Lap Around Australia ...El Questro

El Questro

Barb has always wanted to go to El Questro. Last time we were out this way two years ago we managed to drive as far as Emma Gorge and do the walk to Emma Gorge Falls and swim in the gorgeous waterfall fed pool right near the top of the gorge.Barb has the T-Shirt to prove it!

 Back then we were driving the low slung Subaru Imprezza. It just made it through the four shallow creek crossings to access Emma Gorge resort,  but although we then attempted to get to El Questro we were foiled in that attempt by severe corrugations in the dirt access road and a deep creek crossing.

This time we have the Jackaroo! Driving out of Kununurra on the Victoria Highway towards Wyndham (there are turn-offs from this road to the Great Northern Highway and the Gibb River Road) you first cross the Ord River Diversion Dam. The roadway over the dam is made in such a way that sections of it can be lifted on a rolling gantry crane. This gives access to the sluice gates. There are stop lights controlling the traffic as it becomes a one way bridge when they are doing this.

We turned down onto the Gibb River Road and were amused to see the sign again that warns of animals staying across the road for the next 625 Km. This section of the Gibb is bitumened, it is only when you turn off to Emma Gorge and El Questro that the dirt roads begin. We went to Emma Gorge first because we needed to purchase a vehicle pass ($24) to enter the property.

We remembered having drinks on the wide cool verandah's of the Resort after a long hot walk last visit here and thought that maybe a cappuccino and scone with jam and cream might start the day off nicely for us this time. The English girl who served us took a shine to us and took our photo for us.

Fortified by the lovely morning tea we set off for El Questro. First stop Zebedee Springs. It's only 20 km from Emma Gorge to Zebedee Springs but we encountered terrible corrugations again. There was even a grader coming in the opposite direction (making driving in worse by pushing big stones onto our side of the road). We also saw several poor souls changing tyres on their four wheel drives on the side of the road. We managed to cross a couple of boulder strewn creek beds in low range 4WD and made it into Zebedee Springs. It's lovely here! The pathway in to the springs is through a grove of Listonia palms. The thermal springs are deliciously warm and there were several people already there enjoying a good soak when we arrived. Barb chatted for some time to some people from Brisbane who'd just travelled the Gibb River Road from Broome. They said the section from  Ellenbrae to Home Valley was particularly nasty and treacherous, and lots of people were damaging their vehicles and vans along the way.

We drove on towards El Questro Station to have lunch. We had already examined the information and maps closely and decided that we wouldn't attempt any more of the gorge walks which were graded at four or more after our bad recent experience at Nitmiluk Gorge. We don't want to get a reputation for having to be rescued at every gorge. We came across another serious vehicle breakdown on the way. This poor couple had done one tyre on the way in and now done the spare also on the way out. They were waiting on the side of the road to be towed out. When we encountered yet another deep creek crossing we pulled over to have a good think about whether lunch was worth possible serious tyre damage. Sanity prevailed. We turned around and Barb drove out, feeling pretty proud of herself for managing the low range 4WD mode creek crossing on the way back.

We had time now to visit Zebra Rock Gallery on our way back to Kununurra. It had been closed yesterday (Monday) when we'd tried to go before. Zebra Rock can only be found in this part of the world so is as rare or even rarer than diamonds. It also can be carved into lovely jewellery. We bought a couple of items.

When we returned to the campsite we went back into town to re-fuel for tomorrow's journey and to get a few things from Coles. We tried to find a bookshop but books seem to be rare items in these parts. One small section in a Newsagency in Katherine and a total of five (yes 5!!) books in Target in Kununurra and a few more in Coles (mainly Mill and Boon!!!!) No wonder they have a literacy problem in these communities. I'm hoping that there are at least libraries somewhere that locals can access.
A BBQ and musical entertainment was underway by the lake at the Discovery park when we returned. We could hear the music from our van and it was rather nice. We have enjoyed our stay here. Very comfortable. Now we will head towards Broom for a rendezvous with Jess next Sunday.