Day 9 : at El Questro Wilderness Park

---

Another day in relative luxury at the bungalows at El Questro with a lie in until 9am !! Yipee. Whilst we were having brekkie, there was a bit of a commotion in the undergrowth just near our bungalow deck, and next thing we had a Mertens water monitor lizard in very close proximity to us. He was cool and even posed for some photos.

Spent the day exploring round the station. In the morning we set off for Zebedee Springs, which were thermal natural hot springs which held a constant temperature of around 32 degrees. The creek was beautiful under very tall palms (the same as what we had seen at the Bungle Bungles) and with other lush vegetation nearby. Some tour groups when we got there initially but they eventually left and for 10 mins or so we had our pool to ourselves in relative quiet.

After lunch, more exploring on one of the 4WD tracks on the station. This time we took the 4WD track to Pigeon Hole waterhole. Unfortunately the track was closed half way along again but we were still able to reach the lookout after climbing up a steep hill. Great views & photo ops at the top.

Then onto the Chamberlain Gorge boat trip for the afternoon. The river here has known salt water crocodiles in it so we hoped to see a glimpse of one. The boat trip was interesting with one of the station hands “Chilli” commentating along the way on plants, rocks & crocs on which he had a wealth of knowledge. At the turning point for the cruise, we stopped to check out the archer & cat fish and fed them pellets if they managed to shoot our hand. Whilst stopped we were also lucky to catch a glimpse of a large barramundi swimming about under the catfish & the boat. The archer fish were again very amusing - both Grant & I got squirted a few times in the face, they especially seemed to like Grant’s glasses - and one even getting the camera. Beautiful gorge - very sheer cliffs on either side - with Chilli telling us the rocks had been dated to be 1.8 billion years old and some of the oldest in the world. Chilli also explained to us how saltwater crocs can survive in both fresh & saltwater and apparently this is due to glands in their tongues which enable them to filter the salt water & therefore injest it without it damaging their organs. Unfortunately we didn’t see any salties on the trip - Chilli reckoned during the day they lay at the bottom of the river - and said the best time for trying to see any was prob between 7am - 9am. We did however see a commotion in the water on our return trip from about 30m -40m away, which the boat trip staff reckoned was a snake trying to catch something.

Back to luxury at the bungalow; Grant put together some pasta bolognaise using our gas stove in the car park outside and then onto the nice Shiraz we bought in Kununurra. Good times.

Distance travelled : 30 kms (1 hour)

---