Day 18 - El Questro in the Kimberley

Here we are at the beginning of the famed Gibb River Road heading for our first stop, El Questro which is a wilderness resort but also a working cattle station. It caters for campers, small bungalows for non-campers and also very high-end accommodation at the Homestead which takes 8 guests for about $2000 per night. Of course the lowly others are not allowed near the homestead. El Questro is quite close to the start of the Gibb River Road, although the road in is about 30km long with a couple of wet creek crossings. As we arrived early, we were very fortunate to be offered a private campside beside the river, just 2.5km from the store and the amenities. It was absolutely stunning and probably the nicest camping we will ever do. Photo shows our camp taken from the other side of the river. We had a small fresh water crocodile in the pool above the rocks and watched the cockatoos and jabirus come to drink from the river. The only downside was that it was quite shaded and we were having trouble getting enough sun on our solar panel. We stayed an extra night (4 in all) and probably would have stayed another but we were concerned we might lose our power and fridge.

Because El Questro is so large, it has a number of gorges to explore and they are all different. We chose to do the walk to Emma Gorge (about an hour) but  not really a walk - more climbing over rocks on the floor of the gorge. We used a lot of muscles that have been dormant for a while but I'm sure it's done us some good. We wore our swimsuits so we could swim when we got to the end (photo shows the pool) but it was so cold as the sun barely reaches the water. Jim got right under but I could only go up to my waist. It was very hot on the return walk and we were pleased to get back to our home by the river.

The following day we went to Zebedee Springs - thermal springs with a series of small pools in between rocks with a canopy of palms and tree ferns - very relaxing.
The other walk (?) we did was to El Questro gorge, much smaller than Emma, but equally as beautiful. We chose not to swim this time.
Saturday night at El Questro is buffet BBQ night so we joined in too and had a great meal. We drove some of the 4WD trails on the property but also did a fair bit of reading in our little camp. Sad to leave El Questro as we have really enjoyed our time here, but the Gibb River Road is calling even though we are not sure where we will stop next.