El Questro and Gorgeous Gorges!



Nice shady campsite - in the afternoon anyway. The river, complete with swimming hole, is over the pictured trees.


















I was discussing our trip with a fellow traveller and we had been talking about the kids and then moved on to sights we had seen. By this stage we had seen lots of mountains, gorges, rock formations etc and I was attempting to say something 'profound' - saying, "It's funny how they are all gorges, but all different!" ... He thought I was talking about the kids!! ... (It's funny how they are all gorgeous but all different!) I agreed that they were too, and we had a bit of a laugh. All our kids are gorgeous... and different from each other, thank goodness!

Anyway, back to the "gorges"... the Gibb River Road has so many, in a variety of colours, shapes, rock types and amounts of water. The Ranges that you pass through vary greatly, all of which makes it really interesting. They are 'spectacular', if not "gorgeous"!

El Questro, is a huge tourist operation and their payroll would not be small. It was interesting to see how some of it works, taking into account the isolation factor of the property, as they attempt to cater for tourists from all budgets and walks of life. These days it is owned by an American company that own Kings Canyon Resort and 3 Great Barrier Reef island resorts also. I read somewhere they have about 50,000 employees with their American resorts as well!

 Crossing the Pentecost River, into the Station
  Campground and "Town"

Resident donkeys - we had to go around them!
They wouldn't move for us!

Some of their scenery and natural land features are amazing! We only had a look at some during the morning hours - the days tended to be a bit too warm for much walking and exertion in the afternoon.

Bottoms up!

 Zebedee Springs - beautiful warm water, small rock pools and waterfalls. Surrounded by a towering red cliff and heaps of palms lining the creek that you walked alongside to the pools.





Contemplating the day ahead!



Beautiful shady walking!

Across the Gibb River Road to Emma Gorge


Main pool of Emma Gorge - it was 'raining' drips
off the side of rock above us




A longer, dryer walk in and then a steeper, rock clambering section to get from the first pool to the second a bit deeper into the Gorge.

Up the right hand side of the rock wall, was a 'secret stairway', where you could climb up and bath in a warm, deep, but very narrow bath.



The huge chunks of rock in this river bed were amazing! Are
they from cliffs weathered for "millions of years".?
 No, in March 2005, Cyclone Ingrid came across the Kimberley
coastline and dumped 445mm in 24 hours. The ensuing run - off,
wind and flooding caused not only immense damage to
 Emma Gorge Resort, but a reported 'remodelling' of Emma
Creek and the path that the river took etc. and changing some
 features of the Gorge Landscape. Amazing change occurred in
just a  few hours.
Don't believe what you read about "millions of years"!
occurred to this landscape in a few hours



Bottom Pool

El Questro Gorge:

Too hard, and too hot, to get over this rock
and explore the 'upper' section of the gorge.

'Gorge - ous' colours!

Walkway was along the river bed

 























Site of the luxury 'Homestead" stay option - we got no closer than this!
The whole gorge, and flood plain has been seriously damaged by flooding
during the last Wet Season



Chamberlain Gorge:


    

On hands and knees, or what?!

             Sign at one of the many river crossings:

View over El Questro Station:

                                                                                                        ... a steep descent!

 

A flooded river, can certainly shift things!



                                                             A Kimberley moon rises over the last night of our stay at El Questro