EL QUESTRO STATION

Situated approximately 50km from Kununurra- Gibb River Road turnoff, just off the top end of the Gibb River Road is the 1 million acre property known as El Questro, which is owned by a family in the USA. For 7 months of the year, this beef cattle property is open for the tourism trade also. After obtaining a wilderness permit, day visits for tours, walks, horse riding or camping are the go. It's quite a set up, I must say!! Ranging from $3000 per night for a room in the original Homestead, to $20pp in the main campground area surrounding the Township Store, the Steakhouse Restaurant, the Bar and fire Pit and mechanics workshop, this place albeit a tad on the expensive side, is WELL worth the stay.

We decided to pay a little bit more for a private camp site down the way, along the Pentecost River. There are no facilities here, but it's tranquility out weighs the issue of digging a hole for sure!! As inviting as our river frontage is, unfortunately there is no swimming, freshies live here, which would be okay, but there are also Salties that move between 3 or 4 campsites near us. I'll take the rangers word on that, though we've been here 3 days and no sightings as yet- the first had better not be the next time I wander down with the bucket to collect water!!

Since we don't have a high clearance 4WD, and the river crossings getting to the station were hairy enough, we chose to checkout Explosion Gorge, the Chamberlain River and Brancos Lookout via a Sunset Tour. The four hour tour was fairly rough going ( I could really do with an Adjustment right now) crawling along at snails pace in parts as we meandered down the sandstone cliff face to the boat at the bottom of Explosion Gorge ( felt like one of those wobble dogs you see in the back window of some people's cars). Here we shunted our way along the river for about 45mins, keeping an eye out to spot a Rock Wallaby, learning a bit more bush tucker( which may come in handy) and marveling at the power of water.
The section of Gorge we entered is part of 150km, one of the eight longest rivers in Australia- and is one continuous fault line. During the wet, the water came down this Gorge in one huge 20m wave. It took out enormous amounts of vegetation along the walls of the escarpment, and sent a couple of their boats out to the Timor Sea.
We then venture toward higher ground, at Brancos Lookout. Accompanied by some drinks and nibbles, we watch the colours change across the ranges before us, as the sun went down behind us. It was spectacular- over looking the junction of the Chamberlain and Pentecost rivers, the Cockburn Ranges far and to our left. Quite a sight.
(check out PegKezzy channel on YouTube for video footage of our adventures here)

The following day, after a much better nights sleep ( that is, no planning of escape route scenarios from the tent due to potential crocodile attacks during the night) we rose early to beat the heat (and the droves of walkers as it turned out) for our scramble through El Questro Gorge. We had been told we couldn't do it, as there were two thigh deep river crossings preventing our access. So we decided to either walk through, or hopefully hitch a ride! Thankfully just as we pulled up, two lovely ladies from Sydney gave us a ride over. Wow, we are SO pleased we did this 5 hr climb- its the best so far. I was like an excited kid the whole trek in, finding our way through an enchanted wood. Rock hopping, bolder clambering, scaling waterfalls, ferns and palms, 200m high Escarpments and a magical water fall and swimming hole enclosed the end of the gorge. It was SO much fun- exhausting and challenging, especially when wading through chest high pools with a backpack above our head, then climbing/shimmying up crevices to the next plateau of the walk (getting down was a thought for later!!!). A true adventure.

That night, to say thanks for the ride, we invited Karen and Judy over to enjoy our fire and some baked veggies, hot coals style. Personally I feel it's the ash that makes the dish...nah just kidding, the experimental make shift "camp oven" (aka stainless steel bowl and Al-foil) worked a treat, and the garlic butter spuds were a hit.

We made a date, to meet the girls at the Zebedee Springs bright and early the following morning. These thermal springs are only open 7am-12pm, as a way of preserving and limiting the human impact on the vegetation. So we roll out of bed at 5.50am to be there for when the gate opens...7.03am excellent, hopefully we have timed it well...nuh-agh...a bus load had already unloaded and hit the trail. Anyway, we managed to find a nice little pool with some peace and tranquility for about 20mins before the hordes of people came streaming in, and stirring up the water. Nonetheless, most definitely worth visiting, although soaking in the 28-32deg water, made it a little tough to leave, especially when the wind blew up just as we decided to vacate...brrrrrrr, chilly. From there we moved down the road a few Km, to Amalia Gorge Walk. Again, moderate to difficult. It's more tiring than you think walking up river beds, negotiating loose rocks and sand underfoot. Great for improving your balance, and proprioceptive skills- but by the end of 5hrs your lower limbs know all about it- who needs a gym when you can venture out to this every day. Anyway, we journeyed onward, and made it to the first swimming hole, then we had to precariously slide under and around a bolder, so as to avoid falling into the deep swimming hole, and to continue on another hour down the track to the water fall and pool at the end of the gorge. Actually, there were quite a few hairy moments along this trail- I'm not sure how they go with safety requirements in WA. I guess the disclaimer, "pursue at own risk" is a blanket cover. We decided not to swim at the end pool, looked a little green. Instead made our way back to the first pool and got chatting with a young family from the Gold Coast who where doing a whirlwind Kimberley experience in 12days. They gave us some great tips on the Gibb River road, having just come from the bottom end, which has us considering joining other friends of ours who are making their way to Halls Creek and the Gibb also. We may just be able to sneak into a few gorges if we leave the van somewhere and tent it, as we have done here. Which would be awesome. So we'll play that one by feel.
By this time, everyone had departed, which left the main swimming whole free for...yep a nudie swim. Agh, there really is nothing else like it. Togs wrapped around my wrist, just incase we have visitors, and I'm floating gleefully, gazing up at the amazing escarpment in awe of the beautiful peaceful moments like these that I only dreamed about 12mths ago.

Eventually we dragged ourselves away from Amalia, and headed to Emma Gorge, which is actually the first Gorge accessible when heading from Kununurra to ELQ. A relatively low key rock hopping trek (compared to the others) saw us reach the weariness threshold, but the icey cold swim at the end helped to revive the spirit and iron out a few glitches in the system. Boy oh boy, was it COLD. The sprinkles from the water fall were like Ice needles
Piercing my brain- didn't stay under that one for long. Eventually, we were able to take a deep breath, and found a couple of 'warmer' patches along one wall ( no these warm patches were not "man made"), we realized later, after hearing all the people on the bank complaining about the supposed thermal springs, that there actually was thermal water leaching out of the rock on one side of the Gorge. I guess they all just assumed it would be warm like Zebedee- far from it kids!!!! I'm still trying to thaw out.

Our last day at ELQ, before heading back to pick up the van- Champagne Springs. We are actually thankful we left this walk til last. Although we started early in the day, the majority of this walk was exposed to the sun, and very little shade along the way. Had we done this one first, we may not have been too keen to investigate the other walks. Maybe it was that we were tired from the previous 3days hiking, we didn't enjoy this one that much. Maybe everyone else had inside info, cos other than the girls we met and a family of five, there was no one else doing this walk. Anyway, we trudged onward- up hill, down dale, balancing on branches to cross the river a few times, shaley rocks and escarpment this time, not so much sandstone, but lots and lots of sand, loose gravel and river rocks. The trail wasn't clearly marked out on this one either, so that added another element of difficulty. Our motivation to continue was the idea of four bubbling thermal pools at the end ( hence Champagne Springs). Well we finally arrived, and the pools may have felt thermal to an Inuit from the Arctic Circle but they weren't that enticing for me.
We had a quick dip to cool off, fruit break and then embarked on the return trip, knowing we were short on water and it was only going to get hotter as the sun reflected off the rocks. Feet aching and a touch of too much sun, we were ever so pleased to fall into the car and make our way for a decent scrub in the shower- its amazing how much dirt and dust sticks too you, even though your swimming every day!!!

We have thoroughly enjoyed our week here. Early to bed, early to rise has actually been really nice. Attuning more to the cycle of the day. It's been fabulous, living simply and not being distracted by lights and the need to do more in the day. We have worked out the whole fire thing, and not used the gas bottle all week. Even managed to retain a few coals for a cuppa in the morning. Soakin up the sounds of the bush ( even though it provoked some scarey figments of my imagination), as been joyously fulfilling. We are now keen to further develop our bush skills, simplify even further and avail ourselves of established caravan parks less and less. Today we feel content.