Len and Hazel's Travels: Gibb River Road - El Questro 12-15 September 2013

Finally it's here - the Gibb. And what's it like, you ask? It's HOT! Hot enough to boil a monkey's bum Your Majesty, and then a bit hotter again. I have never drunk more water in my life before - we are averaging around 10 litres between us a day! And then there is the gin, the wine etc, etc.....
The Gibb is something which has been the subject of several chats in various swimming pools and road house bars, and almost everyone says either "Don't", or "Why?", quickly followed by some horror story which happened to someone else and the flat out statement that "It,s the worst road in the country!".
Turns out, the first bit of the road at least is a bit of an anticlimax. It is sealed up to the El Questro turn off, so we don't know what it's really like yet.

Ah, El Questro. Another destination we have been looking forward to. Once again the subject of much camp ground conversation. Well, they all got one thing right - it ain't cheap. $20 for the obligatory park pass, and then $40 a night for an unpowered site. However, the first dip in the Pentacost River swimming hole outside the restaurant makes all these issues just melt away. What a place! Another oasis in the middle of nowhere. They run tours to every attraction in the massive property (for a price), but you can also do most of them yourself. Zebedee Springs is just magical. We were very lucky to time our arrival just as a bus group was leaving, and departure just as another one rocked up, so we were able to fully enjoy the warm water spa and waterfall experience.

One for Fern and Dave

After that it was on to Amalia Gorge for an hours serious rock hopping to get to the currently dry waterfall at the end of the gorge. Thankfully he waterhole was still full and we had a refreshing swim with the place all to ourselves. One hour up unfortunately means another one down to get back to the truck, and we were very hot and lethargic (it was 39 degrees again today!) by the time we got back. Worth every bead of sweat though!

Saturday dawned bright and clear (again!), and with the mercury set to hit 39 again we sauntered over to Emma Gorge for another hour of rock hopping to finally arrive at the best end of gorge swimming hole yet. This is a must do walk and swim. Even this late in the season, there are still droplets falling from the cliffs above providing a unique swimming shower, and the water is so clear it is impossible to gauge the depth.

Had coffee and cake at the Emma Gorge Resort (as all the best sweaty hot people do) then drove up to Saddleback Ridge for a look at the view. Quite a tight and steep 4x4 track to get up there, with a lot of low range use coming down to keep everything under control. Good fun!

After that it was back to camp for a rest and clean up before heading off on a cruise of the navigable part of the Chamberlain River Gorge, which is probably only a k or two long, but still very pleasant. Spent time at the far end quaffing bubbly (yum) and feeding the Seven Spotted Archer Fish (sounds fancy, but the little buggers cover you with fish spit as soon as you dangle a fish pellet, or camera lens, or jewelery, or face over the side) and Barramundi. All very civilised apart from the fish spit.

Once back at the jetty it was a sprint back up Saddleback Ridge to watch the sunset, which would have been a fitting end to a fantastic day.

But there was more! After dinner it was off to the bar to see the resident muso Chris Mitchell perform for the last time this season. Many of the staff were also celebrating the ends of their six month contracts here (every thing goes into mothballs during the wet) so it was quite a party. We didn't get to bed until almost 11PM. I know, real bloody ragers we are ;-)

After dusting ourselves off the next morning, a day of no rock climbing was declared! So in celebration of this we spent the whole morning lounging around with cups of coffee, tea and cordial (once it started to heat up again), reading our books. Heaven on a stick :-)
After lunch we charged up the truck by taking a drive out to Branco's Lookout and Explosion Gorge. A fun 4x4 track which starts out with a 400 metre or so river crossing, which though dry this time of year, had to be tackled in low ratio as it was so incredibly rocky:

The climb up to Branco's was another bit of steep twisty stuff requiring more crawling in low 2nd, but the views were magnificent.

The track down to the bottom of Explosion Gorge was closed, so we had to make do with the view from the top.

After all this excitement, it was back to camp and off to the restaurant for dinner where Hazel had some local barra, and I had a fantastic eye fillet from somewhere down south. As the waitress explained, if you want to eat Kimberley beef, go to Macca's.