Who has done the Kimberly

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.

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.

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/forum...Kimberley-Trip

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Originally Posted by 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/forum...Kimberley-Trip

Attachment 64195

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

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Originally Posted by Bloodyaussie

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

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

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.

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

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Originally Posted by Plasnart

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

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

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.

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