Nele & Andrew Around Oz: 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.