The Gibb River Road

Quick Facts

What is it?

The Gibb River Road is a former stock route that runs from Derby and finishes at the Wyndham Junction where it meets the great northern highway.

How long is it?

The Gibb River Road stretches in an East West direction over 660 km through Australia's outback Kimberley region.

Do you need a full wheel drive vehicle for the Gibb River Road?

Yes. Some of the Gibb River Road is unsealed and it can be very rough in places where their are water crossings.

Is it suitable for caravans?

You would only want to take a caravan on the Gibb River Road if it was specially designed for off road use because the conditions are too rough for the average touring caravan.

The landscape along the Gibb River Road
Landscape Along the Gibb River Road

Gibb River Road at a Glance

The Cockburn Ranges
The Cockburn Ranges

The Gibb River Road is an amazing place. It is one of Australia's extraordinary outback journeys that will stay with you forever. It's full of beautiful gorges, tumbling waterfalls, wildlife, spectacular trees and plants, remote cattle stations and Indigenous communities.

We drive the full length of the Gibb River Road on our Adventure wild tour. We spend seven days on the Gibb River Road. This amount of time leaves you feeling you can understand more about the people who live in this remote place. We walk, explore, swim, meet locals and talk to other travellers.

The journey along the Gibb River Road includes visits to outback stations and you'll experience some warm hospitality on these properties. The stations often offer accommodation.

Aboriginal rock art can be seen along the Gibb  River Road as well as contemporary art produced by small remote communities.

In an outback region like the Gibb River Road road houses can become a lively community hub. This is where people stock up with food and fuel. The road houses are fascinating character filled places to visit along the way.

Landscape along the Gibb River Road is constantly changing. It starts out being very flat Savannah landscape. Soon it starts to change and you see a beautiful set of ridges that stretch out across 1000 km on the horizon. These big jutted rocks appear to be quite uniform and high. They're not like mountains they are more like a long row of jagged rocks on the horizon and this is part of an  ancient fossilised reef  built long ago by long extinct sea life. We explore several formations like these during our tour.

We travel over the King Leopold Reserve and right into the heart of the Gibb River Road. This is an extraordinary place with an ancient geology. You'll see big granite outcrop formations known as whalebacks, volcanic rocks and compressed sandstone gorges.

Manning Falls on Mt Barnett Station
Manning Falls on Mt Barnett Station
Adventure Wild On the Road
Adventure Wild On the Road

The landscape is always changing and there is evidence of great geological events of the past.  You'll see formations where the rock has been uplifted and twisted and turned like toffee. It's a very exciting landscape. The sandstone is a bright red and then you turn off and walk in to these beautiful gorges. Many have waterfalls and deep rock pools.

There is quite a lot of birdlife around the gorges and we are careful to walk quietly to observe and point out these birds that live near the water. The wild flowers in these places can be seen along the water ways. We constantly remind people to stop, look around and take it in.

We spend seven days traveling along The Gibb River Road including two overnight stays.

The Gibb River Road is rich with Aborginal cultural history, early European history, diverse flora and fauna and an extraordinary landscape. You will experience the charm of very remote roadhouses, tiny community art stores, birds, animals, plants and trees unique to the Kimberley. This is a very special road trip.