WE WERE LUCKY. We got our flat as we drove into the Mount Barnett Roadhouse on Western Australia’s notorious Gibb River Road. Luckier still, three burly guys changed our tire, with dire warnings to get to the Over the Range service station to fix it, pronto.
Otherwise, well … I guess that’s why our rented four-wheel drive came with a satellite phone, an emergency locator and 10 gallons of water.
My wife, Jean Marmoreo, and I wanted to experience one of the most remote places in the English-speaking world that non-explorers can navigate on their own: the Kimberley region, an area in the northwestern corner of Australia much bigger than Ger many or Japan, with a population of just 50,000 people.
The Gibb is an iconic, tire-ripping gravel road that runs 650 kilometres through the region. In the May-through-October dry season, it’s hot and desolate. Still, your four-wheel drive better have an air-intake snorkel so it can ford the dozens of rivers you’ll cross. Oh, and watch out for the road trains, those linked trucks that can measure three times longer than the longest truck allowed in Canada and take three kilometres and clouds of blinding dust to pass. In the wet season, don’t even think of driving the Gibb. You’ll drown.
But unless you’re an Aboriginal, whose Walkabouts are both a young man’s rite of passage and a way of life, the only way to explore Kimberley is by this very bad road — or by air.
WE DID THE LATTER FIRST, taking the lay of the land from the sky before we set off down the Gibb on four wheels. To do that, we went to the jumping-off point for heli-tours in Kimberley: the HeliSpirit hangar in Kununurra.
“You from Canada, mate?” asks James Bondfield, our young helicopter pilot.
Denne historien er fra November-December 2019-utgaven av Canadian Geographic.
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Denne historien er fra November-December 2019-utgaven av Canadian Geographic.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
ANIMAL XING
THIS PAST SUMMER AN AMBITIOUS WILDLIFE UNDER/OVERPASS SYSTEM BROKE GROUND IN B.C. ON A DEADLY STRETCH OF HIGHWAY JUST WEST OF THE ALBERTA BORDER. HERE’S HOW IT HAPPENED.
Unearthing a giant
Almost 30 years ago, paleontologist Elizabeth “Betsy” Nicholls made a discovery of colossal proportions
WE DID THIS
AS THE IMPACTS OF GLOBAL WARMING BECOME INCREASINGLY EVIDENT, THE CONNECTIONS TO BIODIVERSITY LOSS ARE HARD TO IGNORE. CAN THIS FALL’S TWO KEY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES POINT US TO A NATURE-POSITIVE FUTURE?
The COOLEST COUNTRY
“The coolest country” celebrates the wonders of winter with an all-Canadian theme. The 20-page travel planner includes a bucket list from travel writer Robin Esrock, steamy spa ideas, ice fishing destinations, festival fun, northern itineraries and more!
KEEPER of the SEA
FROM BEING LABELLED DEVIL’S APRON BY FRUSTRATED FISHERMEN TO BEING LAUDED AS A SUSTAINABLE FOOD SOLUTION: HOW KELP’S POTENTIAL IS BEING REALIZED, JUST AS SCIENTISTS LEARN IT’S DECLINING
WILD THINGS
WILD CANADIAN GEOGRAPHIC PRESENTS THE WINNERS OF ITS ANNUAL CANADIAN WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR COMPETITION
AN EMPTY LANDSCAPE
AFTER MORE THAN A MILLION YEARS ON EARTH, CARIBOU ARE UNDER THREAT OF GLOBAL EXTINCTION. THE PRECIPITOUS DECLINE OF THE ONCE MIGHTY HERDS IS A TRAGEDY THAT IS HARD TO WATCH — AND EVEN HARDER TO REVERSE.
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
BON INTO A CARIBOU-HUNTING CREE FAMILY IN NORTHERN MANITOBA, ACCLAIMED PLAYWRIGHT AND NOVELIST. TOMSON HIGHWAYS PAYS TRIBUTE TO THE MAGICAL WORLD OF HIS CHILDHOOD IN PERMANENT ASTONISHMENT
INTO THE ARCTIC
CANADIAN PAINTER AND FILMMAKER CORY TRÉPANIER EXPLORES THE SUBLIME AND RAPIDLY CHANGING CANADIAN ARCTIC
Under the ice
Until the last decade, we knew little about what lay beneath the Arctic ice. Now scientists and explorers are shedding light on this vanishing world.
