Across the Kimberley Part 5 - Bell Gorge

After our picturesque yet bumpy journey right out in the wilderness along the Gibb River Road, we finally arrived at the Bell Gorge Wilderness Lodge, which was literally right in the middle of ‘nowhere’, surrounded by native grasses and trees. 

It consisted of a central building with an outdoor but covered dining area and a huge circular area, in the centre of which was a big camp fire, as well as ‘tented cabins’. As I was a solo traveller, I had one of these cabins to myself. These had a slatted timber floor and corrugated iron ‘ensuite’ with a shower and basin and toilet, and canvas walls.

On our arrival we received the warmest of welcomes, and after being helped to our cabins to store the luggage we needed for the two days, we were greeted with some wonderful nibbles and drinks around the campfire. There were small groups of other people staying there as well, and very soon we were all chatting away and sharing stories of our journeys. And it was not long before I knew the reason for the campfire. There was an incredible drop in temperature over that hour, from about the 40 degrees Celsius we had over the day to nearly zero!  This is what happens in outback areas as the sun sets! Soon we were all availing ourselves of the thick warm ponchos that were on offer, and were very glad of them as we then ate our delicious dinner. 

That night I was so cold I went to bed fully clothed in my thickest jacket, woolly hat, socks, etc. I still shivered like mad until I eventually fell asleep. And I nearly froze having a shower in the morning. My goodness that was tough! I have never towelled myself and dressed so quickly. (This was to be the case on much of the rest of our journey!)

And yet a couple of hours later it was back to 40 degrees! And we were off to see the lovely tiered water-holes and rugged cliffs of Bell Gorge. some of which were a wonderful rich red colour. I am not allowed to swim because of my ears, but most of our group had a wonderful time in the water, delighted to have relief from the relentless heat. It was great for them to have a safe place to do so - there were no crocodiles here! 

However, even though I sat in as much shade as was available to enjoy my picnic lunch and watch everyone having fun, I came close to having heat stroke as I carefully picked my way over all the rocks along the track on the way back to our bus. I became quite dizzy, but Chappy again rescued me, sitting me down and placing cool wet cloths on the back of my neck until I recovered enough to go on. 

That night we had another great time around the camp fire and terrific food, so we were sorry to leave there the next morning for our next destination. 

My first photograph is the only one I was able to get of the lodge, the next one I think was a creek we stopped at on the way to Bell Gorge, and the rest of the photos were taken at Bell Gorge.