Today the boys tackled the famous Gibb River Road.
The road is a former cattle route that stretches in an east-west direction almost 660 kilometres through the Kimberley between the towns of Derby and the Kununurra and Wyndham junction of the Great Northern Highway.
It is named after geologist and explorer Andrew Gibb Maitland. The Gibb River Road is one of the two major roads which dissect the Kimberley region—the other being the extreme northern section of Great Northern Highway which runs further to the south.
The road is often closed due to flooding during the wet season, which is typically November through March, although delayed openings have been known to happen, frustrating the tourism industryas well as locals who rely on the road.
Since the mid-2000s, the road has been upgraded to a formed gravel two-lane road including a few short bituminised sections, but 4WD vehicles are still recommended due to the water crossings and numerous heavily corrugated sections.
The Gibb River Road is one of a kind. Its 660 kilometre track traverses the wild Kimberley region of Western Australia, which is known as ‘Australia’s last frontier’, passing by some of Australia’s (and maybe the worlds’!) most spectacular waterfalls, gorges and swimming holes.
The Gibb River Road feels a little like a fairy-tale; where else in this day and age do you get to trundle along a sometimes very risky-feeling dirt track, stopping off to picnic among the wilderness or to hike to a seemingly forgotten waterfall or creek? The natural beauty of this region is like no other and the effort it takes to reach each destination – that’s the adventure.
The first 80km after Derby is fully tarred and then becomes a real gravel road with intermitted sections being tarred in areas where rain would obviously destroy a gravel road.
The Gibb River Road is one of a kind. Its 660 kilometre track traverses the wild Kimberley region of Western Australia, which is known as ‘Australia’s last frontier’, passing by some of Australia’s (and maybe the worlds’!) most spectacular waterfalls, gorges and swimming holes.
The Gibb River Road feels a little like a fairytale; where else in this day and age do you get to trundle along a sometimes very risky-feeling dirt track, stopping off to picnic among the wilderness or to hike to a seemingly forgotten waterfall or creek?
The only fuel station along this long stretch of wilderness is the Mount Barnett Roadhouse which is situated about halfway and 300km from Derby.

Whilst lipsticks tank was still pretty full the boys however decided to be on the safe side and refuel the tank to its fullest.
Andre was in the pilot seat when the boys spotted a close by river which they thought would be worthwhile exploring and when getting closer Lipstick got stuck in deep sand…

Despite using all low gears and differential lock mechanisme there was just no chance of either moving Lipstick forward or backward . The boys were not keen on deflating the tyres for some extra grip and decided on the next option of using the winch .
Fortunately there were some trees ahead of Lipstick’s nose and the long steel cable was wrapped around the somehow strongest looking tree.
With the combined effort of winching and low gear driving Lipstick slowly was pulled out of the deep sand and could be driven onto more solid ground.

After some cleaning of hands and Car the boys made it back to the gravel road and continued the trip towards Kununurra but soon realised that Lipstick’s indicators stopped working.
This must have been caused by the shearing off of the trailer plug at Lipsticks rear end. The plug was hanging loose and with the boys cutting the cable off to remove the plug a fuse must have been blown.
It was however decided to not stop and do some repairs but rather carry on and check the system later.

Eventually in the late afternoon the Gibb road was conquered and the boys arrived in Kununurra.
Kununurra is a town in far northern Western Australia located at the eastern extremity of the Kimberley approximately 37 kilometres from the border with the Northern Territory.
Kununurra is the largest town in Western Australia north of Broome, with the closest town being Wyndham, 100 kilometres away.
Kununurra is 3,040 kilometres from Perth via the Great Northern Highway.
The town is situated in among the scenic hills and ranges of the far north-east Kimberley Region, having an abundance of fresh water, conserved by the Ord River Diversion dam and the main Ord River Dam.
The tropical agriculture crops grown in the Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) have changed over the years. Tourism and mining have also become important to the local economy.