Started out early from Kununurra and headed to El Questro for the day. This is a million acre working station that has been opened up to adventure goers. On the way there we passed many of the participants in the WA Variety Bash - they are on their last leg of a two week journey and finish in Kununurra tomorrow. It looks like a great time carried out in great old vehicles which would be a ton of fun on these outback roads. I hope to participate in such an event one day.
Then we arrived at the main gate of the park and proceeded to our first stop at Zebedee Springs for a swim. It consists of a series of pools where the water temp remains at 28-32C. Much tom foolery and a relaxing swim. Needed to do this early cause they close the springs from midday - only private tour buses allowed in there after that.
Next stop El Questro Gorge - a short 4km drive down a good road with one semi deep water crossing. The actual walk to the gorge is 2.5hrs - unfortunately we won't have time to do the walks today - we'll spend most of the time driving - but its fun to get to these places anyway. We would need to come here and camp for a few days to be able to do the gorge walks. We also went down another path to Moonshine Gorge - same story with the walk.
Backtracking then next stop Jackaroos Waterhole where Sean decided he would brave the crocs and have a dip. We had some lunch in this beautiful spot as well.
Passed through the station township then onto Chamberlain Gorge - here there is a jetty from which the tour boats run - additionally one can hire a boat here and float along the Chamberlain River sight seeing or fishing. Wild flowers out in bloom along the track. We spoke with a tour guide fishing at the jetty who was running a 15 day tour from Darwin to Broome - they were half way through the tour - he is the driver and tour guide so he would be kept very busy. Here we also get our first glimpse of the exclusive El Questro Homestead perched on the edge of the river - one night here will set you back $1,600.
On past here we start on 10km track which ends at Explosion Gorge and starts at this boab tree with carvings from the Durack family who were the first white settlers in the area. The track starts with a very bumpy crossing of the Pentecost River followed by 10km of fairly good track with some nice deep sandy stuff as well.
We reached Explosion Gorge and found this beautiful isolated spot where you could get lost and love it. Sean exercised his vocal chords and had fun with echoes from the gorge walls.
Back along the rough track then detour about 4km up a very steep track to Branco Lookout. From this great vantage point we look out over the Pentecost River and to the south towards the homestead. This view gives us an appreciation of the devastating effect of the previous wet season. We spoke with the locals at the township later who told us that a great deal of vegetation had been lost in this unusual event.
As we crossed the Pentecost River again on our way back we could get a better view of the homestead - apparently it was previously screened by many more trees which have disappeared since.
Next track led us to Pigeon Hole lookout. This one has a view from the opposite side of the river to Branco Lookout and has some pretty remote campsites along the river front below. Also many indicators of how ferocious the wet season flood waters were and plenty of cattle grazing around the tracks.
Our last stop on this circuit is Saddleback Ridge Lookout. A cool drive up a very steep zigzagging road brings us to the highest point is the area and overlooks most of the station.
Outward bound now and passed back by the station township which services all the campsites around the park and includes accommodation blocks, a pub, fuel, an airstrip, a helicopter pad and
After this we leave the main park and back onto the Gibb River Road which leads us back to Kununurra. On the way out we stop in at Emma Gorge - another exclusive resort which includes an airstrip, accommodation and a pub. Once again no time to do the walk to the gorge - we were told it is magnificent so we'll need to do it another day.
Finally made our way back to the van and an early night.
The Campbells
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