August 8, 2022
Day 21: Manning Gorge to Adcock Gorge
Today was an experiment in how many swims you can have in one day and still say you’re cycle touring. I got up to four and I reckon only the dirt roads mean I can claim any cycling respect.
I packed up early, waited in line for the toilets then went down to the swimming hole to do the walk to the falls. It was not as busy as yesterday but there were a few people getting ready to do the walk, because they tell everyone to do it in the morning. The walk starts from the other side of the swimming hole. There’s a boat on a rope pulley or blue tubs to put your stuff in. I was preparing to put my stuff in a tub when a couple with a young daughter came back to pick me up in the boat. He was wearing crocs and carried his daughter the whole way, quite quickly, ahead of me. I was impressed. The walk led up onto the side of the gorge and along the top.
The views back to the escarpments to the south and east as the sun came over them was amazing.
The walk led along the top and was very well signposted and worn for a while then there were a few climbs over some gullies at the end before it finally dropped down to a pool. Then you walked around a rock shelf to see the falls. Another family had gotten there ahead of us but as everyone else faffed around with kids I charged straight in to be the first one in the water again. It was not too cold and I got to indulge in my favourite watching water fall over the edge of a cliff again.
After swimming round a while I ate a muesli bar, then started to head back.
I didn’t pass as many people as I had on he way into Emma Gorge but still probably about 40.
When I got back someone was using the boat and there were no tubs on my side so I had to swim across, get one, swim back, get my stuff before swimming back again. That was swim number 2, and I hope you appreciate the photos. Some other guys were returning just with thongs and their clothes so they didn’t have to worry about boats or tubs.
I rode back up to the roadhouse by about 9. It was crazy busy. I ate an unholy breakfast of two hashbrowns, an iced coffee, a salad sandwich, a mandarin, a Powerade and a magnum. I was not hungry anymore but not uncomfortably full either. If they hadve had more fried vegetarian options I would’ve eaten more. I also bought a few groceries which was handy.
Sitting around eating all this took a while. Then I decided to fill up my water only to notice belatedly that the line to fill up caravans was about 5 long and there’s only one tap. A couple who had seen me at Gibb River let me go ahead of them next, in between having an argument about how many nights they should stay in Broome for. Sometimes I’m glad I’m travelling by myself.
It was past 10:30 by the time I rode out. It was very hot but there were fewer rocks on the road and I only just had time to get bothered when I reached Galvans Gorge. It was at the start of a sealed hill and my deflated tyres felt like hard work just to get to the carpark.
Now I was the one walking into the gorge and most people were coming out. I sneakily changed into my togs with about 10 seconds to spare on the beginning of the track which was quite open. Then it curved around to follow the creek and the changing options were much better.
There were probably about 15 people there, but mostly sitting on the rocks on the side reading books. It was not a huge pool but the waterfall was quite nice. It was really more cascades than waterfall. I sat under it for a while and got a head and shoulders massage.
Eventually I decided I should head on. In the carpark, a guy offered me cold water. Obviously I can’t refuse that. I also put a bit more air in my back tyre, although potentially the swim and the cold water would’ve got me up anyway. It was signposted Phillips range but it wasn’t much bigger than a jump up climb. The road kept up an incline after that though back on the corrugations. I let out some air from my tyre again. The views to the east were great up the hill, back past the escarpments to hills I’d passed days ago and I could see the plumes of dust from the road. I didn’t take any photos cause there was a lookout signposted ahead. A couple were parked there in the shade, facing the road, eating lunch. Once I saw the view, or lack thereof, completely obscured by trees, i understood why they were facing that way.
The Gibb River Road Facebook page said that the road improves around 20k west from Mt Barnett. At the 20k road sign, the road became a total corrugated mess, for me. Luckily still without the rocks so I could ride on the very side where it was generally only a little sandy but not too corrugated. I’m hoping the “about” kicks in tomorrow. I passed the tyre repair place, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. The road had just become sealed, in preparation for a hill, when I turned off to Adcock Gorge. That is a real 4wd track. It has some big holes that you would not want to tow a caravan across. I don’t know how they know this, but there are no caravans here. There was one car parked in a parking area so I pulled up beside it and started walking because the track got very rocky and went through a water crossing about 15 cm deep. But then it got okay again and another car was parked about 400m down the track at the very end of the road. A girl was sitting in it with the air con on, maybe she’s had enough of gorges. I got changed on the path again and then ran into her boyfriend taking a photo of a water monitor. The track was a bit hard to follow so I ended up on the left hand side of the pool. It was a big pool, but no waterfall here.
There were two other women on the other side. I swam over and we started chatting. They were teachers from Melbourne who’ve taken this semester off and are driving from Darwin back to Melbourne. One of them became one of the only people I’ve spoken to who knows Brothers Cycles who made my frame. Apparently they’re German. She’s done some bikepacking including parts of the Munda Biddi which she recommended. Another woman turned up who was travelling by herself too. The two teachers went into a free camp just back at the Adcock River that they’d heard about. I had seen a caravan pulled in there when I passed and wondered why. The other woman was going on to Imintji. So they left and I stayed in the gorge for a bit then came back to my bike. I thought about pushing into the end of the road which is nicer but couldn’t be bothered. As I went to move my bike from where it was to another spot in the campsite, I heard a creaking noise going backwards like the chain wasn’t set properly so I went forwards and it continued then I realised that my bungee strap was caught in the spokes and between the rotor. Such a dumb thing to do to not stop when I first heard the noise. Luckily the bungee strap hook gave way before the spokes and everything seems fine. A reminder that stupid decisions can break things as much as rough roads. I cleaned my chain again and made baked beans, cheese, carrot and capsicum pasta for dinner.
I’m now camped somewhat in the middle of the carpark cause I could hear something near the creek and hope it stays there. No one else arrived and my justification is that, on top of being on a bike, the free camp the teachers are at is also on Mt Hart so I reckon this is just as legal. There’s heaps of campfires around so obviously I’m not the first.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,327 km (824 miles)
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