Going into the reception area , we registered with an El Questro Pass costing us $24 - 12 each . The pass gives you access to El Questro and most of it's 4wd tracks .
The walk up the gorge is open and gradually closes up as you continue in . The path is rough and rocky , some sections extremely rough , and has several creek crossings - stepping stones or narrow marshy areas . There are several pools with their own schools of fish swimming around happily .
The walls of the gorge glow orange in the morning sun .
One of the more prominent features of the gorge is the amount of ripplestone , it's everywhere - where you're walking , in the creek , up the gorge walls and trees have wrapped their roots around them .
Our first encounter with the local wildlife was interesting - a 1.2m long Olive Python . It was on it's way into the creek bed reeds , probably for some breakfast !! It crawled along a pandanus leaf , seemingly only touching it in a few places !! It was long but certainly not thick - not much more then 12mm at it's fattest . Here it is .
Further up the track the trees open up a little , revealing more gorge walls .
There is a large piece of rock - about the size of 2 cars - and it also had several different layers of ripple stone showing . It also appears too be camouflaged - with multi coloured areas .
Next up was a section of plants & flowers , with butterflies floating through the air .
The next section had a long pool and had many ferns and plants - unbelievably green also !!
We were about 3/4 the way up the gorge , and hopping over & around large rocks beside another pool - I seem to recall it being called Emerald Pool - I maybe wrong as well !! This is one of my favourite photos !!
As can be seen , the water is crystal clear and cool . Around the corner , up & over some more rocks and we'd reached the end . Greeted by a large plunge pool below a 30-40 m cliff face that will turn into a waterfall in the wet . Either side of the falls , the sheer cliffs reach much further toward the sky.
Without a lot of encouragement , we removed our shoes and slid into the water . Refreshing doesn't even come close - it was pretty cool , but very welcome after a hot walk up the valley !! There is more water coming into the pool from above and dripping in from the walls than there was last year ! Fortunately I took the waterproof camera .
I swam over & under the ledge , water was dripping from everywhere , curiously the water had warmer patches .
After an hour cooling off swimming then dripping off , we reluctantly put the shoes back on and headed back down . The sun had moved enough to now be shining on the other gorge wall , oh , and here's some more ripplestone .
More wildlife was joining us for the walk back , first up was some damselflies .
After hearing a rustling in the pandanus leaves & grass , I spotted this lizard - not sure what type or name - Liz will have to do !! A colourful one at that !!
We made it back down with a few shade stops along the way , finding a picnic table beside the resort dining room . It is in a nicely grassed area , with plenty of shade trees . There are safari tents available to stay in - there were a couple of bus tour groups in . There is also a pool - that was the only excuse we needed to get in and cool off again before heading back to town - we'd paid our money to utilise the facilities , so we did !!
Heading back in to Kununurra , we could see a storm developing , gusty winds blowing in all directions made it interesting for driving . About 20 klms from town we finally found the storm cell - it was bucketing down , water running across the road , verges were running quite well , we had the windscreen wipers going flat out , and had slowed down due to small rivers crossing the road . Back in town we prepared for the rain , but only got half a dozen drops . At least the ute got a wash !!
That's it for today , See ya .
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