Willis's Walkabouts Rather Older Picture Galleries

These are a selection of rather older galleries that have not yet been updated, but why miss out on them completely just because they are not quite as shiny as the new ones?
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Gibb Road Gorges

Information and Photo Gallery

Our Gibb Road Gorges trip is one of our easiest pack-carrying trips in the Kimberley. It consists of a series of short walks of from one to four days. Even with such short walks, we leave the 4WD tourists behind and visit some of the most beautiful gorges in the region. We visit such an incredible variety of places that we have split the gallery into three parts.

Click the photos to see enlarged versions. Click your back button to return to this page. Hold your mouse pointer on the photos to see captions.

The Middle

For the middle part of the trip, we drive 100 km down a side track to the Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary where we visit Sir John and Dimond Gorges. We detour off this track and do a walk at Moll Gorge either on the way down or the way back.

The Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary is owned and operated by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. For more information about the AWC
Click here to go to the AWC's main website or
Click here to go to the AWC's Mornington page.
Note the menu on the left. There are links to much more information about Mornington.

Moll Gorge

Depending on what time we arrive, we may camp near our vehicles at the bottom of the gorge or we may walk up into the gorge proper. The photo at left is of a high point we get to less than 30 minutes after we begin the walk. The walking is not particularly difficult, but there is a bit of rock hopping and climbing as shown below.

The rough bits are minimal. Some of the walking is flat and easy and sometimes we drop our packs to go off and have a view. We stop at a lovely beach camp site where we will stay for two nights.

The day walk from the base camp takes us past lovely pools where we can stop for a swim, to high points where we can enjoy distant views, past a variety of plants which we can stop and admire.

We'll leave Moll Gorge with a shot of one of the spectacular sunsets we enjoyed on our 2003 trip.

Sir John Gorge

The photos here were taken in 1999 and 2003 at about the same time of year. 1999 was exceptionally wet. 2003 was exceptionally dry. This shows just how much conditions can vary from year to year. The photo at right shows the entrance to the gorge in 1999. The two photos below show the campsites we used in 1999 and 2003.

All the 1999 photos on this page are courtesy of Daan Stegeman, one of the clients on that trip.

As you can see, the lower water level in 2003 allowed us to camp closer to the river. Just how different the river appeared depended on just how deep the pools were. The two photos below were taken at a deep section -- little difference to be seen.

The shallower sections are a different story. In 2003, we had no problem rockhopping across the river with dry feet. The 1999 photo shows that it the only way across was a swim that year.

In 2003, we were able to spend a full day exploring upstream from our base camp. The two photos below show the gorge from near the river and from a higher point where it was impossible to continue along at river level.

Our extra time allowed us to explore an interesting side gorge where we found some Aboriginal art sites.

The images below show part of the walk back from the upper gorge (click the photo if you can't see the walker) and a detail from one of the art sites.

Dimond Gorge
The best way to see Dimond Gorge is from a canoe. We may do Dimond before or after Sir John, depending on how we are going for time and on the wishes of the group. As with Sir John, different water levels made the 1999 and 2003 trips very different experiences.

The drive to Dimond takes about 45 minutes. By leaving early in the morning, we enjoy views such as the one shown at right. Once at the gorge, we collect the canoes and begin our gentle paddle.

Somewhat over half way along the first pool, we stop and climb up to visit a small waterfall coming in on a side creek.

In 2003, the water levels were so low that the river had broken up into a series of isolated pools. This meant that we had a walk of about 800 m to get to the next big pool below Dimond Gorge. In 1999, however, it was possible to continue through a set of rapids and get to the pool by canoe. If water levels are high, the less adventurous members of the group can always walk around.

Click here to see a gallery of photos from the first part of our Gibb Road Gorges trip.

Click here to see a gallery of photos from the final part of our Gibb Road Gorges trip.

Click here to see a PDF file of the detailed notes that describe this trip.

Click here to return to the main Gibb River Road Gorges page.

The Derby Tourism Association web site has a wealth of information about the area. We particularly recommend their maps page, Gibb River Road page, Fitzroy River page and Gorges and National Parks page.
Click here to visit their site.

There is far more to see than these few photos can show. Why not join us and experience the best that the Gibb River Road has to offer.

Our Gibb Road Gorges trip is one of our easiest pack-carrying trips in the Kimberley. It consists of a series of short walks of from one to four days. Even with such short walks, we leave the 4WD tourists behind and visit some of the most beautiful gorges in the region. We visit such an incredible variety of places that we have split the gallery into three parts. Click the photos to see enlarged versions. Click your back button to return to this page. Hold your mouse pointer on the photos to see captions.

The Middle For the middle part of the trip, we drive 100 km down a side track to the Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary where we visit Sir John and Dimond Gorges. We detour off this track and do a walk at Moll Gorge either on the way down or the way back. The Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary is owned and operated by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. For more information about the AWC Click here to go to the AWC's main website or Click here to go to the AWC's Mornington page. Note the menu on the left. There are links to much more information about Mornington. Moll Gorge
	Depending on what time we arrive, we may camp near our vehicles at the bottom of the gorge or we may walk up into the gorge proper. The photo at left is of a high point we get to less than 30 minutes after we begin the walk. The walking is not particularly difficult, but there is a bit of rock hopping and climbing as shown below.

The rough bits are minimal. Some of the walking is flat and easy and sometimes we drop our packs to go off and have a view. We stop at a lovely beach camp site where we will stay for two nights.

The day walk from the base camp takes us past lovely pools where we can stop for a swim, to high points where we can enjoy distant views, past a variety of plants which we can stop and admire.


We'll leave Moll Gorge with a shot of one of the spectacular sunsets we enjoyed on our 2003 trip.

Sir John Gorge
The photos here were taken in 1999 and 2003 at about the same time of year. 1999 was exceptionally wet. 2003 was exceptionally dry. This shows just how much conditions can vary from year to year. The photo at right shows the entrance to the gorge in 1999. The two photos below show the campsites we used in 1999 and 2003. All the 1999 photos on this page are courtesy of Daan Stegeman, one of the clients on that trip.


As you can see, the lower water level in 2003 allowed us to camp closer to the river. Just how different the river appeared depended on just how deep the pools were. The two photos below were taken at a deep section -- little difference to be seen.

The shallower sections are a different story. In 2003, we had no problem rockhopping across the river with dry feet. The 1999 photo shows that it the only way across was a swim that year.
In 2003, we were able to spend a full day exploring upstream from our base camp. The two photos below show the gorge from near the river and from a higher point where it was impossible to continue along at river level.

Our extra time allowed us to explore an interesting side gorge where we found some Aboriginal art sites.

The images below show part of the walk back from the upper gorge (click the photo if you can't see the walker) and a detail from one of the art sites.


Dimond Gorge The best way to see Dimond Gorge is from a canoe. We may do Dimond before or after Sir John, depending on how we are going for time and on the wishes of the group. As with Sir John, different water levels made the 1999 and 2003 trips very different experiences.
The drive to Dimond takes about 45 minutes. By leaving early in the morning, we enjoy views such as the one shown at right. Once at the gorge, we collect the canoes and begin our gentle paddle.


Somewhat over half way along the first pool, we stop and climb up to visit a small waterfall coming in on a side creek.

In 2003, the water levels were so low that the river had broken up into a series of isolated pools. This meant that we had a walk of about 800 m to get to the next big pool below Dimond Gorge. In 1999, however, it was possible to continue through a set of rapids and get to the pool by canoe. If water levels are high, the less adventurous members of the group can always walk around.