Mon 28/07/14 Left Mable Downs Station bright and early for our 450km drive to El Questro Station, approx 70 kms south-west of Kununurra or 50kms south-west of Wyndham. Gibb River Road was bitumen at this end, but we still had 16kms of extremely corrugated dirt track and 3 river crossings - Moonshine Creek, Amelia Creek and Pentecost River - to get into the station ... stopped at the start of track to deflate tyres and mask up vents in preparation. There are three levels of accomodation at EL Questro - #1 our budget...the caravan campground, #2 mid range ... Emma Gorge Resort or #3 top of the range, The Homestead on the Chamberlain River (maybe one day!) Our site was on a steepish incline....caused problems with the van door either not closing, or worse, refusing to open! Luckily Mummy's perserverance prevailed, once Daddy's patience had left him, and we regained entry! Extremely well setup and organised 'township'. Pit fires each night by the bar, with live music....very nice. Kids found the 'cane toad boxes' - where you deposit any toads you find - of great interest and were constantly peering in them to see if captured toads had been 'removed' yet. The Pentecost River runs across the back of the El Questro property and we enjoyed happy hour with camp chairs in the river to cool our feet and refreshing dips there of an afternoon. Kids also happy that Poppy & Kosta (who we keep crossing paths with) are here .... they spent lots of time playing soccer and footy on the grass together of an evening before & after dinner.

Tues 29/07/14 Early start today for a 3 hour trek / swim of Emma Gorge, which is back a ways up Gibb River Road. One hour hike in, involving narrow tracks through dense vegetation and a fair amount of large rock hopping back and forth across the river. Hot, sweaty work but very beautiful scenery. Reward is two swimming holes at the end of the gorge: Tuquoise Pool the first and smaller pool. Emma Gorge pool, the second, is large, deep, cold and fed by a magnificently high waterfall. The chill water was welcome after the hot hike, but had the kiddies shivering pretty quickly. Girls were not keen to go any deeper than the rocks where they could see & touch the bottom, but Lukas was happy to swim out with K, and then M, to have a go under the waterfall. Couldn't stay under long though cos it stung after a while. Had to do the 'European thing' & get your gear on /off waterside - kids found this most inappropriate! On the way out we had a few unexpected occurences: 1) Trekking along in our 'safety formation' of adult, child, child, child adult we passed through a grassy overgrown area. K & L went around a corner ok, then girls lagging 5mts behind came round said corner....Brodie shouted 'snake!' and both B&A promptly retreated and tried to climb up their father who was bringing up the rear. M's reconnaisance reported 'a yellow snake over 1mt long' sliding along a waist high rock. Discussion lent towards colour suggesting a python, but noted King Browns also having a goldy / yellow tinge. Once reptile looped it's head back under tussock, A was rapidly pushed by M / pulled by K past the danger zone. 2) M then pulled a calf muscle after a mis-step when having to drag a reluctant Miss B past the snake point; M now not a happy hiker. Hobbled away from snake point to open ground on river rocks, where K found/snapped a dead branch into a walking stick for a slow walk out. 3) on way out, passed paramedics on way in to retrieve fallen hiker with dislocated shoulder. So an eventful trip out! With M relagated to the passenger seat, we made the 1.5hr drive into Kununurra for lunch, a look around and groceries. Swung past Kimberley Fine Diamonds that showcase the locally mined argyle diamonds, the most reknown / valuable / rare being the pink argyle. Only a champagne glass full is found in a year, this being 90% of the Worlds annual total. A pink diamond 4mm diameter was priced at $300,000.... a 1 carat pink is well over $1million. They are becoming harder to find, so it is suggested you buy and put away as an invesment - must get onto that! Diamondless, we headed back home for a swim, icepack and bandage. Musician, Chris Matthews, playing guitar and mandolin around the fire tonight .... dined with Robyn, Nick, Poppy & Kosta ... kids had a ball, dancing up a storm, they even requested Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire' to be sung by our cowboy crooning entertainer!

Wed 30/07/14 Early brekky then headed into thermal Zebedee Springs. Tall, shady Livistona Palms line the crystal clear springs on you left, while the ranges red escarpment looks down on you from the right; magic! We flitted beween the warmer top pools and laying back in the little waterfalls feeding the pools below .... therapeutic for M's calf injury too .... perfect morning. Back at the station had a quick bite to eat then took the kids over to the stables for a horse ride. Alexis rode grey Rusty, Brodie rode black Moonshine and Lukas rode roan Rambler. Quick horsemanship talk, then they were off out of the yard for their ride. Lukas, at the rear, decided to jokingly say to Rambler "Let's pass Brodie, Come on!" At the "come on" command, Rambler promptly broke into a trot to overtake those in front of him. The cowgirl running the ride, quickly reminded Luey to "stay in line please!" Swims and playing with friends whiled away the afternoon, while Daddy Pig rested his leg. If I haven't mentioned it earlier, we have long been suffering Michael referring to us all in "Peppa Pig" terms - both girls are Peppa Pig, Lukas is George Pig, K is Mummy Pig and M, of course, is Daddy Pig; the kids have a love/hate reaction with it and it has endured since Mildura! Have loved it here ... wish we had a few more days so we could do some of the 4WD tracks, take the Chamberlain River cruise hike a few more gorges and Mummy could go on the early morning trail ride around the station - oh well saved some things for next time!