9th - 11th September 2015 Drysdale Station via Mt Barnett Roadhouse to Manning River Campsite

Another sunny day with blue skies.  After packing up early, we filled up at the one petrol pump and headed off back to the Gibb River Road - more rough corrugations and lots of dust.  The two photos below show the approach to the Barnett River and how dry this area is at this time of year.

Back on the Gibb River Rd approaching the Barnett River

The Barnett River Bed - not a drop of water!

Mt Barnett Roadhouse

Mount Barnett Roadhouse is at the turning to Manning Gorge 20km.  We stopped here for an hour to use the internet facilities available here.  It was good to make contact again with the outside world!  It is also the last opportunity to fill up with fuel for the remainder of the Gibb River Road (next fuel is at Derby - 260km provided there are no side trips & most people visit various gorges on the way).  There used to be another fuel point at Immtji but that has closed down.

The road into Manning River 

The road into Manning River is rough - much rougher than it appears to be in the above photo but it is not very far (20km) and certainly well worth the drive.  We set up camp - the camp ground is delightful & is right next to the Manning River which had plenty of water and is safe to swim in.  We spent the afternoon sitting beside the river with other campers and enjoyed a refreshing swim.  After school is out, local families including many aboriginal children come to the river to swim and play.  It was great to watch the small children especially having such fun!

The track out to Manning Gorge is on the other side of the river.  There is a convenient tinnie (small dingy) at the crossing point - it is controlled by a rope & pulley across the river - you just pull yourself across the river by hauling the boat along on the rope.  See the picture below.....

Linnie swimming in the Manning River - see the dingy at the far bank

Crossing the Manning River

The guy in the picture above was a little too enthusiastic in his rope-hauling and fell backwards into the water!  He managed to climb back on board and finish his journey!

Our campsite at Manning River

After cooking our evening meal we were invited by a lovely Swiss couple whose campsite was behind ours to join them at their camp fire.  We spent a very interesting and pleasant evening chatting to them until late in the evening.  They were touring Australia and we compared notes as to various places that we had visited.