THE KIMBERLEY DONE DIFFERENTLY – Locals’ favourite Free Camps & secret attractions

We've just uncovered the best kept secret in the Kimberley. Oh, this is looking soft. Let me tie us down to about 10 PSI because we're actually going to cross the Ord River. That is sick. I didn't know this existed. That's just too good. Our journey across Australia is about to hit the greatest remote destination in the country, if not the planet. That is all tyre pressure. W-A baby! There's a river of diesel happening down here. But we're doing this the off-grid way. We found a secret highway that runs from the Northern Territory into WA that rivals the Gibb. We're about to camp in the middle of the Ord River. I mean, come on. This is where the adventure really kicks off. This is Off Grid. Welcome back, folks, to the wild and woolly Northern Territory. Last time you joined us, we were washing off the dust from an epic golf crossing in the crystal-clear waters of Litchfield National Park. But now our journey across the country is about to kick up a notch. Well, I cannot wait to get started on this next leg of our trip from an island off the east coast, Fraser, to an island off the west coast, Dirk Hartog. We are about to enter that part of the journey that I've really been looking forward to, and that is to come across into the WA side of things and hit the Kimberley. But to do that, I managed to find myself a route. People are sort of hinting it could rival the Gibb, but yet no one has ever heard of it before. I'm not going to paint the picture as if I'm the expert here. I hadn't even heard of this. I've done a bunch of research, so I cannot wait to hit this road and see what it's all about. That sounds so mysterious. We are crossing a border, though, right? We're not only crossing the border. We are crossing the border about five times. That'll give you an idea of what sort of a road we're about to do. This is going to be cool. Hell yeah, mate. Let's do it. The Kimberley is a destination that every red-blooded Aussie dreams of visiting. But our route to get there is a bit of a secret, following an old cattle stock route across the border from the Northern Territory to Halls Creek. What these guys don't know is, before we even get started, we're going to go and visit an operating cattle station. When I say operating cattle station, we're talking 50,000 acres to try something I have never, ever done before. Let's get stuck into it. The journey ahead is going to take us through the beating heart of Aussie cattle country. But looking at the vast floodplains spreading out in front of us, it's hard to believe that this is all working station land. That is, until you see how the locals get around. Hello. How are we? We're here to catch up with my good mate Jai, a local tour guide, and Olivia of Finis River Station, who's told us we've just got to come and check out some incredible wetlands before we leave the NT. What? On this beast of an airboat. Now, I know for a fact that nothing beats a four wheel drive when it comes to getting around out bush. But holy heck, this has got to be a close second. Life in the northern half of Australia is governed by one huge weather event, the annual wet season, which dumps an average of nearly 1600 millimetres of water across the summer months and brings with it a host of bird life, animals and wetlands, just like this one. Jai, for crying out loud, where, what, what is this? I've got two questions. Firstly, I'm a little bit overawed by what just happened. Where are we right now, mate? Mate, we are floating on the floodplains of the Finis River, located on the Finis River Station. So it's home to many different species of bird life. There's a lot of species of fish. We've got a lot of, we've got the saltwater crocodile and the freshwater crocodile that inhabits this area. How far can they jump, mate? Well, I reckon you should be safe there. But this is why we've got the big stick on board. It's just to keep them at an arm's distance away from you. It is friggin' stunning. It's not until you get out into the middle of it. It's a little bit unnerving, I won't lie. But it's not until you get out into the middle of it that you can appreciate the vastness of it. It's just, it's, it shouldn't exist. And secondly, what else shouldn't exist? Is this, what am I standing on? What is this thing? This is an airboat. This is an LS1 powered fan moated boat, mate. It just scoots across anything. LS1 powered fan boat. Fan boat. That doesn't quite sum it up. Yeah, well when you've got a mixture of water and grass, mate, you need something that doesn't have a prop and this thing will go absolutely anywhere. It literally does go anywhere. We just turned around then and I thought, oh, we're going to have to do a three pointer. No, just up over the side and back in again. And back where we went. Unbelievable. Now, there's one thing I want to check out, if we can please, because it's not something I get from where I am in South West WA. Can I see a lily? You can see a lily, mate. There's plenty of lilies. So all this wildlife and all this grass matting and everything and all the lily pads actually play a large part of why this water is still here. And this time of year, it actually stops the water from evaporating. So all this grass matting, you can see as far as you can, actually helps keep the water cool and keep the water here throughout the year, which keeps the ecosystem alive. For me, that is just synonymous with the top end. You see, you just don't see that anywhere else unless, you know, someone's pond or something that's got them growing. But to see them in the wild, I know it's a little bit strange. A request of me to ask, but to see a lily in the wild. Actually, I don't smell of anything at all. But look at that. Stunning, eh? The other perk of this, mate, if you're out in the boat and you're stuck there for a few days, you can pull this out and figure out how deep you are. But if you're hungry, you can also eat it. So this tastes a little bit like celery, but even better, I reckon. Heard that before. There you go. Stitch up incoming. What do you reckon? Another one, soldier. That is superb. Put that on the frying pan. It actually tastes like how I imagine the water would taste. Slightly tannity. That's pretty good. Yeah. This, that's sick. That's so cool. I'm blown away. Of course, there's one rule in the top end. Where there's water, there's crocs. And next, Olivia is taking us further into the Finnish river system to see if we can spot a local. There's only a few ways to be able to get up this close and personal to a saltwater croc in the wild. And the other way, you don't want to know about. Sick. That's so cool. What a freaking wild way to start a trip. Now, look, it's not about needing. It's about wanting. I suddenly want an airboat. What I just want to sort of reiterate, though, this is a working cattle station and we are now sort of floating over. Well, essentially, they're paddocks. We've seen three, four, five crocodiles now. This is outrageous. The top end blows my mind. Oh, hell yeah. I think I've got room for one at home. My job here is done. Now, as I said before, this is very much a working property and the guys run plenty of cattle across the station. Next up, they're taking us out to some drier ground to meet some way more friendly locals. Brahman cattle are a popular choice in the top end, thanks to their tolerance of heat, humidity and drought. But it's not very often you can get up this close and personal to them. And I reckon I may just have found my spirit animal. Oh, that is a gross tongue, brah. I believe this is Louise. She is as big as she's going to get. So she's a bit of a midget. She's got an oddly shaped head. And as you can see here, have a go at these ears. Look at the size of those suckers. Now, I'm not one to talk. I get it. I'm not one to talk. Oh, that's a raspy tongue. But I reckon you are gorgeous, eh? Righto, we're having tofu for dinner. Before we start out on our journey west to the Kimberley, Jaya wants to show us one more local hotspot. And for that, we're heading down to the coast near the little fishing community of Dundee Beach. Welcome to Stingray Head. Oh, my goodness. That is sick. That is friggin' unbelievable. Territory, eh? Airboat, cows, crocs and now this. That's just too good. When Jaya invited us out today, we had no idea how much fun we were in for. And if you ever need help putting together an NT trip, make sure you hit up Jaya and his mates at VIPNT. They can help you make the most out of your time up here. Well, I'll tell you what, when I got up this morning, I did not expect that I would cuddle a cow. Always be prepared, folks. Always be prepared. And have a look at this. Stunning. Absolutely stunning. What a day. But this, folks, really is just a taste of what's to come. Now, what we have in store next, I solidly recommend we don't treat the cattle we see in the same way that we treated those today. But you have to bear with us because we have to cover a fair bit of ground between here and where we turn off next. So thanks to the magic of editing. I will see you guys in a split second. After a day's hard drive from Dundee down the NT's Victoria Highway, we're getting close to the far eastern edge of the Kimberley. But it's here that our path is going to divert from the tourist maps. Thanks to this road right here. Hidden in plain sight, but known only to an adventurous few. This glorious 450km detour is going to take us right into the heart of the East Kimberley. And odds are we're going to have the entire thing virtually to ourselves. Rightio, say goodbye to the blacktop. We're about to do something a little bit different. This is an old stock route that was used to sort of transport cattle from all the way down south at Halls Creek up towards Windham and Cunanurra. It's a bit of a hidden secret up here. It actually it allows us to get into WA without actually going through the quarantine border, which is a bit different as well. I've never driven it, but every local I have spoken to in the area, as soon as I say the words, their ears pick up and their eyes light up. And I reckon this is an absolute must do in the Kimberley. Super excited for this one. Let's get into it. Let's go. If years of exploring Outback Australia have taught me one thing, it's that some of the best off-grid adventures can be found hidden amongst station country. Farming is the backbone of rural Australia, and there are gravel roads crisscrossing the continent that most tourists just blast on by. This particular road offers something special. With camping and fishing ops all along it and the chance to enter into WA just a little differently. The size of Western Australia, we all know, roughly half the size of the entire continent, but there's only two official border crossings into Western Australia, one right down south of the Nullarbor and the other in the Kimberley coming into the little town of Cunanurra. However, we've turned left before we get to Cunanurra and the border crossing. We are still in the Northern Territory right now. And on this particular route that we're taking today and over the next couple of days, we are going to crisscross back and forth into Western Australia, back into the Northern Territory, out of Western Australia, Northern Territory at least four more times. And I, for one, cannot wait to breathe in that fresh West Australian air. It's the high season in the Kimberley, and the main roads in and out are positively pumping with tourists. On our route, though, it's just us and some wild scenery. I've been looking at these all along the road. Rumour is, you know what they are. Can you tell me about them? This time, this is the kapok tree. This time of year, all the leaves have fallen off and they've just got these really bright yellow flowers. Very important tree to the Indigenous folks out here. They could, you can eat the flowers raw, you can cook them. You can eat the shoots of the roots of the young trees. Had heaps of uses. But one thing I wanted to show you, you can hold that. Put that behind your other ear. That's beautiful. The buds that they produce, when you crack them open, they've actually got what is called kapok inside this fluffy stuff. This is actually used by Indigenous folks in ceremonies. They used to decorate themselves with this. And I've also seen in a couple of journals from early explorers and stockmen and cattlemen out through this way. Keep that stuff in your saddlebag, let it dry right out. And it actually takes a spark really good. It's really good tinder. So can I eat it? Do not eat it. Do not eat it. You'll turn into a frog. So that's the kapok. Check them out whenever you're up here. Don't eat that. Put it in your pocket, though. We'll use it for fire later. All righty. Done. The route ahead crosses a series of river systems that eventually flow down into the massive inland waterway of Lake Argyle. Soon we're up on our first one, and it's just begging for a flick. So the technique for these sooties or for anything up here is to try and cast right up in under the bank in those shadowed areas. That's where they'll be out of the heat of the day. As it gets cooler, they'll come back out and feed out in the open a bit more. But during the heat of the day, they're going to be right in there. So your casts have got to literally be, you know, that accurate. But usually when you do make a good cast in there, you'll get a fish straight away. Graham might have something. It's got a bit of weight to it. Oh, geez, it's got some head shakes. I think it'll be a little sooty grunter. It is, too. A beautiful little sooty grunter. This is what we came here for. Gorgeous fish. Look at that. Some people call them black brim. I always know I'm a sooty grunter. They're called a sooty grunter because they actually grunt. I don't know whether you can hear that on my mic. And I reckon they're pretty good to eat, too. But we have got plenty to keep us going on this trip. We'll let him go back to fight another day. There's plenty in there, mate. Come on. He's been planting them. Let's get a second one. There you go. Can you get a cast in the right spot? Oh, these are cool. I'll get this little guy back in the water as quick as possible. But these little guys, they get much bigger than this. All right, buddy, settle down. They're called archer fish. You can see their mouth kind of points up and they've got eyes right up at the top of their head there. They'll actually spit water at insects on low lying vegetation to knock the insects into the water so that they can eat them. They're amazing fish. They get much bigger than that. And again, you find these guys all the way through the top end. I'm going to get this guy back in as soon as possible. But these, you don't eat them. Occasionally they take a lure, but they are a beautiful little fish. Little archer fish. We'll let him go. Woohoo! He'll go back to his mates and be like, you'll never believe what just happened. Off grids passing through here. No, they're not. They are. I just met Graham. He's shorter than I thought he was. Now, lucky for Jordan, we're not relying on catching lunch this trip. And before we hit our first WA border crossing, we've got to use up our fresh veg. So we just pulled up for lunch. Ben's been in the kitchen making some wraps and this isn't going to work for me. But one thing that lifestyle vans do really well is with their suspension, you can actually change it. So I'm six two and in no time I can jump. It's pretty sweet. It'll be no secret to those of you who know me, but I reckon there's one state in Australia that stands head and shoulders above the rest, and it's getting closer. Is it just me or is the air just starting to get a little bit cleaner? Sky is clearer. Grass is greener. Not as much dust. Why, you might ask? We are about to cross the border into the greatest state, Western Australia, back on home soil. Bloody hell, it's about time. From Fraser Island all the way across the top, several thousand kilometres. Here we go. Crossing the border. Deep breath. Oh, taste that beautiful, fresh, crisp air. Yeah, my back pain's gone. This is sweet. WA baby! I'm home. So anyone's ever crossed the border in WA knows that we are very serious about our border security. You can bring in almost anything so long as it is not fruit, vegetable seeds or honey. Honey is a huge one. You wouldn't think it, but the WA bee supply is some of the most pure in the world, and they do not allow any honey from anywhere else in the world, any other state of Australia into WA just in case it contains a disease that might knock out the WA bee population. So when crossing the border, do the right thing, folks. Hand over everything you've got. Your fruit, your vegetables, your seeds, your honey. If you happen to be carrying any livestock, you must declare those too. So if you've got a random cow in the back of your car, he's got to come out. You can't take him in. The only thing that can make this day any better would be a cracking WA side camp. And right on cue, another river appears up ahead. According to my map, it's quite a large river coming through here. Being the time of year, I don't know if it's going to have much water in it or what the camping's going to be like. But let's just ponder on down and have a look at it, eh? See if we can't find somewhere to spend the evening as the shadows grow longer. This hopefully means that Jordan will catch a fish. I mean, not to be rude. That's not my style, but I've seen how he's done in the past. So I hope he's got something other than fishing up his sleeve to impress me tonight. Funny you should say that. Being on this stock route, I figured it would be only fitting to do the old drover's way of cooking some mean steaks. So you will be treated good, sir. Well, I am friggin double excited. On the one hand, you've just told me you've got some meat. And on the other, wait till you see this view. Oh, yeah, look at this. You weren't kidding about the river. Oh, oy heck. Doesn't get much better than this. Got a flat ground, river in front. Not a soul for miles. Oh, what a view. Have a go at that. That is, that is sensational. That'll do me, donkey. This is where you don't want a Toyota handbrake. You want an aftermarket handbrake right here. Nothing in life really compares to experiencing something for the first time. And this whole day has been full of surprises. As for this free camp, it's just the icing on the cake. Well, this is a side of the Kimberley you don't get to see too often. What I mean by that is right now, the Gibb is utterly high season. We've heard that it is chock-a-block down there. And that's despite the fact that school holidays are over. But on the road we've been on today, I think we saw about four or five vehicles that were tourists. And we saw a couple of cattle trucks going through. That's it for the entire day. And this spot here is about as good as it gets in terms of camping. Folks at home might be wondering what this road is that we are on right now. And I'm not naming it for very good reason. But if you do know where we are right now, give us a thumbs up. Just leave a thumbs up in the comments down below. So I know that you know where we are. Well, in case you can't tell, van life agrees with me now. I am fully self-sufficient in that van. I've got literally everything, if not more, than I need. But when building the 79, along with the Y62, I wanted to be able to take the van and leave it somewhere and head off for three, four, five, six nights without the van and be self-sufficient in here. And that means you've got to have a range of gear, one of which being a good 12 volt system. And at the core of that is your battery. I've gone with the VTEC Ultra from EnerDrive Dometic. Now, I have gone a little bit overboard here in so much as that I've got 300 amp hours. But look, we do a lot of camping in places, especially in Western Australia during summer when you just simply can't have a fire. And as much as it pains me to say it, gas doesn't do it for me anymore. I'm a big fan of induction cooking. You can do it in the wind, you can do it in the rain. It just makes sense. But it is a hydro appliance and these batteries are designed for it. Also, this bad boy is IP67 rated. So if you've got a ute, chuck it on the back. You've got a boat, can go in there as well. It comes with the ability to download an app. I use it all the time in the cab just to monitor what's going on with the battery, especially if I'm charging a bunch of gear, i.e. the camera crews, camera batteries. They are super hydro. Now, here's a handy feature. The battery actually comes with a mounting tray down here that can be bolted to whatever it is you want to mount it to. When we're putting this in here with the boys at Pinnacle, they said, why don't we put the battery down here? It would have fitted perfectly. Thing is, I like to keep my chainsaw down here because the chainsaws, it's a big, bulky, weird shaped item. But in here, it slots in perfectly. So we simply bolted the tray to the drawer here. It actually has a bit of stability and nothing falls down behind my slide out pantry back there. I reckon go a little bit overboard on your battery, just safe in knowing that you're never going to run out of power. And of course, that means you're never going to have a warm drink. Speaking of which, camps like this alone in the outback with a Kimberley sunset in the background, they remind you why packing up and doing a lap is just so darn good. And this, this is just the first day of a huge Kimberley adventure. Bring it on. Tonight, we are in for a real treat as the guys are putting on one heck of a camp meal. Juicy WA steaks and damper cooked over the coals. The perfect meal for our stock route adventure. When you're on the road, every single thing needs at least two uses. For example, off track wine, great for drinking, but also for rolling out tonight's damper. And this is what makes it extra special. We're keeping it flat, but we're layering it with cheese. Why? Because there's more fun to be had when you pull the damper apart and it's all cheesy in the middle. I always want to do this little steak influencer cut. I was so worried I was going to screw that up. That looks so good. Well, I'll tell you what, there'll be folks out there at home right now that would think that has just been walked past a candle and not quite lit the candle. For me, though, that is a perfectly cooked steak falling apart. And let's not forget the cheesy damper. Superb. Now, listen, we are, from my maps, 62km's into this track, 440 to go. We don't even know what's ahead of us. From what I've been told, though, we haven't even got to the good bit yet. This campsite, it's on the map, but it's not even marked as anything special. So I'm going to finish this barely mooing cow. And tomorrow, let's continue on into the unknown. But folks, what a way to start. As good as it gets. Maybe it's just being back in my own home state. But this morning feels damn near perfect. Check out our morning view. First sunrise in Western Australia. Well, I woke up this morning nice and early just to the sun rising and the sound of the birds this morning. Holy heck, they know something I don't, I tell you. I think that might be they know there's going to be another hot day. But this bit of a milestone, we've done it. Fraser Island all the way across the top. And I'm back home. Our journey across the top end from Fraser has just about ticked over the 10,000km mark. And despite months of punishing outback roads, both the new off-grid whips are holding up perfectly. Well, this little camp, as I was just saying, marks about the halfway point of this journey for us. And also almost to the day, this date is exactly seven months that I've owned the 79. There's something about it that I'm just warming to. The old girl has performed flawlessly. I enjoy driving it. I'm comfortable inside it. Just leave me alone when it comes to Toyotas for now. Just let's just not talk about it. But one thing I have been and I won't use the word surprise is the Mazda. For a fraction of the price, a fraction of the fuss, you've got a vehicle that's doing exactly the same trip as this thing. And yet it's doing it with absolute ease. Kids are comfy in there. They're never behind me by more than a minute. And that's only because they're keeping out of the dust. So you've got all the frills and fancy online arguments and talk about this vehicle. But up the back, you've got something that's just doing exactly the same thing without any of the fuss. I think that's pretty cool. Just as impressive are the old lifestyle hyper campers, which have taken literally everything we can throw at them, including a ton of dust. Have a look at this, it's been about a week. I'm at the front of the convoy. Have a go at that. That's one week since this was replaced. This is a brand new filter a week ago. So you can really see just how hard that dust suppression system is working. And I want to see that personally. I'd rather be throwing out a paper filter every now and again, every couple of weeks than having to stop every night and clean the dust out of my camper. That's what it's supposed to look like inside. There is supposed to be spotless. This is my morning routine. Make sure all the pillows are down. The fans go up. Make sure the air con's off. Everything's tucked in. Hang up the towels. This gets tucked in and we're ready to go for the day. Well, I don't think any of us need to be persuaded on WA, but as our first camp in the state, it's going to be hard to beat. What have you got planned for us next? Well, I guess that's the thing. I mean, we've set the bar pretty high with that camp. That was an absolute cracker. And I've never done this track before. So I look, I've got a couple of pins on my map. But apart from that, I literally don't know what to expect. And I, for one, I'm excited for that. I guess I've done so many things before for the second, third, fourth time. I'm doing this for the first. So, mate, I suggest we just strap in and go and have a look because I don't know. Yeah, it's not too often that there's a first for you. So we'll call it blind leaving the blind. What do you reckon? Well, that's definitely not a first. Yeah, it's very fitting. Speaking of firsts, in the comments down below, let me know about the first time you drive a certain track and it blew your mind. It doesn't matter if it's a hardcore wheeling track or a super touristy track. So let me know in the comments down below. I'll be interested to read them. Now, according to my research, there's another A grade campsite about a day's drive ahead of us with plenty of epic views, another specky river and a few more border crossings to get through along the way. But you know what they say about the best laid plans? And sure enough, not far out of camp, we hit drummers. This is the very same camera car that just a few months ago was rescuing rigs deep in the Simo floodwaters. But today it's the one getting stranded. The camera car just took off in front of me then. And when I say it's sooted, I mean, it disappeared in a black cloud. Instantly, I thought turbo hose. And that's exactly what's happened. Turbo hose has come off. But in unrelated news, all the injectors down here are coated in diesel. Like I'm talking, there's a river of diesel happening down here from where we know not. So we're going to dry it up, mop it up as best we can, and then see if we can isolate the leak. I just have a grain of step still. Don't laugh. I am not the tallest man. Once he gets up, he can't get down. Fixing the turbo hose, well, that isn't much of an issue, even for a couple of numpties. But the injector leak is more worrying, especially given how remote we are at the moment. We've got a leaking return line on that injector. That's good news because the return line is not overly important. It means the engine's getting all the fuel that it needs via here. But we've got several thousand kilometers to go and it is hemorrhaging diesel. Not a good idea to continue like that. So we don't have much to repair this with, I'm afraid to say. With no spare hosing of the correct size, we start with the obvious steps. Trying to secure the line with zip ties and cutting the damaged ends. But the hose turns out to be fully cracked and our first attempt at a replacement line using some stripped conduit fails abysmally. The best thing, though, about Outback Roads are the legends you often meet along them and a local electrician, Jack, who's been working on a nearby property, stops to lend a hand. Even better, he manages to find the perfect bit of hosing in his kit, which combined with some plumber's tape has us back in the game. Let's drive to Hawes Creek. Is it too easy to say yippee? Yeah, I think that's, I think you've done it. Who needs a mechanic when you've got a sparky, eh? Who needs a mechanic when you've got a sparky? Yeah, man, if you hadn't come along, we were going to start pillaging. I was going to take anything, air conditioning lines, the whole lot. There's an unspoken agreement out here that people help anyone they see in need. And Jack has really saved our bacon with a fix that'll get the GU to the next town, at least. Just like that, we are back on the move. What a legend. Fingers crossed. Let's get going. Station roads like this might not have much traffic on them, but there's a few other things you've really got to look out for, especially cattle. Oh, big old wash away. Holy, they creep up on you. Jeepers, creepers. You do not want to hit them at speed. The whole factory brakes on the 79, they weren't too bad, so long as you weren't towing and you weren't fully loaded. So before we did pretty much anything else out there, we went and did a brake upgrade by Pedders in Western Australia. And the brake booster was a big component of that. Your brake booster essentially allows more pressure to be pushed down the lines rather than you having to punch that pedal with your foot. When you upgrade your brake booster, you get up to 30% more braking power from the upgraded booster. And my goodness, that has made a massive difference to the way the 79 pulls up because I'm not only fully loaded, but towing as well. So when you get these big wash aways out here, you really can wash that speed off so much easier. So if you're doing any sort of towing or if you load it up at all in your Forbi, it is a great investment to upgrade your brakes and put a brand new brake booster in there because it makes the world of difference to safe stopping. Soon, we're running alongside a mountain range that we'll be skirting the edge of for the next few days. And holy heck, it is something else. Really beautiful country, man. Like it is just utterly stunning. Look at that. How's the view? I'm blown away. It is stunning. It is absolutely stunning. I can feel some of you jumping up and down on your couch right now, trying to figure out just where the heck we are. And you can see a little hint in the far distance, the edge of the famous Bungle Bungles. That's all you're getting. I've said too much. Up ahead is our next big landmark and a brief return back into the Northern Territory. Oh, take one last big, deep breath of clean, clear, crisp West Australian air, folks. This is just spectacular. We can just pretend it's WA, hey? A true sandgraper never pretends. Instead, one's just wishing for the day that they return. So might I, because this isn't one fantastic river down here. We might have to stop and have a plume of fish. What an amazing spot. Wow. See, this is what it's all about. I didn't know this existed. I'm going in. I'm going in. Have you ever had a mate who, no matter how hard they try, just can't catch a fish? Well, that's been Jordan over the last few months. And today, today we're going to sort it. Come on, mate. Get your game face on. If I get a fish, I'm not going to keep my cool. Just in case he's still confused. I'm showing him how it's done. Oh, you bastard. That's not bad. Nice little sooty grunter. They're in there. All right. When you throw that back, I'm going to I'm going to cast exactly where you threw it. You can lead a horse to water. Get that right in over there. You're on. This is a fish. Oh, oh, is it? Yeah. There you go. We've done it. We've done it. Look at that. There you go. A little black brim. That's sick. Well, I can quit now. Yep. Quit where you're heading. We've had a few dramas today, as you've seen. Things haven't unfolded exactly as we planned. We've gotten this far. Everything seems to be OK. So what was meant to be a lunch stop has very rapidly turned into a late afternoon stop. I think we might park it up here for the night and crack something cold. What do you say, mate? I think we've earned it. We've definitely earned it. The cameraman's car we fixed, crying out loud. Oh, you can have the night off too, if you like, mate. It's your buy, though. And we will catch you guys tomorrow. A couple more cars, though. A couple more cars, yeah. The roads and camps so far might not have landed on the travellers' radar, but there is some local traffic and a bit of care goes a long way when you're passing through. We've had quite a few people comment and raise a few very valid points about courtesy on these outback tracks and stock routes all around the country. These are working roads with, you know, big rigs on them. I'm talking trucks with three and four trailers behind them, often carting cattle and gear back and forth between stations. So, of course, when you're towing along here, you think, you know, pretty big rig yourself, but you're minuscule by comparison to these trucks. And it really is just a bit of common courtesy when you see them coming along and you will see them from a big distance because they create a cloud of dust that's got to be seen to be believed. But don't just sort of, you know, go to the side of the road and keep going at a blistering pace, thinking that you're doing the right thing. They've got to go slow. They've got to be in the middle of the road where it's the flattest. Get right off the road, get right, hard left. And if you have to, just stop. Also, there's a, you know, there's a little safety factor here, too. These guys create such a cloud of dust that your visibility after they've gone past is, well, virtually zero for about 30 seconds. Here's Casey in point. So this bloke's obviously working with that truck. Give him a wave, pull right over to the left. Had he been behind him and I pulled out into that dust? Yeah, you don't want to think about that. So a bit of common courtesy, just pull over, let these guys through. They've got a job to do. You're on holiday. It doesn't matter, does it? And of course, it's really important just to let people in your own convoy know they have got an oncoming. Hey guys, you've got two oncomings. Copy. And give a wave. I reckon that's a tradition we're kind of losing, especially as you get closer to the cities. Have a wave. Give them a good day. How you going? What I like to do, if they're not waving back, give them a real forceful wave. Get in there. At last, after months of waiting, we get ready to roll into WA for good. This is it. Get ready, folks. The final crossing. Back into WA for good. We're very happy to come back to the NT, but knowing what's ahead for the next couple of months, it's good to have it behind us. Couldn't agree more. I've got a real soft spot for the NT, but this is it. WA air, baby! Strange to think I'm going to drive back down my driveway from here. I don't get to do that very often, so that's very cool. So far this trip, we've seen working stations, working roads and some hard working livestock. But ahead is something I love to see, and that's a bit of Outback history. Just taking a turn off the main road, drop in here and visit this little spot. I'm looking forward to coming in here since we started this route. I'll give you a bit more info when we get in, but oh yeah, that is, that's cool. That's very cool. This is why I love coming out here. Check this out. We're lucky these days to be able to travel to the remotest parts of the country with all the mod cons. But back in the day, life out here would have been very, very different. This was the very first station established in the East Kimberley right back in 1884 by a bloke named Nat Buchanan. He was a pastoralist and explorer. Now, this is heritage listed now, so not much has been done to it, but it's actually immaculately kept. This bad boy right here, I reckon this would be the OG bush pole that would have been put in here back in 1884. See the old saw marks across here? And I know it's wrong of me to say what I'm about to say next. This is horrible of me to say, but how good would that be as firewood? Like that would burn so good. I'm not about to do it. Get off your keyboards. I'm not about to do it. But whenever I see a piece of wood that's been standing here since 1884 in the sun, the wind and the elements, that would make some... That would burn well. Anyway, get me away from that quickly. There's another reason I'm excited for this stop, and that's a stretch of river accessed from the old homestead that promises to be something very special. And sure enough, it's friggin spectacular. How cool is this? The old Ord River. This rivals anything on the Gibb by far. Now, look, we could easily park up here and call it a day, but there's a magic spot further up river that's just calling out for us to try and get to. We stopped for lunch and the camera guy kept going. Did a bit of a recce up ahead. It's a bit of a tough drive. There's a camp that we simply can't pass up on. Oh, this is looking soft. All right, it's going to sound a bit wacky. Let me tie us down to about 10 psi right now. I said that right, 10 psi, because on the other side of that river crossing over there, we're actually going to cross the Ord River. I'll say that again. We're actually going to cross the Ord River. The campsite right down the far end there that no one's bothered to try and get into. To get there, we've got to get through all this soft river sand. You know, my thoughts on soft river sand. Third gear low. And I'm going to punt it so hard that if there's any crocodiles in the vicinity, they better get out of the way. Graham said we should go down to 10, so aye aye, Captain. This is either genius or we'll be winching all afternoon. Let's find out. Let's give it a go. See what happens. I want to get to the other side. Dead keen. Come on, mate. Come on, Graham. It is soft. Oh, bold move. I've gone for third. May or may not have been a good idea. Soft sand like this is a big ask for any rig towing. Oh, these bumps might get him. Bouncy bits, bouncy bits. Go, go, go! He's lost a lot of speed. Gets really soft down here. We're going back in a second. Oh, that might have been a bad move. Oh no. But the dual axle recon just floats on through. Oh, it is. It is. That is all tyre pressure. Holy heck. Are we celebrating yet? That is 100% tyre pressures. Holy heck. Get it, team. Our turn. All right. We got this. The 79 has the benefit of big V8 power, but let's see how the BT50 handles it. It is soft. Look, it is soft. If you don't get your tyre pressures right, you are going to go down in there. I think they'll be OK, but they're going to want to lock it in to, say, second low. Hope the tyre pressures are right and stay on the gas all the way through until just over here. Anyway, we'll see how we go. They can always winch off me or I can maybe give them a snig. Right, mate, get all those ponies going. You're going to need it. Oh. Ready? Let's do it. OK. This is good, this is good. This is the part. This is the bouncy bit, just up here. Keep on it. Keep on it, son. You've got this. Oh, bumpy. Bumpy. Let's go! Woo-hoo! It's bright yellow. Oh, crikey. Turns out like a boss. And with a great drive, both car and van have made it through. Well, I wouldn't go opening a can of beer from that fridge straight away. I was just saying, I wouldn't go opening any beers in that fridge just yet. I'd give them a bit. Right, we're all on this side. The campsite is down the far end of this bank. So we've crossed the Ord now. This is sick. That's why I love this stuff. Let's go. Come on. Big old dead freshwater croc there. Don't know what happened to him. Big freshie though. So whatever got him is bigger than him. Look at this. Stunning, man. Stunning. This is bloody beautiful. Look how green the grass is around. I can't even imagine what this would look like during the wet. I know we wouldn't be driving up here, that's for sure. I've always told you folks that if you work just a little bit harder, you can find places in this country that will absolutely blow your socks off. And this, how good is it? I reckon we might just circle the wagons. What's crazy is that we're about to camp in the middle of the Ord River. I mean, come on. No one around for miles. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. I can't think of a better day to get into camp a bit early. And we've got the afternoon ahead to suck the guts out of this place. But first, I've got to get dinner on. OK, I've got to do some quick math. It is now 10 to 2 in the afternoon. Very early for us to be in camp. 2 o'clock plus 4 hours equals 6, 6.30, call it. That is perfect. Why am I adding 4 hours onto right now? Because tonight, I'm cooking steak. But I'm doing something just a little bit different. The steak lovers among you might be wondering what kind of travesty is happening right now. But trust me, by tonight, you might just be a convert. For now though, it's time to make the most of a glorious Kimberley afternoon with the entire place all to ourselves. Turns out the sooty grunters up here can't wait to say g'day. And practically every cast. I'm getting a hit, if a tad small. Beautiful little sooty grunter. Look at that. He doesn't look very big. Pretty hip, nice and hard. Little sooty grunter. Let's get him back in. Winter days in the Kimberley truly are magic. But soon enough, another day is rolling around to a close. And I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be right now. Complete honesty with you, in researching this route that we're doing, this secret route that I haven't given you the name of, I haven't given you the name for very good reason. In researching this, I knew there was a camp down here. I looked on Google Earth and I found this spot here and I thought to myself, maybe we can get down here, maybe we can't. Like a lot of things, it's always a roll of the dice. Is this camp going to be what it looks like on Google Earth? Is it going to be buggy? Is it going to be boggy? Every now and again, it works out the opposite. You get down to a camp like this and it is way better. Head and shoulders better than you could have thought of. Right now, we are camped in the middle. Smack dab in the middle of the mighty Ord River. Kimberley sunset. Still nice and warm. Fire over there. Man. It is as good as it gets. That's right. Jordan and Bianca are impressed with the campfire steak and damper but I'm hoping tonight I can match them and that means I've got to get cooking. Righto, folks. The year is 1928 and you've just got yourself your first job on a cattle station in the East Kimberley. Homestead set up, everything's working well. You're absolutely knackered. It's been day one. You've been on a horse all day and tonight we are having steak and potatoes. Damn, you're excited. You sit down, you try to cut into that steak and it is like eating your own boot. I read that in a diary entry. It's true. Step forward now to 2025 and I'm about to do something completely different and yet totally the same. Tonight we're having steak and potatoes on a stock route, Ord River. Jordan has showed us how it will be done on the fire. I'm going to do the same but I am using some very, very modern appliances. Why not? It's 2025. Starting with this rather daunting looking piece of machinery right here. Folks, this is a sous-vide machine. I almost guarantee you, you would have eaten something in a restaurant somewhere around Australia or the world that has been cooked or prepared rather in a sous-vide machine. You saw me before putting this bad boy into my camp oven with my steaks. The basics of this are, it cooks anything at a certain temperature for a long period of time. Breaks down the fibers in the meat and makes it exceptionally tender. How long are we talking? It's an ugly look. This is the end result of what we had today. It ain't pretty. 55 degrees. It's actually a bit lower than that. It was about 53 degrees for four hours. They are essentially cooked. You could take them out of the bag and eat them and they would be unbelievably tender. But that's not what you do with sous-vide material. So, I'll talk you through it as we go here. The first thing we're going to... Sous-vide meat looks terrible. Look at that. It looks like you've had your foot in the bath for too long. First thing we've got to do with these bad boys is dry them off. Like I mean, get all that moisture off that steak. If you're going to sear it, you need to get every bit of moisture off because the chemical reaction that causes that beautiful browning of the meat occurs between the oil and the meat and not the water and the meat. And I promise you would have steak and potato just like they would have had on the stock routes back in the early 1900s. I'm not going to peel potatoes. Instead, I'm going to do instant mashed potato. This stuff here, I tell you what, it'll curl your toes. It is so good. I'm also taking some liberties by using sliced mushrooms in butter sauce to drizzle over the top. Okay. I've seasoned these bad boys with a bit of pepper and salt. I've got my butter ready over here. I've got my huge fry pan getting stonkingly hot over there. And the process now really is just to sear this. We're not too worried about anything else other than to give this not only a pleasing exterior but a nice mouth feel and a nice smoky taste when you eat it. That looks way better. Hey, what a transformation. Look at that sear. God damn. What do you reckon, kids? Soft, juicy and surprising. Good job. Now, speaking of surprising, the steak, yes, it is surprising. This track, however, equally as surprising if you ask me. I reckon I've done the gib maybe ten times. I'm not taking anything away from the gib because I thoroughly enjoy it and I'd like to think that you and I can do that in the next week or two. But I'm going to rate this track that we're doing now as a driving and camping track above the gib. That's a big call. And if you're talking like the actual campsites, no crowds, just the pure space and scenery you have, it's hard to argue. See you tomorrow. I don't need to tell you just how special the Kimberley is, but our view this morning is off the charts. I'm going to wake up well. Not too shabby. It's not much that beats a Kimberley sunrise except maybe a Northern Territory sunset. I'll let you guys think about that for a second. Looking at that sunrise just then reminded me of 2006. Yeah, we are going back in time here a little bit. When I first did a big old lap of Australia in a traditional camper trailer. You know those things with all the canvas that had come out the side and oh my goodness, looking back on that, I wonder how I did it. But that ran exclusively on gas. I could not have comprehended the fact that I would travel around Australia in a van where everything is electric. And not only is everything electric, I prefer it. I would not, if I had the choice, go back to gas as a lot of you would have found when you've done your own massive trip. I'm not talking your weekenders or your couple of weeks off at Christmas. I mean your big trips, your year long trips. You really start to see any niggles that your gear might have. Lifestyle have been doing this for a long time and they've ironed all the kinks out. You pull up, pop two latches, away you go. Everything you need is here. Hot water on tap, drinking water filtered. Drinking water ready to rock and roll. Everything's electric. Who would have thought that I would travel with a kettle and a toaster and a sandwich maker? Because I can. It really is the future of caravans. If you could have told 2006 me that 2025 me would be cooking dinner on an induction cooktop that's the Jetsons. I couldn't have believed it. The road so far has been full of perler after perler, but today promises to be extra special as we make our way to the stunning backcountry above Halls Creek. That means making some big K's though, so it's time to hit the tracks. That's a campsite I won't forget in a hurry. Yeah, that was beautiful. Felt like we were the only people in the world there. Not often you can say you camped in the middle of the Ord River, but we've done it. Tick that box let's move on. Thankfully the sand crossing back to the homestead side of the Ord doesn't cause us too many issues this morning and soon we're airing up and ready for the long drive ahead. Every once in a while you've got to turn up the tunes, put the pedal down and cover a bit of ground and that's exactly what we do this morning. Letting the old bush TV roll out in front of us as we soak up some K's. At last we reach the edge of a stretch of country that looks like it's carved right out of the wild, wild west. The ranges south of Pernalooloo National Park. That is one heck of a view. Look at that. Wow, wow, wow. This is classic Kimberley country and to arrive from our own secret route makes it all the better. Something I've really enjoyed about off-grid over the last couple of years finding routes like this that for the large part really do just slide under the radar. You've got your big outback experiences that everybody knows about, you know, the Gibb being one of them, and yet there's this here that for the most part is a bit of a locals only and those that have sort of poked around over the last few years and found it themselves most people don't know about it. And I love the fact that around Australia there still is so many outback routes like this one right here that if you pull out a map, maybe crack something cold and sit down for a little while, you can link these outback experiences together and yet do it without the crowds. Better camping in a lot of spots. And I guess there's a sense of wonder when you're doing it too, thinking, jeez am I the only one out here? As is so often the case, there is more in this part of the world than we can possibly pack into one show. And all around us are swimming holes, gorges and hidden secrets I can't wait to show you. But unfortunately you're going to have to wait till next time to see them. For now we've got to find ourselves a camp and get ready for the next stage of our adventure. Well folks, that right there, in my humble opinion, is the unseen Kimberley. It's a side of the Kimberley that we've never shown you guys before, and I'm going to be honest with you, I'd never seen before. Hidden, remote, untouched. I for one have not only thoroughly enjoyed it, but will be back. Now look, we've still got another two, maybe three weeks in the Kimberley to go yet. Coming up next for us is the best of the rest of the Kimberley. We're going to show you the stuff you know about, but we're going to do it in a way you probably haven't thought about before. We've got a couple of hidden campsites, we've got a couple of swimming holes and then right at the end, a mission I never thought I'd get to do. If we can pull it off, a mission I never thought I'd get to do. That's coming up, you'll have to wait for that. For now though, kids are cooking tonight in one of the nicest campsites I've ever seen. I've got the night off, a couple of beverages, going to get the camera out, maybe do a star trail. Here's a little sneak peek of what's coming up next. Cheers from the East Kimberley. Absolute God's country. Next time on Off Grid, we take on a bucket list route through the Kimberley that'll have you dreaming of your next adventure. From the majestic Wolf Creek crater, through the best of the Kimberley and the iconic Gibb River Road. Plus, what might just be the most secret camp in the Kimberley. Coming to you soon only on 4WD 24 7.