Gibb River Road Conditions

Gibb River Road Condition Report

17th May 2018

( see below for detailed description of corrigations.)

Kunununna to El Questro:

Sealed all the way to El Questro Turn off

El Questro road good condition 60kmh limit.

Two small river crossings plus El Questro pentacoste crossing into the station is approx 30cm

El Questro turn off to Home Valley:

Road in good condition

Pentecost Crossing approx 40cm good condition.

Home Valley to Kalumburu turn off

Some light and medium corrugation in sections but generally good condition. Comfortable 80kmh travelling except slowing for the flood-ways.

Kalumburu turn off to Drysdale Station

Some heavy corrugation in places maybe 1/4 of the road in sections but generally light to medium corrugation.

Road is worse than GRR and is the heaviest corrugations from here to Mitchells Falls

Drysdale Station to Mitchells falls Turn Off.

Better condition than previous section. Some really smooth sections. Other sections medium to light corrigation. Heavy corrigations in a few corners. travel time abput 1.5 hr

DRYSDALE STATION FUEL 2.09 DIESEL AND ULP available

Road to Kalumburu still closed then but open now apparently (19th May 2018)

Mitchells Falls Turn Off to king Edward camp ground

Approx 10 km with King Edward river Crossing. Watch large boulder on RHS , stay left. Road ok some corrugations

King Edward campground road heavily corrugated but only short distance

King Edward camp ground to Mitchells falls campground..

Approx 2.5 -3 hours

First half is light to medium corrigations but easy going perhaps 60kmh cruising speed slowing for obstacles.

2nd half is mostly corrugated light to medium or is rocky with lots of obstacles .. 40kmh cruising speed slowing where necessary. A couple of steep climbs but no low range 4wd required. Can do majority or all in 2H.

Kalumburu Turn Off to mount Barnett RH

Medium corrugations approx 40km until got to grader. From then on road is in great condition. Beware of sharp rocks picked up by grader.

80kmh cruising easy slowing for floodways

Mount Barnett RH fuel 2.15 for ULP AND 2.05 for DIESEL

Mount Barnett RH to Imintji store

Road In good condition 80kmh cruising speed slowing for floodways

Imintji store 2.00 Diesel only.

Imintji store to bell gorge Turn Off

Road In good condition 80kmh cruising speed slowing for floodways

Bell gorge Turn Off to silent grove campground

Mostly good condition. Recently graded. Smooth but loose marbled surface.

Silent grove campground to bell gorge

Windy road. Mostly good condition. Recently graded. Smooth but loose marbled surface

Bell gorge Turn Off to Leopold downs road (The Turn off GRR to Windjana)

Road In good condition 80kmh cruising speed slowing for floodways

Short sealed sections over mountain ranges.

Leopold downs road from GRR to Windjana gorge

A few hundred meters of heavy corrugations then the road is good loose surface with light corrugations.

Leopold downs road from Windjana gorge to Great Northern Highway:

Generally good condition but light to Medium corrugations in some sections. Not as good condition as the northern section.

No deep river Crossing now.

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Corrugations

Light

small corrugations you can see and feel but don’t trouble much. Tolerable for long periods.

Medium

Deeper corrugations less than 10 cm deep you can see and feel and shake the car. Tolerable for long distance but you would rather not. More comfortable cruising over them at 70-80 if conditions permit. Eventually something may break.

Heavy

These are 10-15cm deep and perhaps 50m or more between corrugations.

They rattle the heck out of your car and are uncomfortable for more than a hundred meters. Doing long distances will likely break something on your vehicle. Only tolerable by biting the bullet and hitting these suckers fast. Anything under 60kmh is bone jarring.

Very Heavy.

Anything over 15 cm deep which I have not experienced and only heard second or third hand stories about canning stock route or other outback tracks containing these.