Day 22, Wyndham to Home Valley Station.

Saturday 20th August, 2011 Day 22…

Odo start, 11,237 K's

Odo end,  11,386 K's

Distance Travelled.  149 K's

Accommodation, Home Valley Station, $16 for an unpowered site…

Today was the day, the Gibb River Road… How would i fare?? 

I left the caravan park at Wnydham at 7:00am full of anticipation of what the day would bring.

I stopped briefly at a scenic lookout to grab a few pics…

Then before i knew it i came to this..

The famous Gibb River Road. The tentative plan for the day was to visit Emma Gorge, then ride on to Home Valley Station for the night. A couple of k's down the Gibb the road became sealed!

But soon enough it returned to dirt. I turned at the Emma Gorge Resort, a beautiful spot nestled in the gorge. There was an outdoor undercover restaurant and gift shop/reception area. I enquired about the Emma Gorge walk, i was told it was a 2 hour return walk that followed the river bed, i would need to crawl over rocks and boulders before reaching the gorge. I paid for my $8.00 parks permit, grabbed my hat, backpack, 2 cameras and tripod and off i set. The walk was spectacular, winding it's way up the gorge, at the end i found a large swimming hole, bathed in shade, the pool was at least 40 metres wide and had a small waterfall cascading from high above, i don't know the drop, but it would be at least 30 metres. 

Emma Gorge Reception and Dining.

The walk into the gorge...

The Gorge...

The day was heating up so i returned back to the resort and grabbed a cold drink. I left at 11:00am heading for Home Valley Station, my camping destination for the night. 

About 10K's before Home Valley Station, i came to the mighty Pentecost River Crossing. There was nothing to do but walk through and check what the depth was. I nervously walked into the river, a river well known for it's Salt Water Crocodiles!! The bottom of the river was large rounded rocks and boulders, the river depth came up to the back of my knees , my Sidi Adventure Gortex boots couldn't keep my feet dry as the water poured in over the top of the boot.

On the far bank of the river a 4x4 was parked, i walked up and asked if they would mind helping me by crossing the river and carrying my cameras and laptop back over for me, they happily agreed. I walked back on the other side of the crossing to see if it was any better, it was slightly shallower, but rockier. I decided to try for the deeper smoother side. 

The woman in the 4x4 offered to take some pics of me using my camera, i gave her a quick intro on how to use it and off they drove to watch me try and cross.

My plan of taking the deeper smoother side didn't workout very well, the current steered the bike straight across to the rockier side. I battled my way across, finally arriving safe and dry. That was the worst of the river crossings done, they only got smaller from here on out.

Starting to cross...

Getting pushed by the current...

Getting through...

When i got to Home Valley Station i had a decision to make, stay in the main campsite right next to the bar, or choose the remote campsite 4 K's away on the banks of the river. I chose to stay at the Bindoola Bush Camp, it was away from the station, but nestled on the banks of the Pentecost River, checkout the view from my site...

This choice unfortunately meant i would need to ride back to the Bar for dinner at night. I setup my tent without its fly, this meant that when i returned after dinner i could lie in the tent and look up to a stunning star filled sky, what a way to camp.

I need to get fuel, as it would be touch and go getting to Mt Barnett on one tank. I asked at reception about buying 10 Ltrs for the bike. Although they don't sell fuel, they had just had a delivery of 4 44 Gal drums of unleaded so they had enough to spare for me. I filled the main tank which took about 6 litres and put the remaining 4 Ltrs in one of my bladders. 

It looks like the Gibb was ON!!!!