Nele & Andrew Around Oz

El Questro Wilderness Park, Gibb River Road, WA

Day 117 – 13^th June 2011

El Questro Wilderness Park, Gibb River Road, WA

We kicked the day off with a soak in Zebedee Springs, thermal pools at the end of a short walk through lush and tropical vegetation. The pools are only open in the morning and we made sure to be there early to get some nice photos as it gets very crowded later, especially if a tour bus has arrived – it’s a very popular place. After our natural bath we did the Amalia Gorge walk (3.4km return - 2h). We enjoyed this walk more than Emma Gorge as it’s a very pretty walk all the way with the 32m Amalia Falls at the end – and we only came across one other walker. Andrew went for a very refreshing swim in the pool whilst Nele decided to stay warm and dry. We continued on to El Questro Gorge where we had a quick lunch before setting off for our final walk of the day (6.8km return – 4h). This would be our pick of all the gorge walks we did at El Questro. A more challenging walk than Amalia Gorge, especially at the halfway pool where you have to get wet to cross the pool and climb over some large boulders, but we didn’t hesitate to get into our swimming gear and continued the walk. It is definitely worth it as the second part is very nice. There was a lot of scrambling over rocks but in the end you reach Mac Micking Pool with a small but nice waterfall – and a refreshing swim is a must! When we got back at the station we were planning to go on the Saddleback Ridge 4WD track – good to do at sunset – but unfortunately it was closed for maintenance work. Instead we enjoyed a drink at the El Questro Bar and attended the information session given by the El Questro Wilderness Park ranger Micko.

El Questro Station - donkeys

Zebedee Springs

Nele taking it easy - nice and warm, Zebedee Springs

very relaxing - Zebedee Springs

Zebedee Springs

Amalia Gorge Walk

Amalia Falls

Andew taking a dip - very cold - Amalia Falls

Nele decided to stay dry - Amalia Falls

El Questro Gorge Walk

Don't slip Andrew, the rocks are slippery - El Questro Gorge Walk

El Questro Gorge Walk

The end point - Mac Micking Pool - El Questro Gorge Walk

Heading back - watch your step - El Questro Gorge Walk

Nele's safe approach to getting down (sit on your backside) - El Questro Gorge Walk

El Questro Gorge Walk

This is the half way point where you have to get wet and climb over the boulder
El Questro Gorge Walk

El Questro Gorge Walk

Yes another creek crossing - this one was fairly deep also (approx 450mm)

Sunset - El Questro Station

El Questro Wilderness Park, Gibb River Road, WA

Day 116 – 12^th June 2011

El Questro Wilderness Park, Gibb River Road, WA

Got up at 5am to pack up the tent and ready to go by 6am to drive back slowly to the highway. During our stay at the Bungle Bungles we counted 45 creek crossings of which we did several more then twice, so Andrew is an experienced creek crosser by now! We filled up at Doon Doon Roadhouse ($1.95/L) before taking the turnoff to the Gibb River Road. The first section of this 4WD road is actually not too bad as many parts are sealed and the gravel parts were not too corrugated. We had lunch at Emma Gorge – and bought our wilderness park permit- before doing this walk into one of the Kimberley’s most well known gorges (3.2km return – 2h). At the end of the walk there is a waterhole with a 65m waterfall. We had a swim in the freezing cold pool before warming up under the thermal water that trickles from the rocks on the right hand side of the gorge. We wouldn’t rate the walk as very spectacular as there is not much to see along the way - and it is very busy as everyone travelling along the Gibb River Road stops here -but the end does give you a rewarding sight. Next we continued on to the El Questro Station where we set up camp and enjoyed another easy meal (spaghetti bolognaise). El Questro Station is set up as a caravan park but is unpowered – but you do get to have a nice warm shower.

Sunrise - ready to tackle the 53km journey out of the Bungles (2hr 30 mins)

last creek crossing for a while - it seems to be getting muddier

Heading onto the Gibb River Rd - sign is misleading - 4WD is compulsory

Andrew is engaging 4WD

Emma Gorge Walk

Emma Gorge Pool & Falls

Emma Gorge Pool Falls

Emma Gorge Walk

Gibb River Rd

more creek cossings

Campsite - El Questro Station

Kurrajong Campsite, Purnululu National Park, WA

Day 115 – 11^th June 2011

Kurrajong Campsite, Purnululu National Park, WA

We got up early this morning as we had to drive to the southern end of the park - which is again not far but takes a long time with the many creek crossing and corrugated road. It’s a beautiful drive up to the Piccaninny car park with amazing views – and lots of photo opportunities - of the famous beehive domes. From the car park we took The Domes walk (500m – 15min) to Cathedral Gorge (3km return – 1h), continuing on to the Piccaninny Creek Lookout (1km return – 30min) and Piccaninny Gorge walk along the creek bed (3km return – 1.5h – to the actual start of the Gorge it is a 7h one way hike so we only walked a small portion of it. The full gorge walk is an overnight hike where you spend the night in the gorge or a 7 day hike if you continue on to the other end of the gorge). The domes walk is good to get a close up view and provides good photo opportunities showing the structure of these striped domes. When walking in Cathedral Gorge it actually sounds as if you are in a cathedral and the Piccaninny walk gives you so many wonderful views you have to be careful not to empty your camera battery on one walk. After lunch we drove back to the northern part of the park to do the Echidna Chasm and Osmand Range Lookout walks (2.5km return – 1.5h). Echidna Chasm gets narrower and narrower the further you go, so it also gets darker and darker – best time to do the walk would be at lunch time when the sun is at its highest and you get most sunlight in and you don’t have to worry about the heat as it’s actually cool and shaded in the chasm. After all this walking we felt it was time to relax so we drove to Kungkalanayi Lookout to watch the colour variations while the sun set.