Barb & John's Hols: Day 20 Emma Gorge

Day 20 Emma Gorge

Feeling adventurous today, and still on somewhat of a holiday high after yesterday's marvellous Ord River cruise, we set out to conquer the famous Gibb River Road. Oh all right ... we knew we wouldn't get much further once the bitumen ran out, but we were hoping to make it at least as far as Emma Gorge.

The first hurdle of the day was road works! There's a 10km section of road works going on just north of Kununurra on the road to Wyndham. Yay! We were first in the long queue of traffic, so we bided our time patiently even though inside we were bursting with eagerness to get to our destination. Patiently? We waited truly 10 minutes or more! What do enormous road trains going the other way have that we don't?

The bridge over the Ord irrigation chanel

The turnoff to the Gibb River Road

Don't say you weren't warned

Endless road

We reached the turnoff to the Gibb River road and were amused to see a sign warning of Stray Animals Next 680 km.You've been warned. Right? They should've added gravel corrugations next 680 km .... that seemed the more imminent danger.

We made it safely to Emma Gorge resort. Easy peasy! Just a couple of kilometres of dirt and a couple of minor rocky floodways. We parked up at the resort and it is gorgeous .... is it a Wilderness Lodge? Must look that up. We did spy some safari tent style accommodation that looked out of our budget range. But then again, our budget is low! The lovely open verandah with its bar and waiters (one was called "Manuel"!) beckoned us for a pre-walk cappuccino. One mustn't rush at these activities without adequate fluid loading.

We reached the resort at Emma Gorge

Resort not Wilderness Lodge apparently

Hmmm....what's on the menu?

A cappuccino will do

The resort pool

lovely verandah bar and dining

We studied the map helpfully provided by the reception staff where we'd bought our park pass. It had a mud map with landmarks such as "stepping stones" numbered from one to eleven until you reached your destination, the Emma Gorge Falls and pool. Thank God we had the map. It kept us motivated to keep walking even when the going got tough. This was no walk in the park my friends! There is a certain level of fitness and agility required to successfully achieve the top where the falls are. Good walking shoes, hat sunscreen, insect repellent and lots of water also are essential. Barb found the uphill clambering over large boulders particularly challenging. Is this really what someone with arthritis should be doing? Boulder therapy?

John starts his walk

not so far up surely

views along the way

The pebbles turn to rocks

The walk starts to get tricky

You need hands free to help you climb

Aaargh! Where's the bar?

Barb still happy

It was quite beautiful

Idyllic even...

No, that's the lower pool

Are we there yet?

Anyway we did it! The reward was a beautiful swim in ICY water! At least the main pool was icy. Apparently one end is fed by a thermal spring and is quite warm. Why wasn't that info on the map?
We were quite smug on the way down. "Not far to go now" we'd say encouragingly to those poor red-faced souls struggling on the way up.

Come on it the water's ICY!!!!!!

Just dive in and you'll warm up

It's so warm now

Lovin' it!

Falls weren't falling.....more a trickle

Still nice though

Careful on the stepping stones

When we got all the way back to the resort we hit the bar again. This time for an ice cold drink. I thought the prices would be steep but in fact I'd paid the same at the bar in the Mercure hotel in Brisbane recently, and here we were far from all habitation down a dirt road. Quite frankly I'd have paid anything for that drink today anyway.

The Cockburn Range

We almost made it

Feeling brave after reaching Emma Gorge with no real trouble we thought we'd try to push the boundaries and make it to El Questro Resort. We did get about 10 kilometres in on the dirt road, our teeth rattling in our heads from the bone jarring corrugations in the road, until we came round a bend and reached Moonshine Creek. There were about eighteen inches of water over the very rocky floodway crossing. Nah! Not for us! We watched a few 4WDs drive through no trouble, but weren't game to risk the car (or Barb's nerves which were by now somewhat frayed). We turned around resignedly. Maybe next time ......