1 day ago
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September 13, 2025 — 12:33am
Seven wonders of the Gibb River Road, WA
This iconic outback driving route that takes you through a wilderness of worn-down mountains and yawning gorges is both a physical adventure and soul-stirring experience.
1. Take the plunge at Emma Gorge
If you depart Kununurra at the Gibb River Road’s eastern end, the small town is quickly swallowed up in a vast landscape. Tarmac vanishes, dusty corrugations begin. An hour down the road, Emma Gorge is the most accessible of many gorges, although it still requires a hike. Sandstone cliffs soar, turquoise waters gurgle, delicate ferns flourish, and birds flap among the pandanus. Lie on your back in the pool and admire sunlight twinkling on the waterfall above. See westernaustralia.com
2. Immerse yourself at El Questro
El Questro station is one of our outback tourist icons, but even if you don’t stay – accommodation ranges from deluxe homestead to campsite – stop by for its natural wonders. The 60-metre red walls of Chamberlain Gorge glow at sunset and are best admired on a boat cruise; keep an eye out for rock wallabies. Zebedee Springs, bubbling up in a pocket of unexpected rainforest, is a warm natural spa where, as you wallow, you can watch butterflies flit. See elquestro.com.au
3. Splash through the Pentecost River
The Pentecost separates true Gibb travellers from Kununurra excursionists. As crocodile-haunted waters gurgle past your hubcaps and your 4WD lurches alarmingly, a sense of adventure grows. The flat-topped Cockburn Ranges in the background, streaked with layers of improbable colour, look like the sandcastles of giant children. Giant boab trees stand amid yellow grasses. This is one of the road’s best views, most pleasantly appreciated accompanied by a beer at Home Valley Station. See homevalley.au
4. Take your time in the Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges
Going is slow on the rutted road, and gets even slower at its western end, which winds through the Wunaamin Miliwundi (or King Leopold) Ranges. This worn-down limestone reef is gashed with gorges, blobbed with waterholes and guarded by giant boab trees. Waterfalls tip over rust-lipped escarpments. The silence, broken only by cackling birds, is alternatively crushing and exhilarating. Don’t rush. Turn off your engine, soak up the solitude, and your soul will expand. See exploreparks.dbca.wa.gov.au
5. Walk along Bandilngan (Windjana Gorge)
There are several gorges along the Gibb River Road, some allowing for cooling swims that wash off the dust. Bandilngan marks your return to sealed road, but resist the desire to hurry onwards to Fitzroy Crossing. Although you can’t swim – there are crocodiles about – a walk takes you along a tranquil waterway under crumbling, honey-coloured cliffs embedded with fossils and marked with ripples that show where ocean tides once flowed. See exploreparks.dbca.wa.gov.au
6. Get to grips with history at Dimalurru (Tunnel Creek)
A novel way to get from one side of the Napier Range to the other is to wade and scramble through this chilly, 750-metre, water-carved tunnel with its Gothic ceiling of stalactites and squeaking bats. The dark water is tumbled with giant boulders the size of houses. This is where Jandamarra, one of the great figures of Aboriginal rebellion against white settlers, hid out for three years before he was killed in April 1897. See westernaustralia.com
7. Wildlife spot in Danggu (Geikie) Gorge
Where the Fitzroy River slides through Danggu, its mirrored surface produces magnificent reflections of surrounding cliffs, which have startling bands of red, white and grey rock. It isn’t hard to see why this place has spiritual significance to Indigenous locals. It also harbours wildlife such as freshwater crocodiles and stingrays. White-bellied sea eagles drift above. Bring binoculars, and you might spot dainty (and rare) purple-crowned fairy wrens. See westernaustralia.com
The writer travelled as a guest of El Questro and Home Valley Station. See home-valley.com.au
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