Broome to Darwin Outback

Welcome to Broome! Or Rubibi, in the language of the Yawuru people, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which Broome is now located. Start your adventure straight away, setting off into the Australian Outback. After a bit of highway driving, you’ll reach the Fitzroy River, then it’s all off-road to the Napier Range. The main attraction here is Dimalurru (Tunnel Creek) – a vast cave system that extends 750 m underground. It’s from here that the Indigenous warrior Jandamarra waged his rebellion against the colonial authorities – a legacy you’ll learn more about on a walk through the tunnel with your guide. Spend the night camping at Windjana Gorge – once an underwater reef! During the wet season, a river flows through it, but during the dry season, it’s a series of ponds and billabongs. Enjoy a camp dinner with your group and then maybe do a spot of stargazing – the sky in the Outback is something to behold!

Spend the morning exploring Bandilngan (Windjana Gorge) – this gorge in The Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges attracts many species of birds and bats and is a great spot to see wild freshwater crocodiles! In the afternoon, journey to Dalmanti (Bell Gorge) – a segment of a 375-million-year-old reef that was once underwater. Take a refreshing swim here, soak up the natural views and then travel further east to Mt Barnett Station. This is where you’ll camp for this evening. Enjoy dinner by the campfire and get to know your fellow travellers better as you swap stories.

After breakfast, stretch your legs on a morning hike and be rewarded at the end with a swim in a large rock pool at the base of Manning Falls. After lunch, discover Adcock or Galvins Gorge before returning to camp to relax around the campfire and tuck into some dinner.

Over the next two days, you’ll drive through rivers and weave through gorges as you travel by 4WD along the wild Gibb River Road – a 600 km stretch that winds right through the heart of the Kimberley. You’ve got a fair bit of ground to cover, so there’s a fair bit of drive time, but you’ll be breaking up the journey with lunch and a few stops to stretch your legs along the way. Cross the iconic Pentecost River crossing and explore El Questro – established initially as an enormous cattle station, it’s now a vast wilderness reserve sprawled over more than one million acres. Camping out here, you’ll feel like you’re in the middle of nowhere (an extremely beautiful middle of nowhere). The ochre-coloured massifs of the Cockburn Ranges frame the landscape every way you turn, and numerous natural springs offer plenty of opportunities for a refreshing cool-off. Following a soak in Zebedee Springs, enjoy a short trek to either El Questro or Emma Gorge.

Say so long to El Questro and hello Bungle Bungles! Today, you’ll drive through the rugged landscape of Carr Boyd and the Durack Ranges into Purnululu National Park – home to the Bungle Bungles, a UNESCO World Heritage Site dominated by massive sandstone karsts that rear hundreds of metres above the surrounding grasslands. You’ll spend the next two days and nights exploring this region. Arrive at your bush camp in time to sit back and watch the sunset over the Osmond Ranges. If you’ve had enough tent camping, you might want to spend tonight sleeping out beneath the stars, snuggled up in a swag. Unbelievably, only the locals knew this place existed until the early 1980s when they were ‘discovered’ by a film team. You’ll go on a walk through Echidna Chasm – a long and narrow ravine banked on either side by 200 m-high rock walls – and enter the massive natural Amphitheatre of Cathedral Gorge.

Today, you’ll leave the Bungle Bungles behind and head for Kununurra – the largest town between Broome and Darwin. Tonight’s campsite is on the shores of Lake Argyle, which you have plenty of free time to explore. Maybe head out on a sunset cruise on the lake – this is highly recommended, as the best way to witness the immensity of this lake is on the water! Tonight, enjoy a group dinner together at camp.

Lake Argyle is a man-made lake, though you’d never have guessed it by looking! See barramundi, birds and freshwater crocodiles that thrive in these waters, and the islands that look like they’ve always been there (they used to be mountains). In the afternoon, push on across the state border into the Northern Territory, where you’ll have a group dinner and spend the night.

Today, you’ll head to Darwin, stopping at either Katherine Gorge or Edith Falls along the way for a quick swim and a last opportunity to soak in the natural wild views of rural Western Australia. Take in the gorgeous scenery and then arrive in Darwin, where your trip comes to an end.