10th September
Our first stop on the Gibb, was El Questro, the turn off to which is at the 33km mark – the end of the tar for the next couple of weeks!! A bumpy dirt road and a few creek crossings lead us to El Questro Station, where we had a beautiful campsite right on the river bank for our 4 night stay.
The El Questro area is full of beautiful gorges, swimming holes and waterfalls. We spent our days exploring these..
El Questo Gorge and Moonshine Gorge
El Questro Gorge was pretty, but challenging walk, clambering over boulders up through the gorge. We only went half way, as after that you had to wade through chest-deep water (overhead for the boys) and over boulders the size of cars. The half way pool and waterfall were lovely though. Crystal clear water and deceptively deep!! The tiny plunge pool next to the waterfall was way overhead and deep enough to jump into from the top of the falls.
The road out to the gorge was an adventure itself, with the longest and deepest river crossing for the trip so far.
There was another gorge out along this road, called Moonshine Gorge. As it was already late in the day and getting hot we walked just a small way up it. The gorge had stunning tilted sandstone walls and a nice swimming hole.
Emma Gorge
Emma Gorge is just off the Gibb River Road, 10 km back toward Kununurra. We thought this was the pick of the gorges. Clearly they think so too, because they have built a separate resort out there. The walk, like El Questro, had lots of rock hopping, but not quite as difficult. The rippled rocks along the way were really interesting and there were pretty creeks and a smaller plunge pool on the way to the main falls. The main pool and falls at the end were absolutely stunning!! A huge drop into a beautiful pool that changed colour from the shallows out the deep section where the falls landed in the pool. The curved gorge walls were like a cave over the pool and water spilled over like rain into the shallower sections of the pool. The water was freezing!! But it was worth braving. Looking up at the roof of the ‘cave’ from the deeper section of the pool was amazing, seeing the ferns growing on the sides and the sunlight coming in above the falls.
Amalia Gorge
This walk would be much better earlier in the season when the water was still flowing. It was pretty, nonetheless, with a lovely waterhole and beautiful red gorge walls. Much of the walk was along the dry riverbed which was full of the most beautiful rocks and pebbles. The kids and I lost the track as we were too busy with our heads down picking up and looking the rocks.
Zebedee Springs
These are thermal springs cascading down through the gorge to create a series of pretty, crystal clear rock pools. Such a nice place to relax and soak for a while after one of the gorge walks.
The sunsets at El Questro are beautiful too. Though we only went out of camp to see two of them because it was nice just relaxing by the river in our campsite at that time of day, while the kids played with new friends.
The first of our sunsets was up a pretty hectic little 4WD track to Saddleback Ridge. Thank goodness we parked at the point and walked the rest of the way. The view at the top was beautiful of the surrounding escarpments. It was one of the Kimberley’s very rare cloudy days, so we got some amazing colours too.
Our other sunset away from camp was a walk up the hill behind the campground looking back toward the Station, saddleback ridge and the escarpments. Apart from a lovely sunset, it gave a great perspective of the area that we have been exploring for the last 4 days.
El Questro has been a great start to our Gibb River experience. It was a bonus that the kids met some other kids, so were keeping occupied (and very dusty) playing football and bullrush when we were back in camp. They made particularly good friends with the kids camping next to us, as we did with their parents. They from the Sunshine Coast and on much the same itinerary as us at the moment, so we will probably be seeing more of them as we head across the Gibb over the next week or so.
Click on the link for Gibb River Road – it’s a wrap!!
The Travelling Dixons 