basking in the sun.

The walk to the gorge was through open grass land with just a few larger trees, but once at the gorge there was lush tree cover with trees growing on either bank of the river. We saw many birds, including a Blue Winged Kookaburra as we approached the gorge and once in the gorge we had no trouble finding the crocs, just lounging about.

We planned an earlier start in the morning to walk the 7Ks up and back along the gorge, we wanted to beat the heat and the crowds. The walk was brilliant, though we were surprised how many people had the same idea. On the walk we saw many amazing rock formations, flowers and crocs, one very big one in particular, he was huge!

After returning to camp we made lunch to take with us to Tunnel Creek. This is a 700 meter natural tunnel eroded through the range. Here we had to walk through waist deep water which was quite cool, and we were told by many that they had seen crocs in there, we didn't. We did see amazing rock formations and fish, but no crocs.

The next day we moved on to Silent Grove, we had been informed that the road was in excellent condition and that there were few people in the campground. They were wrong on both accounts. The road wasn't bad on the whole, but some parts were very rough. The campground was like Windjana, quite when we arrived, but then it filled as all the people from Windjana arrived.

The next morning we headed up to Bell Gorge, again early to beat the heat and people. We succeeded this time and were rewarded with some great bird life and we got to see the gorge before it filled with people swimming and taking photos. At Silent Grove there was a lovely creek where we were once again lucky to see many birds, including a Bower Bird showing off to any female he could get the attention of.

The next day we were heading to Mt Barnett Station where we would stay at Manning Gorge. On the way we stopped at a couple of oasises, Adcock Gorge and Galvans Gorge. Adcock was first and when we arrived we were the only ones there, so on our way in we disturbed a snake and saw a croc in the waters of the gorge, it truly was a stunning gorge with lots of water lilies in the water and palms and trees on the banks. We were disappointed to see many signs of camping and fires, despite there being many signs saying No Camping and No Fires!

Galvans was a smaller gorge and here there were already people swimming when we arrived, it too was lovely, but the obligatory toilet paper behind the trees in the carpark was very off putting. Why people do this is beyond us, and it appears to be getting worse and worse!

Mt Barnett Roadhouse was a nice surprise when we arrived, good service and a good place to top up. Here we paid for our camping in Manning Gorge. We planned on only staying the one night as we had ideas of visiting the gorge that afternoon and then leaving in the morning. Turns out that the walk is 5ks and they recommend allowing 3 hours. So we decided to stay an extra night and walk the gorge in the morning.

Like Silent Grove, it was quite when we set up, but then everyone from Silent Grove started arriving, including some people we had started socialising with, which was nice.

To walk to Manning Gorge you have to swim across the river right at the start before you even start the walk. They do provide a tub to float your belongings across on. Once across with all our gear I decided to start the walk barefoot, I have been walking everywhere with thongs on, but this time I started carrying my thongs. I ended up doing the whole walk barefoot and I must say it was quite an experience, one I would like to do again.

At the gorge there was already a lot of people, but it is a very big gorge, so it didn't feel crowded. Here we saw lots of fish as well as birds and lizards. We both had a swim in the cool waters and enjoyed the atmosphere of the gorge.

From Mt Barnett east along the Gibb nothing was open because of Covid. This meant we would be free camping, which up until now we had seen signs saying camping wasn't allowed.

Fortunately from Mt Barnett to the east there were no signs saying we couldn't camp, so our next stop was Durack River. Again on arrival there were very few people there. We chose to drive up along a very sandy track next to the river to see what was available, but as there was someone already camped there we thought we would turn around and go somewhere else, well that was the plan before we got bogged and with the help of the camper we managed to get un bogged and turned around. But it took around an hour, so he suggested camping near him, which we did. After everyone had gone to bed, Julie and I were sitting quietly around our little fire when we were visited by a Dingo. In the morning we could see tracks around our camp and our neighbors from Dingos.

Today would prove to be the roughest part of the Gibb. We came across a couple heading west that had just put their spare tyre on, they had put a rock through their rear tyre and we also came across one of our traveling companions who had had a puncture in their van tyre and hadn't noticed until the rim was completely destroyed. We then came across them again when the wheel they had fitted had come off, they weren't having a good day.

We made it through OK though and enjoyed a nice quite night in Wyndham. The Gibb had lived up to its reputation and while we thought it was busy, we were told that in a usual season that El Questro sees around 800 people a day and that the dust never settles on the Gidd. A ranger had told us they usually see between 10 and 15 tour busses a day, this year there were none. So while we couldn't visit some places, we couldn't imagine what it would be like in a normal season!