This morning we headed off to El_Questro and the start of our Gibb River road adventure, it is only a short 100 kilometre drive on sealed get to Wyndham there so we decided to drop in there to have a look on the way.
Driving in to Wyndham didn’t give a particularly good impression but we pushed on to have a better look, it didn’t look at all like a place that you would visit on holidays but as it turns out there are a couple of things worth seeing.
The Five Rivers Lookout (Wyndham)
Located a few kilometres out of the town the lookout is well worth a visit, the drive up is steep and windy but totally sealed, there is a sign stating that caravans are not allowed up there but no mention of camper trailers, so up we went.riving up you can understand why caravans may be a problem, especially around the hairpin bends, plus there really isn't anywhere you could park it, it was hard enough to park the car and camper. |
| Five Rivers lookout |
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| Five Rivers Loukout |
The view at the top was fantastic, when we were there the water was low so the rivers were clearly visible surrounded by huge mud flats, along the river port area was pretty industrial and very dirty, I'm not sure how much of that industry is still operating though.
There was some interesting art work on the mud flats which I presume had been done by the locals a bit like crop circles I guess but the content was a little rude, funny though!
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| Interesting local art work viewed from lookout |
After the lookout we headed over to the port to have a look, there is a fantastic museum there, entry fee $10.00 for the family, in the museum there is a great deal of Wyndham history, it has had a pretty interesting history some good some bad, you can learn a fair bit about the treatment of aboriginals in years gone by.
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| The Boys and John Evans, the Boab artist. |
Heading into town there is a huge crocodile statue so we stopped to have a look on the way out, its in a small but nice park opposite the general store.
When we got out of the car an elderly aboriginal woman said hello to me, I was a bit surprised really as in our experience so far with aboriginals the don’t often start any sort of conversation.
There were a couple of other small groups of aboriginal people one of which were carving Boab nuts, we went to have a look and talked to them for a little while about there carvings and other things, they were very nice people.
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| Boab Carving |
We ended up buying one of there carvings paying $40.00 which turns out to be pretty good value, in the shop only a few meters away the bloke was selling them for $80.00,and it was nice to have met the man who actually carved the nut
Wyndham to El-Questro “ Via The Karungie Track”
The distance to the Gibb river road from Wyndham via this track was 80 kilometres, then only 40 or so kilometres to El-Questro along the Gibb River road , it was unsealed all the way but sounded OK, the brochure we read made it sound very pleasant indeed.
Heading off along the track around lunchtime we were hoping to be at El-Questro by 1400 hrs, the track was pretty good and quite scenic following the river and through some nice countryside, the dam was OK , as were the paintings, but I think the main attraction was the Prison Tree which was about 20 kilometres off the main road.
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| The Prison Tree |
At the rock art I met Bob and his family who were heading the same way, he told us that he had been told that the track was “A bit Rough” so he was letting his tyres down a bit, I took the opportunity and did the same thing, he headed off first and told us that he would let us know on the UHF if he came across anything tricky along the track.
We headed off a little while after him speaking once or twice on the radio before the aerial snapped off, all we heard after that was a bit of a crackle every now and then, that meant we had no idea what lay ahead.
The track became narrower and rougher the further we got in, soon we were not on the track at all according to the GPS.
The scenery and campsites along the track was pretty nice and under other circumstances we swould have appreciated it, the problem was we really did not know what we were getting ourselves into or what lay ahead so we were a little stressed.
We had well and truly reached the point of no return by 1400 hrs and to be honest it would have been difficult to turn around even if we had wanted too.
The track became bolder strewn and deeply rutted, with patches of deep sand, it crossed dry, rough and deep dry creek crossings which often had the trailer hitch scraping on rocks as we exited the crossings, the ruts were deep and very undulating getting the wheels of the car off the ground on many occasions.
Somewhere along the track we came out into a massive mud flat area, he GPS showed us nowhere near the track and to make matters worse there where numerous wheel tracks heading ain many directions onto the flats, we followed the path that seemed to have the most tracks, luckily it was dry as a bone so getting bogged out there was unlikely, after a few kilometers on the dry mud flats we were back on the rough track, heading in what we hoped was the right direction.
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| The Mud flats of the Karunjie Track |
It was close to 1600 hrs by that stage so we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we may be staying the night out here and heading back the same way in the morning, going back the same way was not an option we liked the idea of but we had no choice, it was soon after that a bloke came out of one of the small tracks and told us that the end of the track and the Gibb River road was only a few kilometers away,
The relief of hitting the Gibb River road was indescribable, the family was never so happy to see a gravel road as they were when they saw this one, a short drive on what felt like bitumen and we were at ELQ.
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| Road Conditions |
It would have been nice to see this at the other end LOL, anyway it was quite an adventure and we sustained only minor damage to the car, it also has given me a new appreciation of what the D-Max is capable of.
El-Questro
The road into El Questro from the Gibb is pretty easy, well maintained for the most part but there are a few rocky and corrugated bits,there are also two creek crossings, both were only 300mm or so deep and had hard rocky bottoms.
The Camp Ground
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| El Questro |
The camp ground at El-Questro was pretty good, the sites were laid out pretty well a were reasonable size, but the flat ones, especially with shade were pretty hard to come by, arriving at almost 1700 hrs were were very lucky to get one that suited us., and as it turned out we had some nice neighbors in the way of Corrallee and Smiley who were from Kangaroo Island.
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| El Questro camp site |
The amenities were relocatable buildings but they were new and in great condition, there was plenty of hot water and there was never too much of a line up.
There was also a really good workshop on site which was handy for tyre, and other minor repairs to cars and trailers, we used them to re weld a broken bracket that holds the Winch Switch to the bull bar, they did a great job and at a very reasonable price.
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| Boating in the creek at El Questro |
There were a couple of options for swimming at the camp ground, one was the creek right next to the camp ground, The boys enjoyed them both, taking the Inflatable boat to the creek for a paddle where they had lots of room and not much company.
The other swimming option was the natural rock pools up near the restaurant, this seemed to be the preferred option as there were always a lot of people there, it wasn't really crowded though.
I liked the this spot the most, the water was clear and flowing and there was a large grassed area to relax after a swim.
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| El Questro Selfie |
The Bar, Restaurant and Shop
The bar and restaurant at ELQ were very nice too, we ate there one night when they had a burger night, I got the Barra Burger and Joanne got the Wagu Beef burger, both of which were huge and delicious, the Barra burger was very hot though which meant another beer, I guess I can cope with that.Bar prices like everywhere else up here were a bit steep, at happy hour the bar was five people deep, everyone getting the cheaper drinks while they could.
I asked the barman if we could get take away grog, we could but at $7.50 per can we elected to wait till we got to bottle shop.
One night at the bar there was a musician playing guitar and singing, he was very good and seemed to attract a crowd, he's name was Chris Mathews.
The shop had a basic supply of groceries but very expensive, there were lots of souvenirs though as you would expect.
Emma Gorge
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| Morning tea at Emma Gorge Cafe |
We went for a day trip to Emma Gorge which was backup the Gibb River road 20 kilometers or so, the road was pretty good so it didn't take to long at all.
At Emma Gorge you will find the resort which is very very nice, accommodation there is upmarket, no camping here.
We stopped at the cafe there and had morning tea before our walk to the actual gorge, the cafe is nice and the coffee's and cake were great.
The walk to the gorge took us about two and a half hours including a a good swim in the middle, the information leaflet on the gorge will tell you it takes 4 hours but that would be at a very slow pace, the track was pretty easy but at times there were some rocks to climb over.
The swim at the gorge was fantastic,the water was the clearest i have seen I think, it was a bit cold though.
Only thing that would have made it better is if we had river shoes or something like that as the bottom was pretty rough.
Zebbedee Springs
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| Zebedee Springs, El Questro |
Along the road into El Questro from the Gibb you will find Zebedee Springs, it is a series of rock thermal pools which cascade into each other as they make there way down a slope.
We were advised that because of its popularity and the fact that it is closed to the public after lunch you have to get there early, 0700 early.
We arrived at 0830 hrs, the sign at the entrance states "if the car park is full don't bother walking in to the springs as it will be too crowded", the car park was probably at half capacity so in we went.
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| Zebedee Springs Selfie |
Its only a short easy walk into the springs from the car park,and it took only a 10 or so minutes to get in.
The water in the pools was not stinking hot like some other thermal pools we had been in, it was a comfortable temp which increased slightly the further up the incline you went, getting in and out of some of the pools was a little tricky and I actually fell helping one of the boys, luckily just a bruised elbow, rump, and ego.
The Football Match
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| Our Boys and the Halls Creek Cowboys |
One afternoon while walking back from the rock pool we stopped to watch a group of indigenous schoolboys playing AFL, our boys were very interested and enjoyed watching, after a little while one of the indigenous boy came and asked our boys if they wanted to join in, without hesitation they were into it.
The boys were from the Halls Creek school footy team, "The Halls Creek Cowboys", it was great to watch them playing, and it was obvious that the indigenous boys were going out of there way to make sure our boys got the ball often.
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| Halls Creek Cowboys honorary members |
After the game was over the captain of the team told our boys that they would like to present our boys with team jerseys, the boys were thrilled,we were asked to come over to their camp later that evening fora little presentation.
That evening we went over and after a hit of cricket the boys were presented with very nice Jersey's.
The group that runs these excursions is Clontarf, ( http://www.clontarf.org.au/about/ )
Clontarf are doing a great job trying to give these and other indigenous kids a future.
We really enjoyed our stay at El Questro, and probably could have stayed a lot longer but we do have to keep moving, next time we come here it maybe as proper grey nomads, no kids.
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