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  #1  
Old 3 Feb 2014
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Australia / Gib river road.
Hello,

Can we have some info on the Gib River road, Fuel range needed etc.
How much sand and how much of it deep? We will be on loaded XT660's so deep sand is not nice.

Also any other dirt roads would be nice to know about, GPS tracks would be fantastic.

Plan to be in OZ around May/June.

Thanks
Paul
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  #2  
Old 3 Feb 2014
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When Sten did it a year ago, he said the sand/corrugation was not a problem (on a Varadero), but he did need some assistance at some of the river crossings as the bike was too heavy and not enough traction on the rocks in the river.
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  #3  
Old 4 Feb 2014
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The explor OZ site above will give you the info you need.

For your GPS - if it is a garmin then get the OSM map for Australia - that has the Gibb River road on it. The other 'Garmin' map to get is 'Tracks For Australia' (just the free one.. it is out of date .. but does a good job for planning as the tracks show up at lesser zooms.
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Old 4 Feb 2014
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May/June is perfect, rivers are low and easy to cross at that time of the year. The road is good enough for a bike with luggage - watch out for bulldust. Just lower the tyre pressure and go for it. Drysdale River Station offers fuel and has a restaurant (nice steaks), a camp site and small shop. The biggest river crossing is the Pentecost in the north, but wasn't a problem for my old Beemer ;o)

Good fun.
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Old 1 Mar 2014
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Hi Peter,

We rode the GRR from west to east last August on loaded up WR250Rs. This is late in the dry season and the road was really good on these bikes. We had no problem with soft sand until we tried to go north up to Kalumburu on the Mitchell Plateau (didn't make it to Kalumburu).

Bear in mind the Kimberley have had their wettest wet for some time - road closed to all traffic at the moment and likely to have some decent river crossings and muddy tracks for a few months at least.

We carried a maximum of 15L of fuel each and managed - needed to track back to Mt Barnett Roadhouse to re-fuel when we took a side trip to Mornington (some 100km off the Gibb). Beautiful riding through this country.

From my notes....
Derby to Mt Barnett is approx 375km
Mt Barnett to Mornington return trip is approx 290km
Drysdale to Kalumburu is approx 470km
Imitji Roadhouse only sell diesel

Let me know if you have any other questions - the gibbriverroad website listed above has plenty of useful info
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Old 2 Mar 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robo_doc View Post
Hi Peter,

We rode the GRR from west to east last August on loaded up WR250Rs. This is late in the dry season and the road was really good on these bikes. We had no problem with soft sand until we tried to go north up to Kalumburu on the Mitchell Plateau (didn't make it to Kalumburu).

Bear in mind the Kimberley have had their wettest wet for some time - road closed to all traffic at the moment and likely to have some decent river crossings and muddy tracks for a few months at least.

We carried a maximum of 15L of fuel each and managed - needed to track back to Mt Barnett Roadhouse to re-fuel when we took a side trip to Mornington (some 100km off the Gibb). Beautiful riding through this country.

From my notes....
Derby to Mt Barnett is approx 375km
Mt Barnett to Mornington return trip is approx 290km
Drysdale to Kalumburu is approx 470km
Imitji Roadhouse only sell diesel

Let me know if you have any other questions - the gibbriverroad website listed above has plenty of useful info
Thanks Robo,

just the info I was after.

Paul
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  #7  
Old 3 Mar 2014
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Hi,

Just keep in mind that May 31st to June 6th the Shitbox Rally will be travelling Perth to Darwin via the Gibb River Road. 250 rally cars plus maybe 20 support vehicles.

http://www.shitboxrally.com.au/route

I'm not doing the rally this year, but my 2013 partner in crime is taking our long-suffering Mini again.

Team BMC Donations Page

Team BMC Facebook Page

Cheers,
Brett.
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Last edited by bnicho; 3 Mar 2014 at 01:08. Reason: Update Links
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Old 3 Mar 2014
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Not sure about the fuel situation (we had spare fuel), but Mitchell's Plateau is a worthy visit. There is aboriginal burial grounds, granite formations and caves, waterfalls, interesting landscapes and more.

These are just some pics of the net of areas I remember off-hand






And this crossing area is a great camping spot:
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Old 5 May 2014
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There is no fuel at the Mitchel Plateau. There is a camp ground and a helicopter base but unless things have changed in the last couple of years the pilots have no car and the bell 206s they fly are turbine so run on jet fuel(diesel...almost) so they can't help either.


It is well worth the ride into El Questro which is maybe a 20km trip in off the Gibb. It is the First station you come to if you are travelling east to west. They have fuel, a small station store/bar camping and more upmarket accommodation. They do a BBQ on Saturday nights that is usually a hoot.
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Old 5 May 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vaufi View Post
watch out for bulldust.


Yes do, !


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Old 6 May 2014
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Thought I might give this road a go mid May - any idea who to ring to get current (accurate) road info and water depth of the crossings?
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Old 7 May 2014
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Try he Explore Oz: Forum @ ExplorOz
And good luck! It's definitely worth it.
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Old 7 May 2014
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Originally Posted by mark manley View Post
Yes do, !

Ouch! Let's hope nothing serious happened... A friend of mine from Melbourne with tons of kms. Oz backroads wrecked his bike in a similar situation.
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  #14  
Old 8 May 2014
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man that looks nasty.......
Im heading up that way in July.... Broome to Mt Isa then down to Melbourne via Strezleki on the new kato 1190... I timely reminder things can turn nasty real quick.. hope all was ok here!!!
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  #15  
Old 8 May 2014
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scootergal View Post
Thought I might give this road a go mid May - any idea who to ring to get current (accurate) road info and water depth of the crossings?
Try phoning the 'stations' along the route - El Questro, Drysdale, (the previous 2 should give water depths) Home Valley etc. Note they would give it from there perspective .. probably a 4WD and used to the road.
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