Red Road to Cape Leveque

[iceman]

Cape Leveque has to be one of the most stunning places in Australia – but getting there isn’t for the faint hearted. 90 kilometres of corrugated red pindan dirt is the first challenge to overcome before you can experience the beautiful red rock cliffs, white sands and blue water at Cape Leveque (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/tag/cape-leveque).

We had left the comfort of our beautiful hotel, hot running water and power at Cable Beach for our 13 day adventure in the remote Kimberley. What a welcome it was, to sit through a few hours of non-stop rattling, shaking and bouncing along the road to Cape Leveque.

Apparently there’s been talk of sealing the road, 10km/year over the next 10 years. While that would be comfortable for tourists like us, there’s also something special about the unspoiled and untouched remoteness of Cape Leveque. An influx of tourists courtesy of an easy-access road might have the potential to damage and spoil some of the beauty of the place.

It’s 4WD access only, and even the trailers, caravans and campers need to be 4WD rated. As bumpy as it was, it was almost soothing – getting the massage up through the seat :)

We stopped at a long stretch of straight road to take these pictures. There were some weird hairy caterpillars (I can’t remember their name) that risked their life going head to bum in a straight line across the road. Of course they became a photographic target of their own – but I thought a photo of the photographers was more interesting :)

- Large 1 (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/download/293)
- Large 2 (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/download/292)
- Large 3 (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/download/294)
- Blog (http://www.mikesalway.com.au/2012/09/07/red-road-to-cape-leveque/)

The Kimberley Wild truck performed practically flawlessly on the whole trip. Certainly a few more rattles and squeaks after all the corrugated dirt we drove over, but 3500km’s later and it got us to our destination every day thanks to Cheryl, our guide!

Thanks for looking!

[colinmlegg]

Haha, that's probably the smoothest section! The other thing to watch out for is cars coming towards you on your side of the road. I think I stayed on the wrong side for half the trip going up, trying to avoid the corrugations. :lol:

[AstralTraveller]

The vehicle isn't what I expected. I imagined one of those short 4WD buses like AAT-Kings used to use (still do??) but it's slowly coming back that I have seen this 'truck with body added' style before. I assume the driver is separated from the passengers. The corrugations don't look tooooo bad. :D

[iceman]

Yeh the driver compartment is separated, but there's a hole cut in so they can turn around and look in the back.

That part, the corrugations weren't too bad as Colin said. There were much worse sections :)

The road to Mitchell Falls is the worst of the lot though.

[Dennis]

Lovely photos Mike – thanks for the views and the narrative; made me feel like I was there….almost!

It would be nice if these places remain challenging to get to, just to keep some relatively unspoiled places from being impacted too much, it destroys their special atmosphere.

Cheers

Dennis

[AstralTraveller]

Yes, corrugations always feel better on the wrong side of the road. Obviously something to do with the shape.




Sigh. When I went to Mitchell Plateau there were no corrugations because there were too few cars and you couldn't travel fast enough to cause corrugations - I doubt that bus would have gotten in there. At the falls there were no buses, no helicopters, no buildings, one information sign and perhaps a long drop. We were there for 3-4 days and there were about 2-3 other cars around at any time. In fact the whole Kimberley was like that. We had Lennard River Gorge to ourselves for 3-4 days.




Obviously I agree with those sentiments but I fear the horse has bolted. Roads are too good, 4WDs too common (and too comfortable - we had to survive in a 47 series) and some people :D keep posting photos of how beautiful it is.

[colinmlegg]

I reckon that's one of the prettiest spots in the Kimberley. Pity they've sort of closed it off due to someone falling off the edge. Still possible to get down though if you know the way and you have it to yourself, which is nice :)