{"id":61565,"date":"2026-07-30T08:23:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T08:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/61565\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T08:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T08:23:17","slug":"young-traveller-takes-on-landmark-gibb-river-road-in-24yo-toyota-corolla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/61565\/","title":{"rendered":"Young traveller takes on landmark Gibb River Road in 24yo Toyota Corolla"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way” has been the mantra of Jonny Charles as he ventured onto one of Western Australia’s most famous four-wheel-drive tracks in a 2002 Toyota Corolla.<\/p>\n

Hailing from the Gippsland region in Victoria, the 24-year-old has been on the road since February, most recently traversing the Gibb River Road in WA’s Kimberley.<\/p>\n

His trip around Australia has become a social media sensation, attracting support from thousands online.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mr Charles stopped in El Questro in the East Kimberley and crossed the Pentecost River in his Corolla. (Supplied: Jonny Charles)<\/p>\n

Mr Charles said he wanted to get out and explore, and the Corolla just so happened to be the car he owned.<\/p>\n

The vehicle cost him $2,000 and originally served him well as a delivery driver through university.<\/p>\n

Taking on the Gibb<\/p>\n

The Gibb, his most recent challenge, stretches 660 kilometres from Derby in the west to Kununurra and Wyndham in the east, around 2,300km north of Perth.<\/p>\n

The route attracts thousands of adventurous visitors each year.<\/p>\n

“The Gibb is a beautiful road,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’d heard so many good things about it and thought, ‘Why not give it a crack?'”<\/p>\n

The road includes river crossings, corrugations and rocky terrain, but Mr Charles said he was never too concerned.<\/p>\n

“I just love the challenge,” Mr Charles said.<\/p>\n

“I love it when stuff goes wrong and breaks.”<\/p>\n

Makeshift river crossing<\/p>\n

His engineering degree and experience at a mechanic’s workshop was put to use for the Pentecost River Crossing, located between El Questro Wilderness Park and Home Valley Station.<\/p>\n

Framed by the towering red sandstone cliffs of the Cockburn Range, the crossing is about 60 metres long.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

The 2002 Toyota Corolla has been suitably adapted to tackle the Gibb. (Supplied: Jonny Charles)<\/p>\n

To keep his engine dry, Mr Charles fashioned a homemade snorkel from a $2 pool noodle and duct tape.<\/p>\n

“Worked a treat,” he said.<\/p>\n

His successful crossing was met with cheers from onlookers.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

“There was a good number of people, with the camp there,” Mr Charles said.<\/p>\n

“They hadn’t seen that before, I don’t think.”<\/p>\n

The Corolla is not the first aging two-wheel-drive to tackle the Pentecost.<\/p>\n

A charity event held in 2025 saw cars worth just $1,500 make it across.<\/p>\n

The challenge was held by S***Box Rallies, an organisation encouraging teams to take on some of Australia’s most formidable roads to raise money for cancer support and prevention.<\/p>\n

‘Cafe Corolla’<\/p>\n

Tucked away in the boot of Mr Charles’s car is a commercial-grade coffee machine, grinder, beans and cartons of milk.<\/p>\n

The “Cafe Corolla” charges a flat $5 per coffee and is helping fund Mr Charles’s travels.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The Gibb River Road is a 660km-long unsealed road, the perfect place for coffee. (Supplied: Jonny Charles)<\/p>\n

He said it had also been a great way to meet people out on the road.<\/p>\n

“I’ve solo-travelled in the past and kind of struggled to make too many friends,” Mr Charles said.<\/p>\n

“But the coffee brings people out in the morning. You have a quick chat, and I love that.”<\/p>\n

He plans to continue his lap of Australia down the WA coast after conquering the Gibb.<\/p>\n

“If you see me, come say g’day,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I’ll try and make you a coffee if I can.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“Where there’s a will, there’s a way” has been the mantra of Jonny Charles as he ventured onto…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[70365,70362,70369,22,21,70366,70367,70364,70368,70361,70360,5824,70363,24178,464],"class_list":["post-61565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-2002-toyota-corolla","tag-4wd","tag-4wd-in-outback-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-cafe-corolla","tag-corolla-cafe","tag-doing-the-gibb","tag-driving-outback-australia","tag-gibb-river-road","tag-jonny-charles","tag-kimberley","tag-kimberley-driving","tag-kimberley-news","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}