El Questro – Part 1 of the Kimberley

We arrived in El Questo for the first part of our trip. We managed to get a private campsite. It was $174 for two days, though about half of that was the “park pass” that gave you access to the gorges. A bit pricey… but wow! It was worth it. It was the best campsite that I have seen. Right on a river, under some great trees, with no one around. It is a cattle station and we were a bit suprised to see a herd of cows sitting around the camp site. Most left but one was a bit bold and kept trying to come over. We shooed her away, but she would always come back. Eventually we managed to chase her off in the car.


Campsite

Moonrise by the River

The next morning we woke up early and headed straight to the thermal spring. It was a great spot to swim, with only a couple of people there we timed it really well.


Then we went to Emma Gorge. Claire nearly walked over a black snake. Usually snakes are quite scared of humans but this one was quite happy taking the path, not interested in leaving on account of us.


Emma Gorge

The Emma Gorge walk was amazing, when we got there it was far too cold to swim, but we had some bikkies and dip before heading back.

On the way back we went to El Questro gorge. It was really Jurassic Park like. Walking at the bottom of some massive escarpments all the way through. Had a good swim in the half way pool too, then headed back. The water crossing there was a bit scary, all of them are very easy but this one started easy at about 300mm on rocks then suddenly changed to 500mm on mud. But we got through without a problem.

That night we had some more fun with a swim a few drinks by our river, once again had a great moon in the blue sky. One of the neighbours was pumping music, and I went over to ask them to turn it down… turns out it wasn’t them, but the homestead. What was even funnier was, thanks to WA time, it was actually 7.30pm at night. I’ve clearly turned into a grumpy old man.

The next morning we packed up and checked the stockmans waterhole out. We had a bit of driving to do to get to the King Edward river camp site, so we didn’t go for a swim.

Trip to Kakadu, Gunlom and some lookouts

5th of July 2014 to 8th of July 2014

Claire and I had secured permits to go to Jarranbarnmi for the weekend, unfortunately a rogue crocodile had forced the Kakadu staff to cancel all permits. We decided to head to Gunlom again, we love it. Did the drive down old Jim Jim Road, was great fun. Got there Saturday arvo and spent it in the lower pool. Spent all of Sunday in the upper pools, GT and Ailsa joined us. Saw a large snake in one of the water pools, that provided a bit of amusement.

Got the fire going on Sunday night, far out the wood burnt quickly. Headed back on Monday and stopped by Gungural and Bukbukluk, Claire didn’t like the walk at Gungural. Liked Bukbukluk a lot better. The trip back was fine, a large tree had fallen across old Jim Jim road, managed to get around by going through the scrub. Okay for Suzi but would have hated to have been towing something.


At the top of Gunlom


At the camp site


One of the lookouts