• darkblurbg
    Down Under on the Move
  • darkblurbg
    Down Under on the Move
  • darkblurbg
    Down Under on the Move
  • darkblurbg
    Down Under on the Move

Western Australia by 4x4 campervan

The Kimberley is a remote area with beautiful scenery, lovely swimming and great off road driving.  

Keep in mind that it can be a long walk from a campsite to a gorge for swimming!! An example is El Questro Gorge, the walking round trip will take you about 3 hours and 20 minutes. The hike forth and back to Manning Gorge will take about 2 hours and 30 minutes of your time. If you add the swimming and photo stops along the way, you easily spend half a travel day on each of these gorges. And there are still a number of very worthwhile gorges. This includes also Dales Gorge in Karijini National Park for example. It is a major underrated point that many travellers don't think about beforehand. So take your time!!

Gibb River Road: length 655 km. Our recommended journey length for the road is 7-10 days.
7 days: travel the entire route, stopping at key locations such as Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek, Bell Gorge, Manning Gorge and El Questro Station.
9-10 days: enough time to explore and enjoy the various gorges, waterfalls and attractions along the way, including some off-road locations such as Mount Hart, Charnley River, Mornington Wilderness Camp and Mount Elizabeth.

Mitchell Plateau: distance from the Gibb River Road is approx. 250 kilometres from the Kalumburu Road turn-off. The recommended journey time is 3-4 days. 3 days: travel to and from the Mitchell Plateau and explore the area for one full day. 4 days: highly recommended as hiking takes a lot of time, including Mitchell Falls, Surveyors Pool and other attractions.

Purnululu National Park: the journey along the rough access track (Spring Creek Track) takes several hours. The national park is large and the attractions are quite far apart. Take your time and plan at least 3 full days for the park, including a visit to Cathedral Gorge, Piccaninny Gorge and Echidna Chasm as well as the return journey via the track from/to the Great Northern Highway. If you want to do Whipsnake Gorge Hike or the Mini Palms Gorge Trail, it is best to plan an extra day.

Combined itinerary: recommended minimum number of days travelling for the Kimberley: 10 days (Gibb River Road and Purnululu NP). Including Mitchell Plateau: 14 days.

The following is our travel time advice for 15 routes regarding travelling with a 4WD camper, based on our own experiences. First the route is listed and then the minimum number of days you should best plan for it. Of course, the same number of days applies if a route is driven the other way round. 

Route (without children) Number of days
Perth-Broome-Gibb River Road-Darwin 36
Perth-Broome 18
Perth-Cape Range-Perth 20
Perth-Cape Range-Karijini-Cue-Perth 25
Broome-Darwin via Gibb River Road 18
Alice Springs-Darwin (including 9-day roundtrip in Red Centre) 19
Cairns-Perth via Normanton, Boodjamulla, Top End and Kimberley 51
Perth-Great Central Road-Red Centre-Darwin 29
Darwin-Broome-Gibb River Road-Darwin 26
Darwin-Red Centre-Tanami-Gibb River Road-Broome-Perth 46
Adelaide-Flinders Ranges-Red Centre-Darwin 25
Broome-Broome - round trip Kimberley (including Purnululu NP) 16
Cairns-Cape York-Cairns 12
Darwin-Cairns via Boodjamulla and Normanton 19
Perth-Augusta-Esperance-Kalgoorlie-Perth 14
Adelaide-Alice Springs-Great Central Road-Perth 22