We set off from Kununnurra on Thursday, driving West for about 50 km before turning onto the Gibb River Road. We followed this dirt road for another 50 km before turning off to El Questro.
The road in was rocky in places and corrugated – but the oldies tell me it was far, far worse when they did it 10 years ago. Anyway, it was rocky enough to pierce through one of my tyres – bugga! Unfortunately the rock ripped through the side-wall…. so it was bye bye tyre. I pulled over and we changed the tyre (when I say “we”, I mean I got the jack out, undid the cover on the spare and offered ‘helpful’ advice whilst the blokes got down and dirty and did the heavy stuff.) Anyway, I got to do the REAL heavy stuff when we got to El Questro…. Forking out over $300 for a new tyre. The sad thing is I will have to get ANOTHER new tyre to match it when we get back to Kununnurra, as my other back tyre is a bit worn and they simply don’t match. Bugga again!
Anyway, back to the good stuff. The drive out through the station was interesting, with a couple of really nice creek crossings and a wonderful crossing of the Pentecost River just before we arrived at the station village.
We booked in on arrival. There are a couple of camping options – you can either stay at the group camping area (very nice, lawned area beside the Pentecost River with showers etc), or you can choose to camp in one of the private camping areas along the river. We chose the latter, and got an absolutely magnificent spot all to ourselves, just beside the river. Very blissful indeed! There is even a toilet just up the track a bit (very swish). We set up camp and had lunch. We then managed to spend the rest of the afternoon lazing around, splashing in the river (no crocodiles in this little bit of the river – but there are some a bit further up), reading and chatting. The nights were quite cool and we were not late to bed on our first night at El Questro.
The next morning, we got up, had breakfast, did the dishes… and then lazed around some more (we are getting scarily good at that). We then headed out to Zebedee Springs for a swim. Uncle John stopped to chat to a close friend on the way...
The springs are in a beautiful little gorge, surrounded by palm trees and ferns. The water is naturally heated, deep beneath the ground – and stays at a fairly constant 32 degrees. It was really luxurious to laze around in warm, crystal clear water in rock pools, looking up through the palm trees to the red cliffs of the gorge and the blue, blue sky. Sigh! 
Paddy enjoyed the springs and even managed to dip in a toe - though he seemed happier watching us from his little seat on the rocks. 
After this, we came back to the campsite and….. well we lazed around again. I found a wonderful spot by the river, nestled in the roots of a huge paperbark tree and played Declan (my Irish Low D Whistle)… I also got a chance to do some painting and writing and even some meditation…. It’s a hard life! Danni and I also spent ages enjoying our “Jane Austin Fest”. 
The next morning we got up, had breakfast, lazed around for a while (do you get the feeling there is a bit of a theme developing here!) and then headed out to Zebedee Springs. There were so many cars out there, we turned around and came back! We called in to have a look at the Stockman’s Waterhole (lovely – but looked a bit too much like a croc haven for a swim). 
We were going out to El Questro Gorge – but having watched another vehicle go through a river crossing, decided that some of the holes were a bit too deep for Mum and Dad’s vehicle to get through. We went back to the village and went for a walk along the river and then a swim. The water was cool and refreshing and it was fun to swim with heaps of little fish darting around us. Danni declined to swim – bloody wimp!
While we were doing this – Uncle John was being far more adventurous and went through the crossing and out for a look at El Questro Gorge and Moonshine Gorge.
We went back to camp, had lunch and then lazed around for a while. Then Uncle John and I went up to Saddleback Ridge for a look. Uncle John drove (I’m not that brave – the drive was listed as for ‘experienced’ 4wd drivers only). It was a fun drive up an extremely steep, quite rough and narrow track with several hairy hair-pin bends and blind crests. We were pretty glad there were no other vehicles up there. The view from the lookout on the ridge was stunning – I took heaps of photos only to discover they had all disappeared off my camera the next day – with many thanks to Danni who accidentally pushed "delete all" instead of "delete one" whilst trying to get rid of a dud photo she took. Oh well! Uncle John did get some photos and we can make up stories about the rest.
This pic is of Saddleback Ridge from the ground. 
In the evening, we headed down to the village for the Saturday Night El Questro BBQ. The food was fantastic – plentiful supplies of soup, salads, tender steak, barra, chicken, sausages and fruit for desert. The night also included terrific entertainment (all under the stars): a young bloke called Chris Matthews who played the guitar like a man possessed, followed by a very entertaining half hour of stories, poems, whip-cracking, rope handling and yarns from Buddy – one of the original head stockmen of the property – an old aboriginal man with a great sense of humour and many tales to tell. A bloke called Chilly also told a heap of yarns and jokes (including a very moving alternate version of “the man from snowy river”, from the horse’s point of view). There was a fair bit of drink flowing at the Swinging Arm Bar and it was a terrific night out.
We came back to our campsite and had a warming cuppa before all heading off to bed.
The next morning DANNI WAS FIRST UP. Let me just repeat that…. DANNI WAS FIRST OUT OF BED. We had a very quick bite to eat and headed back down to Zebedee Springs for another dip in the warm water. Then we lazed around for a while before Danni and I headed out for a tour of Chamberlain Gorge. Paddy was pretty excited about this as it meant he got to go on a boat again!
The boat tour was beautiful. We putted along the beautiful, clear waters – staring up at the wonderful red rocks of the gorge. The King Leopold Sandstone was formed 1.8 BILLION years ago. There are no fossils in the sandstone as there was no life on earth at that time. Now that is old (even older than Mum!!!!) 
At the end of the gorge, we got to play around with the archer fish. These funny fish line up an insect and then spit water at it, knocking it off the branch it is sitting in and into the water. We wiggled our fingers over the side of the water and enjoyed getting spat at by the fish.
We also got out for a look at some of the rock formations – very beautiful and very ancient. On the way back, we were served wine and fresh fruit. A lovely, peaceful end to the day.
The next morning, Danni, John and I got up and went out for a drive to a lookout on the Pigeon Hole Track. Uncle John had driven the complete track the day before and he reckons it was one of the toughest 4wd tracks he has tackled (which means it MUST have been rough). Anyway, we ventured up the first part of the track and enjoyed magnificent views in the early morning sunlight. 
The reflections in the Pentecost River as we crossed it looked pretty good too. 
We went back for breakfast, packed up and sadly farewelled El Questro. We drove back up the Gibb River Road (very rough this time) and headed for Wyndham. We stopped off on the way to have a look at “The Grotto”. We climbed down a heap of man-made steps into the bottom of the Grotto. The steps were a bit hairy – steep with no guard rails at all. At the bottom we really enjoyed resting by the cool, deep waterhole. 
The tree roots and moss on the side of the rock walls made it almost look like something out of a fairy tale. 
We found a spot where the whole rock wall seemed perched on some blocks of stone. Danni reckoned it reminded her of the game of Jenga (the game where you make a tower of blocks and then try to take out a block at a time without collapsing it.) She just couldn’t help herself and had to go and try and get a block out. 
It didn’t turn out that well – sorry Kerry – we will post her back in a post pack if you like.
We climbed back out of the Grotto – marvelling all the time at our general fitness and agility – and then continued on our way to Wyndham. We drove out to the port and then went to have a look at the Crocodile Farm. I definitely wouldn’t want to meet one of these chaps in the water! 
We reinflated Danni after the rock incident (the portable compressor proved useful for this) – but when we got into the croc farm, Danni couldn’t help herself – wanted a close-up view and got herself into a spot of bother. Don’t know what we are going to do with that girl! 
Anyway, after the whole croc thing – we drove back into Wyndham and checked out the pioneer cemetary (nothing like wandering through a cemetary to brighten one's day!). We also had a look at the huge statues in the "Dreaming Park" in Wyndham.
Then, feeling rather warm and hungry, we headed up to the 5-ways lookout for lunch. It was quite a steep drive up, but the view was worth it. Mum had made a waldorf salad for lunch – yum! (Mum read the blog and insisted that I edit it and add the word 'wonderful')... Mum had made a WONDERFUL waldorf salad for lunch - yum! (There ya go Mum!)
After checking out the view, we headed back to Kununurra – where we enjoyed a bbq tea with a bottle of bubbly to celebrate Mum and Dad’s 46th wedding anniversary – congratulations to you both (you get less time for murder you know!)
After a dusty but exciting few days – it will be good to get clean, wash everything and get organised before we head on up towards Darwin.
Oh, and congratulations Lachlan on your fantastic Year 10 mid year exam results – and on getting your Ls – way to go Yock!
After this, we came back to the campsite and….. well we lazed around again. I found a wonderful spot by the river, nestled in the roots of a huge paperbark tree and played Declan (my Irish Low D Whistle)… I also got a chance to do some painting and writing and even some meditation…. It’s a hard life! Danni and I also spent ages enjoying our “Jane Austin Fest”. The next morning we got up, had breakfast, lazed around for a while (do you get the feeling there is a bit of a theme developing here!) and then headed out to Zebedee Springs. There were so many cars out there, we turned around and came back! We called in to have a look at the Stockman’s Waterhole (lovely – but looked a bit too much like a croc haven for a swim). We were going out to El Questro Gorge – but having watched another vehicle go through a river crossing, decided that some of the holes were a bit too deep for Mum and Dad’s vehicle to get through. We went back to the village and went for a walk along the river and then a swim. The water was cool and refreshing and it was fun to swim with heaps of little fish darting around us. Danni declined to swim – bloody wimp!While we were doing this – Uncle John was being far more adventurous and went through the crossing and out for a look at El Questro Gorge and Moonshine Gorge.
We went back to camp, had lunch and then lazed around for a while. Then Uncle John and I went up to Saddleback Ridge for a look. Uncle John drove (I’m not that brave – the drive was listed as for ‘experienced’ 4wd drivers only). It was a fun drive up an extremely steep, quite rough and narrow track with several hairy hair-pin bends and blind crests. We were pretty glad there were no other vehicles up there. The view from the lookout on the ridge was stunning – I took heaps of photos only to discover they had all disappeared off my camera the next day – with many thanks to Danni who accidentally pushed "delete all" instead of "delete one" whilst trying to get rid of a dud photo she took. Oh well! Uncle John did get some photos and we can make up stories about the rest.
This pic is of Saddleback Ridge from the ground. In the evening, we headed down to the village for the Saturday Night El Questro BBQ. The food was fantastic – plentiful supplies of soup, salads, tender steak, barra, chicken, sausages and fruit for desert. The night also included terrific entertainment (all under the stars): a young bloke called Chris Matthews who played the guitar like a man possessed, followed by a very entertaining half hour of stories, poems, whip-cracking, rope handling and yarns from Buddy – one of the original head stockmen of the property – an old aboriginal man with a great sense of humour and many tales to tell. A bloke called Chilly also told a heap of yarns and jokes (including a very moving alternate version of “the man from snowy river”, from the horse’s point of view). There was a fair bit of drink flowing at the Swinging Arm Bar and it was a terrific night out.
We came back to our campsite and had a warming cuppa before all heading off to bed.The next morning DANNI WAS FIRST UP. Let me just repeat that…. DANNI WAS FIRST OUT OF BED. We had a very quick bite to eat and headed back down to Zebedee Springs for another dip in the warm water. Then we lazed around for a while before Danni and I headed out for a tour of Chamberlain Gorge. Paddy was pretty excited about this as it meant he got to go on a boat again!
The boat tour was beautiful. We putted along the beautiful, clear waters – staring up at the wonderful red rocks of the gorge. The King Leopold Sandstone was formed 1.8 BILLION years ago. There are no fossils in the sandstone as there was no life on earth at that time. Now that is old (even older than Mum!!!!) At the end of the gorge, we got to play around with the archer fish. These funny fish line up an insect and then spit water at it, knocking it off the branch it is sitting in and into the water. We wiggled our fingers over the side of the water and enjoyed getting spat at by the fish.We also got out for a look at some of the rock formations – very beautiful and very ancient. On the way back, we were served wine and fresh fruit. A lovely, peaceful end to the day.
The next morning, Danni, John and I got up and went out for a drive to a lookout on the Pigeon Hole Track. Uncle John had driven the complete track the day before and he reckons it was one of the toughest 4wd tracks he has tackled (which means it MUST have been rough). Anyway, we ventured up the first part of the track and enjoyed magnificent views in the early morning sunlight. The reflections in the Pentecost River as we crossed it looked pretty good too. We went back for breakfast, packed up and sadly farewelled El Questro. We drove back up the Gibb River Road (very rough this time) and headed for Wyndham. We stopped off on the way to have a look at “The Grotto”. We climbed down a heap of man-made steps into the bottom of the Grotto. The steps were a bit hairy – steep with no guard rails at all. At the bottom we really enjoyed resting by the cool, deep waterhole. The tree roots and moss on the side of the rock walls made it almost look like something out of a fairy tale. We found a spot where the whole rock wall seemed perched on some blocks of stone. Danni reckoned it reminded her of the game of Jenga (the game where you make a tower of blocks and then try to take out a block at a time without collapsing it.) She just couldn’t help herself and had to go and try and get a block out. It didn’t turn out that well – sorry Kerry – we will post her back in a post pack if you like.
We climbed back out of the Grotto – marvelling all the time at our general fitness and agility – and then continued on our way to Wyndham. We drove out to the port and then went to have a look at the Crocodile Farm. I definitely wouldn’t want to meet one of these chaps in the water! We reinflated Danni after the rock incident (the portable compressor proved useful for this) – but when we got into the croc farm, Danni couldn’t help herself – wanted a close-up view and got herself into a spot of bother. Don’t know what we are going to do with that girl! Anyway, after the whole croc thing – we drove back into Wyndham and checked out the pioneer cemetary (nothing like wandering through a cemetary to brighten one's day!). We also had a look at the huge statues in the "Dreaming Park" in Wyndham.Then, feeling rather warm and hungry, we headed up to the 5-ways lookout for lunch. It was quite a steep drive up, but the view was worth it. Mum had made a waldorf salad for lunch – yum! (Mum read the blog and insisted that I edit it and add the word 'wonderful')... Mum had made a WONDERFUL waldorf salad for lunch - yum! (There ya go Mum!)After checking out the view, we headed back to Kununurra – where we enjoyed a bbq tea with a bottle of bubbly to celebrate Mum and Dad’s 46th wedding anniversary – congratulations to you both (you get less time for murder you know!)After a dusty but exciting few days – it will be good to get clean, wash everything and get organised before we head on up towards Darwin.
Oh, and congratulations Lachlan on your fantastic Year 10 mid year exam results – and on getting your Ls – way to go Yock!
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