Poking around Port Smith...North West Aus

The plan for the Easter/ANZAC holiday was to take my girlfriend to Port Smith for five days of camping and fishing. I've been busy converting one of my old work trailers into a camper for this sort of stuff. The design was simple, put a dirt bike in it and build everything else around it.... perfect in a rough and ready sort of way.

About 140 ks south of Broome is the turn off to the Port Smith caravan/camping area.


First job was to get the camp set up, inflate the dingy, prepare the fishing gear and then kick back for the afternoon with a beer or two....... Oh, I also unloaded the bike and made sure it was ready to go for an early departure the next morning.

We also had a chance to meet some of the locals on the first day, this Frilled Neck lizard seemed to like my bike leaning tree.....





and a pair of Tawny Frogmouth owls roosted in the tree next to the tent during the day.



The next day I plan to go riding, follow the coast north to Gourdan Inlet.
Ive heard the fishings good up there but it's not easy to get to by land.

I wheeled the bike out to the entrance of the park quietly, a 530 and an Akcro doesn't win over any friends at 5.30 am.



Just down the road from the park is a track that crosses the tidal marsh, its very fine sand and a bit wet. A perfect mix of slip and grip that makes full throttle power slides around the bends a hoot.



The marsh gives way to some small dunes covered with coastal vegitation, the sand is soft with large chunks of limestone in it just to make sure you're paying attention.



The mouth of the Port Smith tidal lagoon/creek system.

A 10 meter tide overnight has made the beach into almost a "blank canvas" and I've got a pretty good "brush" to make some of my own "art".



After 20 minutes or so of beach wheelies and power slides I start to head north along the beach. The tide is coming in fast and a couple of ks along the water is lapping up against a rocky outcrop. I have to turn back and follow my tracks back to the marsh, then continue up the coast.

Back on the marsh track...



and into the sand.....



then follow the cliffs for a while.



I had to stop a few time for pics, they turned out OK.

More cliff pics.

The cliffs faded out to broken limestone and beach sand and I had to make my own tracks for a while.



I stopped and took a break for a bit, then walked up to a high point and found.......



an over grown and hardly used track heading inland.



This track met the coast again and I found what I was looking for....Gourdan Inlet. It's just behind the red pindan dirt hill.

With a bit more bush bashing I finaly made it to the southern end. It's a large, shallow bay with numerous rocky sections. Looks like good fishing country.



While I was there a power boat met a yacht just off the headland, packages were exchanged and then the boat sped off. Funny things happen along the remote parts of Australia's coast, a delivery of illegal substances maybe? or the groty yachty had ran out of beer? Who Knows?

From here I found an inland track that took me all the way back to Port Smith, it was very overgrown and hadn't been used for a long time. I was told that this was the only way to Gourdan Inlet but it had been closed off to white man because it passes by sacred aboriginal land.....oooppss...sorry.

I did find out that there is access from the northern end so next time I'll go and have a look at that.

The rest of the holiday was spent doing some short trail rides and a bit of fishing.

Nice part of the world with great pics

Oh, and good to see you being alert, but not alarmed

cant wait to get up that part of the world again tony, rr looks great.
did you make the trailer fit the 990 in under the rooftop tent? just bought myself one [rooftopper] and plan on doing the same with my bike trailer. oh and by the way on my 3rd clutch and still waiting to get my frikken bike back from crashing it

Awesome, I can't wait to get out there one day

good stuff!

Hi LC8TY,

Thanks for another great report that gets me excited about our trip north in august!!! Mixing it in with a beach holiday is an added bonus by the looks. Hope you caught some fish. Looks like very fishy country.

Cheers

WH

thanks for the report, I need to get to that part of the country looks sensational

thanks for the pics. remined me of the time up there camping at same place in '99(.. shit thats 12 years ago! time flies!) poking around on xr400's with big tanks. ideal oneal.

Just fantastic! Amazing countryside out there, thanks for sharing!

G'day Charlie

The 990 just fits in the trailer, have to remove the screen and GPS mount. I could have lifted the tent higher but then it would be way above the roof line of the Cruiser and the ladder would need to be extended. It's also about 150mm longer than a dirt bike so the tailgate doesn't close all the way but I made an adjustable closing system to overcome that.

three clutches?? maybe you should get one of those auto ones or buy shares in the company that make the KTM ones.

Caught a few fish but it was hard going with the big tides, had a feed every night so I can't complain.
Best was a meter long Spanish Mackerel and some nice sized Golden Trevally, other than that there was plenty of small reef fish.

I was busted off by a large longtail Tuna off the cliffs after a long battle.

G'day Mick,

long time, no see. I've got a few things going on this year but no real plans for a long ride on the 990, maybe a few weekend getaways.

I am thinking about riding Tassie in December though.