The Gibb River Road - Part 1 - Roadtrip Australia Series

Welcome back guys to another episode. This one, oh you're gonna have to look at this sign and you can figure out where we are. Have a look at this. Yeah! Welcome to Western Australia mate. It's been since October 2019 was the last time we were in WA babe. And what's my favourite saying? West is best. West is best baby. Have a look at this. 2019, it's been years mate. It wasn't long, honestly it's not that great a memory because as we headed west, no headed east from here, our old Mazda packed it in. And we did an engine mate, it wasn't the greatest trip across. But this time we're going the other way and not far from here is Kununurra. We're going to load up and then we're going to hit the Gibb. And this time we're tagging along with a couple of other friends as well so you'll get to meet them. Anyway, let's get a photo kids. What do you reckon? Yeah. So excited aren't they? Ah West is best baby. All right, we're in WA finally. We've been dodging borders for the last 18 months and we've been hanging to get back to WA and we finally made it. Next stop, Kununurra. Righto, so what we've done, we've managed to come down from Arnhem Land back to Katherine and then we're shooting straight west towards Kununurra. We've stopped at a little free camp last night along the way, it was pretty nice. That was really nice. It was called Sullivan Creek Campground. I'll drop in the wiki camps here. It's got tables, fire pits, it's just a nice little lagoon down the bottom. There is a crop warning sign up on the road so be careful there but we went down and skipped a few rocks and stuff. But campfire, a couple of beers there. What I want to do is give you a bit of info as you're coming across. It's about, I'll have to put the specs in here, but I think it's about 60km before Kununurra is where the WA border is. Now you will have to stop there, there is always a checkpoint there and the border sign too. So you jump out, get a photo with welcome to WA. But I'll put a website link here for you and you can go and check out the quarantine restrictions. Good, it is the tightest or most controlled border crossing you will do and they do take a lot of stuff. So you lose your fruit, your veggies, your honey. Yeah, they've got a lot of sort of restrictions. So yeah, and if you don't declare it and you try and sneak it in, you can get bloody fined and that. It's really not worth it for the price of a bag of carrots, you know what I'm saying? So just have a look at the info link and then you can plan. Don't do a big shop in Kathmandu like we just met someone. And you get over the border at 60km, you've got to Coles and Kununurra so you can stop up again. There you go. Anyway, we're about to hit the border, we'll jump out and show you around. We're excited. So keen. I know. West is best, baby. This one's going to be the first one in our WA adventures this year. But we've got a few tag alongs and I want you to come and meet them because I've affectionately called their caravan the Green Hornet and you'll see why in a minute. But say g'day to Chris. Hey, Chris and Phoebe from Will and Win. Say g'day mate. How you going? I'm going to stick this camera in his face for the next three weeks so he'll be used to me by the end of it. But they're going to tag along with us and we're going to do the Gibb River Road, mate. So, well, if you've heard about the Gibb before, it's well-renowned for being a caravan killer. How do you think the Green Hornet's going to go, mate? I think she'll be all right. I think she'll be all right. Hang on. I've got to show you why. They've got this beautiful lime green lotus. Have a look. We'll show you more of that in action along the way. I think we'll be all right. We're going to spend about two or three weeks here. Our main goal is to get up to Honeymoon Bay, get the tinny off. Chris is a mad keen spear fisherman and they also run a business, Will and Win, which we'll talk to you about as well because we work with those guys along the way. Anyway, I'll chat to Chris and Phoebe more. But today, Emma Gorge, there's a little place called Wagga Bun. It's an Aboriginal community camp. We're going to hit that and we're going to explore Emma Gorge and we'll start the Gibb tomorrow. Sound good? Happy days. Where are we going, kids? The Gibb! What about you, my love? We're doing the Gibb. We are doing the Gibb. I am keen, mate. We've missed out on this a few times. We've either, one, never had the right gear. Two, it's been the wrong time of year. Three, there was no water. It was too dry. This time, no matter what was happening, we were doing it anyway. But this time we've got the gear, we've got water and we've even got some tag along. So we're going to have a mint time. Can't wait, mate. Anyway, first up, as long as you don't have any more of that, I'll shut the door so you don't have to hear it. First up, Kununurra is where you're going to be to base yourself and load up for the Gibb going east to west. And you can't hit Kununurra without seeing Ivanhoe Crossing. So let's go for a look. Ivanhoe Crossing, mate. It's only about 10 minutes out of Kununurra. You've got to come down here, even if you don't want to drive across it. Sometimes it's actually shut, so you won't be able to. But it's also awesome to come down early morning. I'm going to drop in a sneaky video now because last time I've come down here, I caught a little barra, mate. I've got something to show you, mate. See? Nice little barra, mate. I've only got my third or fourth cast off the bank here. Look at him. Isn't he bloody nice, mate? Oh, yeah. I'm... God, it's good fun catching these things, hey? And if you game enough, they actually walk out on the crossing in the middle, flick big lures in the whitewash, and they catch meter plus barra. There is some big fish in here, mate. But we're just going across the crossing now, show you a bit of footage from above and from inside the car. Mate, you've got to do it. It is specky, and it takes an awesome photo as well. So... Anyway, you do spot crocs down here, mate. So keep a look out. Don't go swimming. Happy days. Have a look at this. It's not a croc, my love. And at least I know he's going to be a good pal to travel with, old Chris. So have a look at this. Run, Phoebe, run. Go again, mate. You love that, don't you? I feel for her. She's given up, mate. The head went down and everything. Here she comes. She's going to hitch a ride with me. You're fairly better anyway. What's he doing to you, mate? We love that trick. It's usually Bec that cops it. Jump on. I'll take you to the top of the hill, Pheebs. Anyway, I just introduced you to Chris before. This is his other half, Pheebs. Say hello, Pheebs. Hanging out the window. What an introduction, mate. Oh, dear. That's the other half of the green hornet, mate, her and Chris. They're killing it. So what made you decide on a lime green lotus, Pheebs? It was all that was happening in COVID. That's all you could get. It's actually growing on me. The colour is actually growing on me. I do like it. That's why you married me. It's a lot cooler than charcoal. Oh, mate, you should hear what she's saying about you. All right, so when you're stocking up for the give, there is alcohol restrictions in WA up here. You have to show your ID, obviously, and you can only get a limited number. So you can get like a rum or bourbon or whatever. But there is a distillery in town for rum. It's called the Hootery. They do their own rum, the Ord River Rum. I can't remember which one's the best, and I'm pretty sure I like them all. So I just found this three pack at the Thirsty Camel, and that'll do me. I won't tell Bec how much it was, but I'll tell you how delicious they are when we're on the give. Don't worry about that. So make sure you stock up on a few froffies when you're in Cunners. Righto, dear. Come on. What's going on? All right. So what I wanted to do, because we are hitting the Give River Road, a lot of people ask about basically how we prepare to go off-grid for a couple of weeks. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to open all my cupboards. I know. That's a big no-no for Bec. She always freaks out about people sitting in her cupboards. You guys are probably going to twitch at how I've packed everything. But I just wanted to show you, we are literally packed to the brim. We are. I'll jump in there. So what we've done, will be your last destination for a big stock up before you hit the Give, running east to west, right? On the other end, it would be Broom or Derby, but we've literally spent probably close to $600 on food, meat, or actually probably more. Probably closer to $1,000 if you include beer and meat and everything else. But we plan to do the Give once and probably spend at least three weeks on it. So we have loaded up to the hilt, mate. But anyway, keep going, dear. I just want to point out all downsides of our bed is like water and... There you go. You know, because it's pretty hot. So, you know, you need something to quench your thirst. Anyway, what I'm going to do is open up all these cupboards. I'm actually nervous. I hate when... It's all right. But here is what's going on. So I've got heaps and heaps of rice because we eat tons of rice. And if we do run out of food, it's like a good kind of thing to have. We've got a birthday coming up. So I've had to get everything to make a cake. We've got all this storage up here. And look, Justin has literally bought about a thousand packets of Tendarko because he thinks he's going to catch tons of fish. I've already got heaps of fish. That's one thing we do have. We've got heaps of fish from Arnhem Land. You know, I've got a second little freezer in the car. So we'll just rotate night for night between fish and meat. We'll smash it. I want to jump in. A couple of quick tips on this stuff. As we learned when coming up out of Arnhem Land, what happened to our peanut butter, mate? Yeah, it did. The lid fell off and peanut butter went everywhere. So make sure you grab all these and give them a good tight screw. Other things to add. Sorry. So what I've done is I've bought a heap of fruit and veg and worst case scenario, if it does start to go off or not get eaten, I'm just going to freeze it and use it for smoothies. But as you can see, the fridge is packed. And then the fridge here as well. So wow. That is the fullest it's ever been. And like I said, this is for cakes. Okay, Justin and I are going to try not to eat these. So we're pretty loaded. That's 220 litre fridge and freezer there. Got 110 in the ute that's full of drinks and some more food. And I've got another 22 litre freezer that's full of fish. And because we're traveling with Chris and Phoebe for the Gibb, he's got another 80 litre full of meat in his ute as well. So just to add, I've got heaps down here too. So this is all I can stuff down the bottom here. And all our long life milks are in there. And then I've kept all my potatoes and onions and things in there. And I've got a couple little things under the bed as well, but not much. So that's us for two weeks. Hopefully the food lasts as well. It will. Not if this one stays in the fridge. Get out of the fridge you rat bags. Anyway, we'll give you a few more tips along the way. We're about to leave Kununurra now and kick off our Gibb River Road adventure. So we're pretty stoked. And we'll try and give you as much info as we can along the way. So you can make it like a lifetime or once in a lifetime trip for yourself. And we are planning two plus weeks on the Gibb, so. Three plus, four plus weeks. No. All right, let's get going. Giddy up. Yay. Giddy up. Good one. Ready? No. She's killing me. Giddy up. All right, this is the drive into Wagga Bun, it's called. I think that's how you pronounce it. Just a dirt road access. Looks like it's about 2.7 Ks until we get there. And this is where we're going to pull up the sub and we'll have a yarn and see if we either want to do a quick Arvo run into Emma Gorge or if we just want to have a chill Arvo and then hit it on the way with the caravans tomorrow on the way to El Cuesto. What are you thinking, mate? Um, yeah. Five seconds ago. Just like that, mate, we are set up at Wagga Bun. When you come in the driveway, you'll meet the caretakers. They tell you about the joint. It's 25 bucks a night and then you just drive around and find your own spot. We've got a mad little setup. You're sort of in a valley, so you get the shade pretty early. We've got one van on this side, got another one on this side, and she reckons they've got their own gorge, their own little swimming hole. They've also got a lookout for sunset. So, I don't know, Chris, I'm reckoning sunset, beers up on the lookout, mate. What do you reckon? Beers anywhere sounds good. Hey, I'll tell you, Chris put me onto these if you haven't seen these before. Mount Franklin sparkling from Coles, mate. They are legit when you don't want to have a beer because it's too early. They are, Sam. Best bit is our kids hate them. They are so good and the kids hate them. Yeah, good point. Anyway, lunch time. We'll find somewhere to take the kids for a swim and then I reckon sunset at the lookout is a good option. Come and see the wifey. How's your lunch, dear? Beautiful. Wraps. Falafel wraps. Falafel. Did you want to tell everyone your story about falafel? They don't need to know that, dear. Right, we'll leave that for another time. Anyway, falafels and tofu. Don't let her near them, mate. I'll tell you. Well, you can, just don't sleep with her at night time. Just don't come in my vicinity. It's probably TMI. Anyway, we're gonna set up and then we'll go find a swimming hole for the kids. Come on, Bill. You're going in. Is it cold or what? Is it too cold? It doesn't look cold. You're not cold, Jack. Oh, here you come. Well, we found a water hole anyway. It's like, it kind of feels like it's an irrigation channel at the back of the campground. But the water temp is wicked, hey? Super clear, all reeds down one side and then it's like a bit of a rocky and a sandy bottom. What do you reckon, mate? Water temp good? Awesome. Awesome. It's nice, hey? It is so hot here. And then we're gonna see if we can ditch the kids and me and Chris might do a bit of a hike, find this gorge down the back of the property before we hit the sunset lookout, hey? All right, I think it's time to have a proper introduction of our Tagalong crew. Here we go. So we'll swing over here. I don't normally have a beer in my hands. I'm gonna sneak in the middle. So this is something different for us. You wouldn't see us traveling with people too often, but Phoebe, Chris, Little Valley, hey? And they got Little Haynes as well, but he's over there watching a movie with the kids. We're going to travel together for the next two or three weeks on the Gibb. Now, you probably, I'm going to put you on the spot, Phoebs, but if you had to describe Will and Wind in 30 seconds, go. So we make Sam Freetowers out of this, oh the baby crying. That's Will and Wind. Will and Wind is working between children. That's even better. She's all right. We'll do take two, ready? Take two and 30 seconds to explain Will and Wind, go. No, I need one. Wait, I need a practice run. I'll give you a, so if you followed our travels for a while and on socials, you would have seen that we've been using Sam Freetowers for a while and we brought out our own design. So the Kimberley, I'll drop in a little one here because it's pretty damn cool, but these are the guys behind the whole design and building slash manufacturing of these things, developing. So it was their startup business and behind it, here's your take two, 30 seconds. Yeah, so we take recycled plastic bottles and we turn them into lightweight, compact, quick-dry, Sam Freetower microfiber towels. Perfect. But we didn't want them to be just your standard towels, so we chucked cool photos from around Australia on the towels as designs. That's right. So we'll drop it all in here. I'll also put all their info in. Will and Wind, you can jump on and grab some for yourself and we've got a sneaky discount code for you, so chuck that in. But I reckon we only met these guys through business. We've met them, I don't know, probably over 12 months, 18 months ago, but in person, we just met them in Darwin a couple of weeks ago and I reckon we're going to be pretty bloody good mates for the end of this. So stay tuned for the next couple of episodes on the Gibb. It's going to be good times. Cheers to that. Cheers guys. Oh, your beer. Hey, I did have one somewhere. All right, dinner time. I'm going to try something new tonight. I've got a pork belly and I've had it drying in paper towel and salt for like a few hours while we went for a walk. What I'm going to do is do it on the Weber, but this is all a bit of an experiment for me. But anyway, I'm just going to throw it skin side down on a hot grill, like so. I'm going to do that for like 10 and then I'm going to flip it on a trivet and let it bake in there and hopefully that crack on comes up legit. That's my plan anyway. Let us know in the comments if you think I'm rubbish at this and tell me how to do it properly. I might be onto something here. I reckon this is like 10 minutes. Have a look at this. That is looking legit. Now I'm going to put the grill, this is a trivet out of our grill inside. I'm going to put that there, sit that on there and then shut the lid for half an hour. I have to show you this because it's a real treat for the eyes. The green hornet in gold now. Check it. Look at the colour of that thing, would you? Swing in here, check this out. I think I've pretty much nailed it. I'm not being too, anyway, I'm pretty happy. I'm pretty happy with myself. Have a look at this. Here is the crackling. Wow. If you can see there, we've already tried a few pieces. For me and Chris, we'll actually give you one. I'll do it right now. Here you go. Who are you giving it to? For you, mate. Oh, good. Yeah, my lovely wife. Hang on, grab that. Swing it around. Good to hear the crunch, but really put the crunch in. Oh, yes. Good one. No, we did. We did well. It was a bit of a battle. We had a flare up with the barbecue. We had to transfer and carry on, but anyway, that's it. The meat done and then all we're to do is have a couple of corn cobs and a couple of eggplants and then our go-to for this trip. Do you know, in Kununurra today, we bought about 12 bunches of broccolini. So if you're in Kununurra and you can't find it, I'm very sorry, but that's where it's gone. Me and Chris bought it all. Broccoli is life. Because you know what, when you're doing, well, our big thinking behind it was, dear, that we're going away from a grocery store for ages, you know, like three weeks. You know how long salad lasts, like five or six days. But if you buy veggies that last in the drawer, like corn and broccolini, that will last like three weeks and we can just smash it with our meat and fish every night. So that's our thinking behind it. Anyway, sorry Kununurra for your lack of broccolini. This is us. I'm going to carve this up. We'll put it on, Chris has got this little platter board and I reckon for the next three weeks we'll just be picking off a platter board. But there you go. Look at that. Pork belly, veggies, start of a gig. Cheers to that. Again, no beer, but anyway, you get the picture. You never do that for me, do you? No, that's why I'm traveling with Chris. Cheers to that. Oh, excuse me, are you eating all my delicious crackling bits? Every time I eat pork, I'm like, ha, Phoebe, you're killing me. I feel like if I got really bad stomach cramps from pork, I'd still eat it. It's like alcohol, you get a hang of it. I'd rather eat that than roast pork. Hey, we've come down this little swimming hole. We're going to get in the water and show you some cherubin and some fish at night time. Chris has got this mad light, so we're going to get a snorkel on and go for a swim. Everyone's thinking we're pretty mad, but we're just going to, we'll take a GoPro in this one and we'll see if we can get some footage of a cherubin underwater. Don't I look funny? I look good. Chris is ready for the day. What do you call this concoction, mate? Cooktown special. I've had this for about five years. It's the best hat I own. It's like a half mix of like an old baby's gardening hat and then a kid's play hat. Plenty of character. The solar eclipse. Best name for a hat ever. See you later, Wagga Bun Gorge. Hello, Emma Gorge. I was wondering why it was taking you 12 seconds to reply and boom, there it is. Hit the Gib, mate. Here's the turn off Gib River Road, Mount Barnet. Have a look at the sign, dear. Would you like to tell them I'm coming from this way? I might have missed the turn off, as per usual. That's all right. The whole reason for this trip is to do the Gib and I missed the turn off to the Gib, so well done. Anyway, here we go. We'll take you in here. There's a Gib River Road, so I'm going to stop and get a bit of footage because, you know, we're only going to do the Gib once. That's right. We're going to make the most of it. Got to get a photo of this sign too. It's pretty iconic. Can you start the Gib? You can climb up there too, so. I'm getting up there. Yeah, good stuff. Ready to hit the Gib? Let's go. All right, we're ready to hit the Gib, baby. Giddy up. And here we are, mate, Emma Gorge Resort. Have a look at this. You drive into this little oasis, mate. We're going to park up, get ready and do the walk, and then we'll come back down to the resort later and throw the kids in the pool, I reckon. I think the biggest issue is we're going to try and find a park with the caravan on. We found it. Check it. Happy days. Caravan parking at Emma Gorge. Where are we going, Beth? I don't know. We're going to Emma Gorge. You ready for a hike? Me and Bec thought hiking with kids was really like a pain in the bum and they carry lots of gear. Well, you have to come and have a look at this. What's going on here, mate? They call me the pack horse. He's got fins, he's got a Yeti, and he's got an underwater camera. I don't know. Normally, the Yeti's got fins. A bit early for that. Today, it's just waters. Anyway, we'll find a sign and tell you how far it is. I think it's only half an hour, Bec reckons, but I can't remember. It's really nice, though. We'll get up there and give you a look. Tell me a story, mate. All right, so you need a wilderness pass to get into Emma Gorge and El Cuestro, so it covers you for both. You can get a day pass for about $22, I think, or $11, can't remember, or a family pass for $55. We just got a couple of family passes. Display them on your car and you're good to go for the whole of the El Cuestro station. I'm just going to run back, pop these on the car. All right, and away we go. We're onto it. We just went past the sign. It tells us it's 3.2km's return and you need two hours without a swim. Old mate Scuba Steve over here, we're probably going to need about five hours so we can go for a bit of a paddle. I'll have to have a spell halfway. But anyway, we're looking forward to it. It's eight o'clock in the morning, it's stinking hot already, so our swim's going to be good. Yeah. Uh-oh, are you going to be all right? Yes, I will be fine. Two key words. I know you're fit enough, but are you able? Oh, here we go. I'm going to take one at a time. Oh, you're under pressure now, I'm actually videoing this. Oh, I know. Every time Bec does something like this, she always ends up in the drink. You let the viewers down, dear. The walk's not over yet. Hopefully she can pull off a bit of a bloopers reel for you before we hit the gorge. Here we are. I'm going to show you this top hill here because it's absolutely specky, mate. But how far? Chris has got a nap man on his watch. How far was it? It was about 3.3. 3.3. Bit of zigzagging with the kids. Yeah, and took us what? How long did it take us? That's the next 50 minutes. 50 minutes. There you go. So two hours return is good, but check it out at the top hill. We're going to go for a swim now with the GoPro.