Todays little foray is to El Questro - almost 1 million acres of it !!!
Heading out of Kununurra , we see a rather large bank of cloud - no that's smoke , making it's way to the east . Decision time - do we continue onward toward the smoke or do we turn around and head back ??? We keep going , with a variation - we could go to Wyndham again , or just short of it , and drive back to Kununurra on the back road .
Continuing on , we reach the Gibb River Rd intersection , have a look around , and decide to head in to El Questro !! The first 36 klms of the Gibb River Rd is bitumen , after that , its corrugated gravel road .
We go up & down into flood ways , and have more spectacular views of the Cockburn Range - it tends to dominate the landscape up here .
We pass the entrance to Emma Gorge Resort 25klms in , but carry on to El Questro . The turnoff is another 11klms , and that's where the bitumen ends . Fortunately the grader was working today , but was only doing the first 4klms from the turnoff . No water trucks out here , just dirt & dust & rock , in large amounts .
When you go to El Questro , you have to buy a Wilderness Park Permit - $12 per person !!!
Carrying on down the dusty road , we pass Amalia Gorge , then Zebedee Springs , and after we cross the Pentecost River , there is a turn off for Champagne Springs , another 500m and we were at the Station - there is a camping area & accommodation , and a booking service for any tours you may wish to do while you're here . There are 4wd tracks , lookouts , gorges & hot springs to choose between . We don't have the time to do a lot of things , so Zebedee Springs is the first on the agenda . Crossing the Pentecost River was fun , watching other cars without the clearance that we've got , go across , Lyn handled the drive easily!!
Pentecost crossing
Back down the track to Zebedee Springs , we roll into the car park , and wander up to the springs . The track takes you to the creek , which you cross and then you wander up the other side . There are Livistonia Palms growing prolifically here , and the orange escarpment beside us towered above .
It wasn't much further and we were there , people were lying around in the water everywhere they could , it was interesting how we were going to get in the water !! There is a waterfall at the top , which isn't running at the moment , and it was cooler in the shade of the palms . The creek is spring fed and is warm , not as warm as we've had previously , but still nice . We got in and started talking to a couple of guys - they were from Kiama !!!
You have to get in around the base of the palm trees , and the pools are small and not overly deep , which explains why everyone is just sitting or lying around !! 12 noon rolled around quickly, so we had to leave here , as the springs are then enjoyed by the station guests , as they are chauffeured around the property with a private guide !!
Back to the ute , we drive back out toward the bitumen , then an idea pops in my head - we'll go down the Gibb River Rd till we get to the Pentecost River Crossing , should be easy , it's only 25klms away !!
Off we go down the Gibb River Rd , spine rattling corrugations greeted us , the road was wide enough , but the corrugations were wider . Finally we reach the Pentecost River and we go across , it's a rock crossing , and rather rough , the rocks sliding about under your tyres , the water level isn't high - only about 300 - 400mm deep .
No swimming here either , possibly saltwater crocs here , so we cross back over and have some lunch - well away from the river . Cockburn Range was dominating again - it is spectacular .
With that we headed off again , back to Emma Gorge , back across all those corrugations again , if anything was loose , it would've fallen off !! There has been a few cars and one truck that we've had to deal with , but otherwise quiet as a church mouse .
Getting to Emma Gorge , we go to reception and find out some info about the walk up to the gorge,
before we put our hiking boots on and head off . I thought it was going to be too hot , the temperature was nudging 34 degrees , but didn't feel too bad - very little humidity . The track got progressively worse , rocks getting bigger , steps getting bigger , rocks getting slippery and the arrow signs stuck to the rocks seem to go missing . Some sites are numbered 1 to 11 - pointing out different things along the walk .
The walls of the gorge are , as with everything up here , orange with green spinifex grass & some gum trees - the orange cliffs glowing in the afternoon sun !! There is a lot of ripple stone here - this was formed millions of years ago , when it was covered by tidal water . One rock had lots of different layers of ripple stone .
The creek trickling down is crystal clear , and provides for great photos .
The pool nearly at the top is the Turquoise Pool - wonder why ???
Reaching the top pool & waterfall , you have to just sit and take it all in , it's too hard to get it into a photo , so I take a video , and also take some still shots . The falls are not much more than a trickle at the moment , and there is water seeping out of the rock to the right , there's also a spring pouring water out only about 300mm from the waters edge . Ferns are loving it here , growing out of the rock walls .
Making our way back down over and around the rocks , crossing the creek several times , we arrive at the carpark and head off back to Kununurra . We arrive not long before the sun starts to set , and grab a beer from the fridge - it's been a warm one today - 34 degrees .
Till tomorrow , here's a map link :-https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z1G8gwwxwyYo.kxytS122OSPE&usp=sharing
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