El Questro is a special place. Yes it’s expensive, it’s commercial, and extremely popular. But it also presents some wonderful opportunities to enjoy some brilliant gorges and water pools. It’s also conservation based. For us it was pretty special as we met up with some friends in a lovely environment.
30 June – 2 July 2018
Kerry’s snippets in fuchsia
El Questro
El Questro Wilderness Park is on El Questro Station, a cattle station that diversified its pastoral operation to include tourism. It remains a working cattle station with a herd of approximately 6,000 head.
The station was first established in 1903. Will and Celia Burrell bought it in 1991 and developed it into a wilderness park tourist destination. The Burrells sold El Questro to General Property Trust in 2005. which on-sold it to Delaware North in March 2010.
There are three resorts on El Questro: Emma Gorge (offering safari cabins) located on the northern side of the Gibbs River Road; The Station (bungalows and camping); and The Homestead (luxury rooms and suites). All of these are operated by Delaware North of Buffalo, New York.
Getting there
Kununurra > El Questro ~ Total of 100kms
Day 0 – Drive there and Amalia Gorge
The drive to El Questro was through some really lovely scenery – lots of the lovely sandstone outcrops we have got to know and love. It’s a good bitumen road as well, which now goes as far as the El Questro turnoff.
However, things changed as soon as we hit the dirt road in – 16km of serious corrugations and a few patches of OK dirt. It was a decidedly unpleasant drive. And they had told us at their desk at the Kununurra Tourist Office that the road was fine and that their grader was out there all the time. Don’t believe them – it’s a rough slow haul. We probably should have stopped to let the tyres down. While there were lots of corrugations, the road was not quite so bad I didn’t think… just had to take it slowly. Its just that there is nowhere to go when you hit the corrugations – left, right, centre – off to one side… they were just everywhere. Just The Cruiser – no problem, but with the van behind us…. we had to watch for sharp rocks on the edge if we went off to one side to escape the corrugations.
Getting close to the home Station, we came to the 3 river crossings. Two are fine, but the middle one is quite long and there is a steady flow and a rock base. We watched a couple of cars go through and then took Mobi across. No problems as the van body is quite high off the ground. These can be best seen on our video – click here.
The Station (home base) is very busy when we arrive – it’s the start of the WA school holidays – but we are soon moving to our site – no offer of assistance to get onto the site (we had been spoilt on teh coast). So we started with me driving and Kerry yelling directions. But is quite an awkward opening with a post and a solid tree constraining the gap, and with permanent tents set up just across the road.
As that did not work so well, we swapped over, and soon got Mobi swinging nicely around the post into the site. Then it was just bit of jiggling to line it up. Much easier doing it this way…. not quite as much yelling involved. As usual, we had to put levellers under one side, but we are really into a routine now and quickly have things all set up.
When we opened Mobi up and actually walked in, I saw that the top bathroom cupboard (behind the mirror) was wide open and some things were on the floor….. and in the fridge, somehow, the lids of the english mustard and the truffles had managed to unwind…. luckily the jars were still upright. But how does that happen? Then, the dust – bloody hell. Fine red dust everywhere. Vacuum, then mop…. the dust is so fine.. buggered if I know how / where it gets in. I feel like wrapping the whole van in glad wrap before we embark on another dirt road!
We let the tyres down to 27psi cold, and grabbed a meat pie and sausage roll from the shop for lunch. Then Kerry booked on us on a half day tour for the next day – the El Questro Gorge. This got rather complicated. It was supposed to be a full day tour – with a cruise down the Chamberlain Gorge (on special for $190 pp). Alas, after a few phone checks, it turned out the cruise was full. We had to take the half day for $135 each, but were offered the cruise the next afternoon for another $65…… This really didn’t add up to me, given that we were missing out on a big lunch included in the day tour….
It was only a short drive out to Amalia Gorge, a bit after 2pm. The car park was full when we got there so we expected it to be packed. We could see the beginning of the gorge ahead of us and to one side the lowering sun turned the sandstone a wonderful red. There was no track as such – we were just walking along the rounded rocks of a dry river bed. This was a bit of a pain as we had to watch every step rather than admire the view.
We knew we did not have time to go to the top of the gorge, but were looking forward to a swim at the half way pool. Then suddenly about 25 or more people – Philippines nationality we thought – came in a steady stream out of the gorge. “You beauty”, we thought it may not be too packed after all.
We made our way up the river and the gorge began to close in on both sides – really lovely.
At the half way pool we had to squeeze around a large rock across the “track”. We had to sit on our bums, pass the backpack across, then wriggle along a narrow ledge with a 3-4m drop if you make a mistake. Having gotten past that, we found that there was only one couple at the pool, and they were packing up as we arrived.
Pretty soon we had the place to ourselves. We quickly changed into swimmers and Kerry made for the water. But as her legs met the pool she let out a cry of despair and ground to a halt. “It’s bloody freezing”, she screamed.
But real men are not put off by such histrionics. In I strode, ignoring the facts that it was actually bloody freezing, and got immersed as quickly as possible. Once cold all over I felt a lot better, and it fact is wasn’t that cold once you are in. I must say that we have we heard that expression so much on this trip. At every pool we asked those in the water if it is cold. Invariable the reply is “Its great once you are in”. And so it was this time, great to be in and incredible refreshing. Sometimes, just sometimes, this is crap. If its freezing, it stays freezing… As we were heading out of the gorge, we could see the sun getting lower and lower towards the mountains… with all this rocks to clamber over, I was getting slightly concerned if we would “escape” – but we managed it.
The sun was setting as we drove back to the Station making driving a tad difficult. Then we cooked dinner, ignoring the $42 a head plus drinks steak night at the Station.
Sadly, I accepted the fact that my wonderful Keen walking boots had passed their use by date. Together we have walked so far and in so many places – they were the best I have had. So sad, as those boots were made for walking, and that’s just what they did, but one of these days (today) these boots were gonna walk right out on me. I had to bin them. But I had bought a replacement pair in Sydney.
Day 1 – reuniting with friends, El Questro Gorge, Zebadee Springs.
We started the tour at 8, with a dutch couple and a young woman from the Pilbara. She works for the local Council for an area half the size of Victoria and a total population of about 5,000. It’s all mining so that is where the money comes from. We were in a Toyota ute with seats attached to the rear tray. Not glamorous but quite satisfactory!
The first bit of excitement was going over the “deep crossing”. You have to go across this to get to the El Questro and Moonshine Gorges. The water is 600mm to 800mm deep so we were very keen to check this out as we wanted to go back later in The Cruiser to Moonshine. It is deep, but we reckoned that the Mighty Cruiser would take us through that one. I took careful note going through – how high it was to the steps, and measured it when we got out… just under the bottom of my shorts….. OK. Now we know.
El Questro Gorge is not far off the main road. There are only a few cars in the carpark so we think that we may be in there ahead of the pack. The walk is similar to Amalia – walking up the stony creek bed and then, as we get into the gorge proper, rock hopping alongside the river. So we took our time and stopped to admire the gorge. Another stunner – let the pictures tell the story.
As we progressed we saw that there were more and more people coming up behind us. We were being overtaken by keen young tourists trying to get through twice as many sites in half the time recommended. By the time we got to the half way swimming hole, not a large one, there were quite a few people in front of us. Most of them were aiming to go all the way to the top of the gorge. But most had not realised that they had to wade this pool, let’s say chest deep, to get to the next stage.
So we watched people stripping down to swimmers and then wading with their back packs overhead to then try to clambour up the rock face on the left hand side. Not me – I quickly changed into my board shorts and got into the water. Just what I needed, beautifully refreshing after the walk in. Fortunately, most people were trying to get up the the rest of the gorge and I had the pool to myself. Kerry declined to take even a little dip. Rubbish.. I walked in to at least my ankles, then quickly out again.
Walking out again we were faced with so many people heading in. As we paused to let a groups walk past us I recognised the lady from Palm Beach that we had met in Kununurra – who was going across the country alone in her Pajaro. She is loving this life!
At the car park we saw so many vehicles, mostly Toyota LCs, so we knew the deep water crossing was going to be OK.
We made our way back over the crossing to Jackaroos Waterhole, a large waterhole. We were served morning tea – a brownie and cold juice which really hit the spot. We did not swim, but could have. As we were leaving a man was baiting his line in the never-ending chase for the Barra.
As the time approached 11.45, we drove to Zedadee Springs. The guide explained that the Springs are closed to the public at 12.00 and his job is to shoo them all out, which he hates doing especially when kids are involved. Then, private tours such as ours could have the springs to themselves. Actually the real reason is to give the Springs a chance to recover from the pounding they get in peak times. So as people were being asked to leave, we were getting ready for a wonderfully peaceful soak in the pools. It sounds so snobbish – having the springs to ourselves on a private tour group…. However, we had to be out by 12.30.. So many people come here, including a few feral kids (with equally feral parents) that seem bent on destroying the place – so it does need time to recover each day.
This place is truely lovely – a series of cascading pools, with the water at about 28C. As the dutch couple did not come in, there were only 3 of us there. Bliss!! But sadly the photos to this amazing place are not so good.
On the drive back out I checked the water levels again… still seem pretty OK for The Cruiser to go through.
Back at the Station, we were delighted to see our 4WD driving course friends had all arrived: Barb & Keith, Lilian & Jon and Minika & Ian. Almost a year ago we all met at the LC Club near Goulburn for 4WD training, and we all had similar aspiration to hit the road big time in 2018. We had talked of meeting up somewhere, and, would you believe it, we were all there at El Questro, able to share a few days together.
While they all set up, we walked around the Station and found a terrific swimming hole in the Pentecost River. Massive area with camping along its banks.
A bit after 4 we went down to where the others were camping – they could not get powered sites, so were alongside the river. We had a great happy hour, in fact so good that we had another, before Ian dug out some chicken he had and turned that into schnitzel (hammering away for ages to flatten it out, then sitting patiently dipping it in egg, then breadcrumbs). We had brought some nibbles and some wine as their stocks were getting a tad low – hit by the no alcohol sold on Sunday rule. Needless to say it was a night to remember – and I am sure that many of the campers will long remember our rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, wild and out of control, as fitting, but it was early in the evening.
Day 2 – Emma Gorge, Moonshine Gorge
We had all agreed to meet at 7.30 to beat the mob out to Emma Gorge. Although part of El Questro, the Gorge is on the northern side of the Gibbs River Road – so we drove in convoy back out to the Road, turned right and and then turn left for a short drive to Emma Gorge. It was a promising start when we got there with relatively few cars.
It was another stony walk along a river bed through a beautiful gorge – lots of water running in the river. Then this gradually changed to a fair bit of rock hopping over large boulders. Close to the top of the gorge we came to a large pool with a couple swimming. He said that she thought the last climb to the upper pool would be too much.
But we were not put off by that and clambered up to a stunning view – a lovely waterfall plunging straight down into a large pool. We immediately love this place.
We all had a swim but it was really very chilly, but oh so, so, refreshing. It was colder on the deeper left hand side of the pool, where the waterfall is, compared to the warmer (every so slightly) right hand side. I took out our waterproof camera and got under the falls. It would have been brilliant with a noodle but ours were in The Cruiser. There were various little slightly warmer patches in this pool – must be springs popping up underneath somewhere I suspect… there was nobody in the vicinity so it couldn’t have been that! It was really lovely as long as you kept your shoulders under the water.
Next to the river were a number or flat rocks with a distinctive wave pattern on their surface. Some were subtle, gentle wavers, but this one made a statement.
As we walked back down again, we passed so many people on the way up. Glad we made an early start. The restaurant at Emma Gorge is really very nice – like an African hunting lodge, says Jon (our Pom/SA representative). We all order Devonshire tea and relax on the veranda. Unfortunately, all the teas, coffees, iced chocolate (Kerry), iced coffees, come quickly so that when the scones eventually came it was a dry old argument.
Next we are going to Moonshine Gorge and to get there we have to go over the “deep water crossing”, something we are all looking forward to. The water is between 600-800mm deep we have been told. While I am swapping cameras with Keith for the crossing, so we can film each other, Jon/Lillian take the plunge, as it were. It is deep and the cruiser creates quite a bow wave.
Then it is our turn ,with Kerry taking the wheel for the forward leg, and I hope Keith gets the video going. Then ahead we saw that Lillian is out with her iPhone. She gets video of each of us as we plough our way through the water. So with that adrenelin shot, we drove off to see what Moonshine Gorge has to offer.
This is best seen on our video – click here
The setup is a loop walk of about 5km, which, if you take the left hand loop takes you about 4.6km over some rocky open terrain before reaching the waterhole; or if you take the right hand side you get to the waterhole in about 5min. It is hot so we all took the right hand path and were soon at yet another lovely waterhole. There, Minika & Ian and Barb & Keith decided to walk up the valley to see where it took them. The others decided to wait at the pool and Kerry asked me to go get the noodles. Which I did.
This place was magic. Lillian got a couple of beach chairs, we had lunch, a leisurely noodle-like swim with John taking over my pink noodle for a spell…. very chilling-out time… just lovely.
When I returned with said noodles, the walking team had set off, so I followed them. Keeping the pink ribbons on the trees in sight, I found myself doing some major rock hopping. Even up on the banks there was stagnant water which required treading a line over the rocks. The sides of the gorge came together, but then the valley widened. It really was a pretty place. But it was not a pleasant walk because of the constant rock hopping, and it was quite hot and felt even hotter. There was no shade. I had only taken one 1x750ml of water with me.
I finally caught the others as we came to a family sitting and lying in the river to keep cool.
Beyond that, we came upon a beautiful pool hidden by pandanus palms.
The others decided to rest there for lunch but mine was in my backpack, with the noodling Kerry. I decided to walk back. I was really thirsty by then so had to ration my remaining water for the 40 min walk with so shade at all. I was so relieved to get back and polished off about another 750ml of water, and quickly got into the pool to soak. Cool, not cold.
The rest of the mob followed hot on Des’s heels – and very quickly borrowed the noodles, but as they realised we were leaving, they got out pretty quickly too.
Then it was back to the deep water crossing. There we were astounded to see that someone had crossed in a very old and ragged looking Forester. Some people do such stupid things. We heard that he had come out complaining that his electronic breaks weren’t working – really?. And he had a tortoise shell wired to his bull bar. Dear, oh dear. We went first over the crossing – my turn to drive – and took Lillian’s iPhone to get a head on video of their crossing.
We had decided to go out for a subset experience. Lillian had been told of a place to go and we followed them in convoy at about 5.00. We went to Blanco Crossing which was marked by one of the biggest boab trees. Below was the crossing and it looked a bit awesome. We saw a number of vehicles come across and they were bumping around all over the place.
Most of our group felt like walking across the stones – not necessarily to the other side, but just to look (as you do). I got about 20 metres out and thought “f*&^% Crocodiles”. Luckily, a couple of cars came through from the other direction and I had to get out of their way, then more came and I decided to retreat gracefully back to our hill near the giant boab.
We waited for the sun to set and the colours were glorious. We had deliberately moved all our cars out of the way so we could take great sunset photos. Wouldn’t you know it – two cars (hire cars) came through and parked right between the boab and the sunset…. there are some incredibly thick people around.
We then had a hamburger night – we each brought out contributions. It was a marvellous night, without any Bohemian Rhapsody, although there was some dancing later on. Des’s memory is not serving him well – there was lots of singing – very good singing too I have to say…. and then I couldn’t resist dancing, gestured for Des to join me, then all of a sudden, we were all on our feet…. wonderful end to a wonderful day.
That concluded our time at El Questro. The drive out seemed even worse than the drive in I thought. We caught up with 2 vans going quite slowly and we formed a convoy. We spent the whole drive trying to avoid the corrugations – so much of the time our left hand wheels were on the very edge of the “road”, and other times we were driving on the right hand side. Finally we got there and stopped to pump up our tyres.
Bungle Bungles here we come.
To see our photos from this post, click here
To see our video, click here
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