Home Valley Station

This place deserves more than one star. It’s situated in a pristine location, the homestead facilities are lovely, and sunrise coming over the Cockburn ranges at the River bush camp is something else. Their main attraction though is their walking trails and for which they have published an immaculate trail-guide full of topographical maps and trail details, sadly now in stark contrast to the trails themselves which are in such a state of disrepair as to make them nearly impossible to self navigate. No warning from staff or information points about how badly overgrown and poorly maintained the trails are. Really disappointing and frustrating that they can’t invest some money and effort into maintaining the tracks, it wouldn’t take much. Aside from this, when we booked several months in advance, the only accommodation option left was the bush camp. When we arrived however, the four homestead camps were nearly empty and there were even cabins available. The online price we paid was also significantly more than the advertised price, for which they refunded us. The reception staff did a fairly poor job at giving us the run down of the place and facilities, all seemed new, pretty clueless, and were rarely able to answer our questions. There was a problem with the on-site water at the time, with no potable water on site, not even tap water served with meals!! Staff were pretty poor at explaining this however. The pool was also closed for maintenance the entire time we were there, which was definitely disappointing after spending an entire morning getting lost in bush. This station could be truly amazing, but fails dismally to hit the mark compared to all the other stations on the Gibb. Do yourself a favor and continue on to El Questro, Ellenbrae, or Mt Elizabeth.

Can not praise HVS enough. Warwick and Shaun towed our car back to station after doing clutch then went back and got our van for us as well. Stayed there a week with powered site and water. Facilities clean and well maintained. Bar and meals great. Landscape is truly something special with some bonus barra thrown in. Pool was a bonus. Definitely book a tour with Birchy great fishing and knowledge and just a great person. Thank you to all of you at Home Valley Station for your hospitality and going above and beyond to help us out. We will see you again x

Home Valley is one of the best appointed Stations in the Kimberly. A pool, nice playground for the kids, clean showers and laundry facilities. A hat tip to their mechanic who helped us out with re-securing out roof racks. Our mistake was to have a night off in the restaurant. I understand that food out here is expensive, but Home Valley is a cost cutting, gouging experience which leaves you hungry and sad about the need to eat. My wife’s vegetarian risotto comprised rice, tinned beans and corn in a serving size that a Michelin star chef would consider small. The steak was cooked well, but served with little more than a cursory garnish. Compared with other stations, it’s pretty clear that Home Valley are keener on their bottom line than customer satisfaction. Cook whatever you have at your camp, enjoy their facilities and skip the restaurant.

Cannot fault the warm welcome and lovely place to stay for a few days. The pool is a great spot to relax and the food and drinks, although small menu, are delicious and fresh. Remember how remote this place is and what a great job to make you feel at home. We would definitely stay here again. The walks were not open as most has been destroyed by fires but I’m sure with time they will be again and a guide for tours will be here soon given it is the start of the season. Ignore the negative reviews and stop in!

The park was opening today so we turned up at the gate @ 10am only to find the gate locked, we rang the office and was told the gate wouldn't open till 1pm & The Restaurant was going to be open but Pool & all walking tracks closed. Very disappointed.

The station does not give you anything extra than the other sites in the area. It is expensive for a powered site, indeed any site, and for what? An unlicensed bar, small sites, aging toilet facilities, and next to no activities. The staff are pleasant enough, but do not use the videos of youtube as a guide, these are misleading, will not return.

We were surprised to hear on the grapevine that Home Valley Station had reopened. The lovely girl at reception informed us that management had spent 18 months bringing it up to scratch. We found that the powered caravan site we were allocated was an expensive dust bowl. The toilet/shower facilities were not clean. In fact some parts of the toilets and showers had not been touched for over 18 months. Bins were left overflowing. The management of these areas needs to be looked at urgently. We went to have dinner at the restaurant which was barely a third full. We did not have a reservation and the staff member said they were very busy and he was basically doing us a favour by putting us outside on a tiny table among the mosquitos. After about 15 minutes a very courteous staff member asked us if we would like to sit inside to which we replied yes please, and she kindly found us a table.The meal was expensive for what we had ordered and of an average standard. The restaurant was still a third full when left. I had been planning our Kimberley trip for several years and had always looked forward to going to HVS. Overall our experience at HVS was disappointing and we would not return.

(Photos only)