Who has done the Kimberly

[Bloodyaussie]

Never been to much interested in this until I watched that dvd "Exhibition Australia the big lap" and now I want to go..

I have spoken to a few gray nomads of late who have been up there but only stuck to the sealed roads but said you need months up there and a 6 week trip is nothing and feels rushed.

From the east coast which way do you go and how much time do you put aside for getting there and back?

Some I have spoken to said they would not drive up there but put there car on a train and fly in.. i'm not sure of that as I think you miss out on a big part of the experience.

What kind of budget would you need to set aside for a 6 week trip?

My mum hitch hiked around Australia twice in the late 60's and early 70's before having my sister and me and all she had was a thumb and has seen so much more than I have and I have an awesome 4wd and heaps of camping gear and so on... but I do have 2 kids..lol.

She onced told me before traveling the world have a look at this country as it is beautiful and she has been a few places including living in Canada.

So the bug has been itching me for some time now... the Cape does not do it for me as I have heard it is crazy busy now a days.

[Winnie]

The Kimberley is the ultimate 4WD touring destination I reckon... but you have to have an Aboriginal guide to get into most of the good places I believe.
Dunno about freighting the car up there... it is a bloody long way away though.

[TPC]

I did the Kimberleys in 2014 and it was the best trip we have ever done.
We took just over 6 weeks and wish we had longer, you can do it in a shorter time if you cut out some parts but it is a long way to go so best to see as much as you can.
Never had an aboriginal guide for anything, we were hoping to up Dampier Peninsula but nobody was available.
We went up via the Tanami and it was rough as, about 700km of corrugations but that changes all the time depending on when they grade it.
We came back via Katherine to avoid the Tanami.

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?28542-Kimberley-Trip

64195

[Bloodyaussie]

I did the Kimberleys in 2014 and it was the best trip we have ever done.
We took just over 6 weeks and wish we had longer, you can do it in a shorter time if you cut out some parts but it is a long way to go so best to see as much as you can.
Never had an aboriginal guide for anything, we were hoping to up Dampier Peninsula but nobody was available.
We went up via the Tanami and it was rough as, about 700km of corrugations but that changes all the time depending on when they grade it.
We came back via Katherine to avoid the Tanami.

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?28542-Kimberley-Trip

64195

What was your budget if you done mind me asking.... I am married to an accountant..lol

[TPC]

What was your budget if you done mind me asking.... I am married to an accountant..lol

We spent 12k but we did a lot of expensive things like scenic flights and Horizontal falls and stayed in cabins 5 nights.

[threedogs]

Did it in '72 but think its changed abit since then lol
If I go again I would go via the Tanamai track,
long range tanks and hopefully do it in one hit so to speak.

[threedogs]

Bruce certainly was a character, you could only pay in CASH $$$$$
@ what $3.90 a litre it adds up, and only open on certain days and hrs

[Bloodyaussie]

Rabbit Flat on Tanami is permanently closed so dont plan supplies there.

I heard this.... I just watched another show on the Kimberly... blah.. meanwhile I am painting a bathroom.. yippee

[happygu]

The Kimberley is as popular as The Cape nowadays ..... there isn't too much difference.

I have been up there with a round trip from Melbourne, and then subsequent trips from ( Alice which cuts out around 5000 Ks and a week of travel ).

First trip from Melbourne, we took 4 weeks, and ran out of time to see everything - skipped the Mitchell Plateau, but saw lots and loved it all. Back twenty years ago, we just rolled up to a Station and went and asked if we could camp down beside spectacular spots we had heard about which were out of the way. These days, it is totally different, and you have to pay for everything.

Our first trip was Melbourne to Alice, Alice up the Tanami to Halls Creek, into the Bungle Bungles, around to Broome, back to Derby, Gibb River Road, Kunnunurra, around to Darwin, and then back home down the middle .... it is such a massive drive down the middle - I love driving, but you get to the other end, and you say to yourself - never again.

Doing the same trip from Alice the first time around 4 years later, with just over 4 weeks was so much more rewarding, with stuff still missed but travelled extensively through the Mitchell Plateau and Kalumburu and already noticed heaps of differences and freedoms lost over that period.

You could spend weeks up there as it is spectacular, but you can tend to get 'gorged' out going from gorge to gorge to gorge to gorge after a while ... it could be a lot different now, as stations have opened up new opportunities to see and to do other stuff - at your cost.

It is well worth every minute ... and the funniest thing was noticing that most of the number plates were Vic and NSW, right across the other side of the country. I am sure that it has changed heaps and probably not in a good way in some respects, so I will leave it to others to update on the latest things to do and see.

[threedogs]

work on about $200 for every 1000 ks travelled,
I used to work on $2.00 a ltr but its only 2 and a
bit fills just to get to Birdsville for me

[FNQGU]

Watching this with interest... I'm hoping the wife will spare me 4 weeks to brave the tourists in July/August to go and poke around for a bit. Might be just a recce to give me an idea for planning the real deal and include the Canning at the same time.

That or I'm gonna head South and brave the winter instead of the tourists!

[Wizard52]

Watching this with interest... I'm hoping the wife will spare me 4 weeks to brave the tourists in July/August to go and poke around for a bit. Might be just a recce to give me an idea for planning the real deal and include the Canning at the same time.

That or I'm gonna head South and brave the winter instead of the tourists!

Also watching with interest. Planning to leave late April to Carnarvon via Alice and Wiluna and then up to the north. Have to be back early October to go over to the Island for annual fishing trip.
Doing a lot of research and getting maps and putting basic routes in to GPS to calculate distances. About 7,000k to Carnarvon so far so have to plan for oil changes etc.

[FNQGU]

April to October! And get back to go fishing??? No wonder your tag is 'Wizard'!

[Bloodyaussie]

Ive had 2 invites for the Simpson desert this year and really want to make it happen as i need to get some big trip experience up plus iron out the bugs on big trips.

[threedogs]

I love big trips all the planning etc that goes into it.[2 weeks]
My Birdsville /3 corner trip worked out to be $50 out on my fuel expenses.
not too bad at all lol

Cape York we figured out fuel etc and that worked out about $1500 each
way back in 83, but that included a trip to Green island all up 4 weeks

I have always used those red account books to plan any trip, they make
great reading , but now I suppose you could use the computer lol

[Winnie]

My Birdsville /3 corner trip worked out to be $50 out on my fuel expenses.
not too bad at all lol

Showing your age John!

I spent $1589.02 on fuel for our Simpson trip.

[threedogs]

Doing it with a dual fuel 4x4 it worked out at $2200.
with lots of trips to Innamincka to Cullymurra waterhole ,
and a trip out to the Dig tree,
Worse road in Australia IMO and that was following the grader
who turned up all these sharp half brick size rocks, hated it
Im only a pup lol

[Winnie]

Doing it with a dual fuel 4x4 it worked out at $2200.
with lots of trips to Innamincka to Cullymurra waterhole ,
and a trip out to the Dig tree,
Worse road in Australia IMO and that was following the grader
who turned up all these sharp half brick size rocks, hated it
Im only a pup lol

Road to the Dig Tree is good now.
It's the bloody road from Dalhousie to Mt. Dare! That was a shocker! I can still feel the vibrations in my bones.

[Cuppa]

Mate, I consider the Kimberley the best part of Australia, & yeah you can ‘do’ it in 6 weeks, but to do that , especially with young kids, is just expensive hard work I reckon. You’ll see a lot of white lines & find yourself looking at fantastic stuff wondering why you’ve bothered ‘cos your head’s not in the right space. Don’t underestimate how tiring & draining rushing a trip like this can be. Doing a few long days is one thing, but setting up camp & packing up camp, the heat, meeting kids the needs AND making your experience live up to your expectations day after day all take a toll which is cumulative. I know we are all different. Personally I would want a minimum of 6 months to go up to the Kimberley & back, but recognise that with the need to work & getting that sort of time away is not feasible for many. FWIW, particularly with kids my view is that if you can’t get at least 3 months for the trip that it’s best to keep it on your bucket list & to do stuff closer to home until such time that you can get enough time to do the trip justice. When we did our trip around Australia it was the result of over 5 years of planning & saving to make it possible.

I reckon this would be a pretty good 6 week trip which all the family could enjoy.

[Wizard52]

April to October! And get back to go fishing??? No wonder your tag is 'Wizard'!

Mate, this retirement gig is a hard one to take but I suppose someone has to do it. Best job I've ever had but pay isn't great.

[HuskyInAuz]

Bloody,
We took the Broadwater and 'trol out west last year. Up to Brisbane, to get the new turbo on, then various routes up to Longreach, Three Ways, Tennant Creek, Alice (over Queens Birthday weekend and the Finkle races) then up the Tanami. Now I've been fortunate and been to a few places in this world but except for 25km or so, the Tanami was not that bad. We blew by Rabbit Flat because the road was blocked off and missed the signs. We stopped a few km's further west for lunch and continued on to Stoney Creek. I should have spent a week there, spectacular night sky, no one around, just a few noisy road trains.
On to Halls Creek then down to Broome, again, overrated IMHO, but had to get the aux tank repaired as a baffle weld cracked and we leaked fuel from Halls Creek to Broome. Sat in the overflow pitch for 5 nights/days (35C) and got the heck out of there up the Daimper to Middle Lagoon, that road was the most interesting longer run we had.
From there to Derby, then up the Gibb, sorry this road is way over rated and busy. One caveat, there are sharp rocky sections one must slow down to 60k/hr or so otherwise I was sitting at 95/100 km/h for hours. We found Mt. Elizabeth Station very interesting and good value (if you stay for more that two nights you get a 50% discount to $10/night) or you can even work your stay fees off if you choose. Regardless, for $10/night it was great, the best gorge along the Gibb, Aboriginal Rock art and some challenging 4x4 work. You can even transit from there to the NW coast which is a isolationist nirvana.
From there to Wyndam, one night due to noise, Kununurra, highly overrated caravan park on the east side by the lake, for two nights then off to Katherine for one night. Looked like a great National Park along the way but we had ‘Joe’ so we couldn’t stay. Off to Mcarthur for several nights at a very nice park, day trip to Bing Bong and the river camp, where caravans were ‘nut to butt’. Fishing was off so not a lot of happy folks there.

Camooweal along the lagoon for several nights of free camping until a jerk pulled in his Bushtracker and Toyo Safari right next to us when there was hundreds of meters around us to park. He got out and said something like ‘hope I didn’t block your view’ (of the lagoon). I responded, “No, it looks like a caravan park here to me” .. He didn’t talk to me for the rest of our time there which was fine.
From there back to Mt. Isa for a re-supply and a stay over, nice view of Mt. Isa in my rear view mirror and we took off to Karumba. Nice fish and chips place on the corner, caravan parks packed and no ‘free camping’ anywhere, we took off and spent a week or so free camping heading east (Croydon, Georgetown, Minnamoolka, Ravenshoe, etc.) on a hilltop. Woodburn Station was good as we’d stayed there in on our last trip but a gaggle of kids showed up and so we left after three days.
Standard stuff from there to Mission Beach south.
Didn’t break anything except the Brown Davis Aux Tank everything else on my ‘mods’ list work great!

We were gone for a about three months.