Advertisement
Published: July 14th 2012
Pentecost River Crossing
a much photographed shot..the approach to the Pentecost river crossing from the south with the Cockburn Range as a backdropGibb River Road – ‘5’ El Questro
11
th June 2012
Today is not a long day only 32 Klm up the Gibb River Rd and then a further 16 Klm into El Questro, but, we do have a river crossing that has become a ‘right of passage’ for many seeking adventure in the past, the Pentecost River just 9 klm from Home Valley Station.
The Pentecost River rises below the Durack Range and flows north through El Questro Station where it meets with the Chamberlain River, then continues north crossing the Gibb River Road at Home Valley Station (HV), skirts the eastern edge of Drysdale River National Park and later discharges into West Arm and eventually into Cambridge Gulf. It is named after John Pentecost, who surveyed the river in 1882 while on an expedition led by Michael Durack.
The Pentecost River crossing is a major one and although not offering the challenges to travellers that it did some 10 to 15 years ago, it still needs to be respected. The river here is also tidal although the influence is minimal on the depth at the crossing compared to just a few short Klms downstream
at the campground at Home Valley. If the water level in the river is already high and the tide is in, it can make a marked difference on the success of arriving safely at the other side however. At this point, the river is around 60 metres wide and the water can flow quite quickly just after the end of the Wet Season, ie; April -May. Care should be taken at high water levels due to the flow of the water exerting extreme pressure on the sides of vehicles. However, towards the end of the dry season, Sept- Oct, the flow is greatly reduced with the depth less than 30 cm and it is safer to cross. We timed our crossing to coincide with minimal tidal influence and although the river was still flowing strongly, it was only about 60cm deep which made for an uneventful and safe crossing. Although we had seen and taken photos of ‘salties’ just downstream of here on HV we did not see any at the crossing, but be aware that they will be there.
One of the most fascinating things about this ‘famous’ crossing is that we felt we had been there before!
The scene as you approach from the south end with the Cockburn Range standing up behind the river is one of the most photographed shots in Australia and features in every article written about the ‘Gibb’ (as it will do here in our Blog!). It is exactly as we imagined but photography, like elsewhere here in the Kimberley, does not capture or do it justice, it is truly amazing.
We are now about 10klm from the El Questro turnoff and only 40Klm from the end of the ‘Gibb’ and what an amazing and fantastic trip it has been, (and it is not over yet), when the UHF receives a call from Trevor and Mary (we met them at HV campground) who were travelling behind us. “What is hanging below your van?” We pull over and the ‘Gibb’ has finally claimed another victim, we had blown the shock absorber on the passenger side. No problem, we are so close to ‘black top’ and Kununurra, that the independent suspension system on the Trakkie will allow us to travel on there for fitting of a new shocker and then we can come on back to El Questro (ELQ). Good thing we had
Pentecost River Crossing
Tide was out and river was flowing but low..about 65cm depth, no problem. only a short trip to day and even better that this has happened right at the end of the Gibb. So, we travel on a further 80 odd Klm to Kununurra to begin the search for a shocker that will suit the Trakkie. On close inspection in town the bushes were gone from the other side’s shocker also so we decided to look for 2. Now if you know anything at all about shockers, they come in numerous sizes based on travel and weight and Kununurra, to be fair, is a town, albeit thriving but with a population of only 3700. Now if you had a business here selling shockers you would cater 98% towards heavy machinery and 4wd’s – that is what lives up here, so the chances of finding not one, but two, shockers with the specifications I was after was , in a word, slim. After an hour or so and exhausting all prospects, I enter a business where they ‘don’t want to know’ and the attitude says ‘it is all too hard’ and when I ask, ‘well can you at least come outside and have a look at the one left intact on the van to
Pentecost River
looking downstream, mid crossing see what we can try and do to keep us going in a ‘safeish’, makeshift, manner to await (3 weeks!!!) the correct size ones to arrive’, I am told; ‘Yes sure, take it off and bring it in here!’. You have got to be kidding!!!! The long and the short of it is, yes, we found exactly the right set of shocks for the Trakkie and with some very friendly local help we had them fitted and were back at ELQ by 5pm the same day to continue where we left off….so much for a short day!!!
El Questro (Station) Wilderness Park, (ELQ), is a privately owned and operated wilderness park situated 33 klm from the northern end of the Gibb. A million acres in size the property was first established in 1903 as a working cattle station but it was never viable due to the rugged and rocky nature of the country and changed hands many times.
In the late 1950s Torrance MacMiking and Morris Marshall took the lease up and named it El Questro. Besides cattle they grew vegetables on irrigated paddocks around the station itself and sold them to Kununurra, which was in the process
Pentecost River
looking upstream, you can see 'bow wave' from the 'Troll' of being built.
In 1984, after several years on the market, the lease of El Questro finally passed from a consortium to brothers James and Ben Salerno. In 1991 the property changed hands again, to Will and Celia Burrell. Despite the deteriorated condition of the roads, tracks, the few fences and the station buildings being nearly derelict, they saw huge potential in the property, not as a cattle run, but as a tourism venture and purchased the pastoral lease that same year. Will and Celia Burrell sold El Questro to General Property Trust in 2005. General Property Trust then on-sold the Wilderness Park to Delaware North Parks and Resorts in March 2010.
ELQ gained a reputation under Will and Celia as one of the world’s most unique holiday destinations and today that image is still very real. ELQ is situated in the Cockburn range and the wilderness park offer many levels of accommodation, (we opted for camping!! in our own van of course), and activities such as gorge walks, river cruises, visiting Zebedee Springs or 4WDriving on any of the tracks is available. You have to pay a park permit of $20/per person to come into ELQ and
Pentecost River Crossing
from north side, looking back to Home Valley country then any accommodation costs, any meals etc, tours, or hire of boats etc, is on top of this.
We had a list of things we wanted to do at ELQ and at the top of the list was to do a Chamberlain Gorge cruise. Off we went to book a tour to be told that the cruise boat was not running, ‘we are waiting for an engine part’. Luckily we quickly asked about the availability of a hire boat and were able to book the last one free for the day. So off we set with our electric motor, paddles and vests for the Chamberlain Gorge. Arriving down at the ‘jetty’ we set the motor up and loaded our gear and set off up the river and into the gorge. This was one of the more spectacular gorges we have seen so far but not recommended for swimming! The Chamberlain River is approx. 150 kilometres long and winds through the Kimberley's second-longest range, the Durack range, named after the pioneering Durack family. Almost 130 kilometres of the river winds through steep valleys and spectacular cliffs, forming the Kimberley's longest gorge. The gorge is home to extraordinary geological formations and
Pentecost River Crossing
...looking back (south). the surrounding cliff faces and scree slopes are up to 1,800 million years old. All of the sandstone here is known as King Leopold sandstone. We spent a couple of hours cruising the gorge and loved the sheer size, solitude and magnificence of the place. Pulling into the shade of one of the cliffs we sat and drifted whilst having some lunch, the amazing thing was that with all the people at ELQ we could have been miles from anyone at that moment and certainly the only ones here. This was a brilliant, magnificent gorge and as it turns out, doing it on our own was fantastic, funnily enough, a tour boat did pass us at one stage, (remember they were waiting for an engine part and there was no tour today!). On inquiry it was a boat kept just for tour groups and ‘house guests only’. I know of many people that missed out on the gorge because they were ‘just camping’ and could not wait until ‘the part’ arrived, everybody’s money, in my opinion, is the same colour!
We also discovered a few of the 4WD tracks, all well marked, and visited a few lookouts which were
great fun. One of the tracks we did was to Pidgeon Hole, this track leads to an ‘unexplored area’ with a waterhole at the end of a steep track. There was a lookout about halfway where we had a brilliant view of the surrounding ranges. One issue we had here was that we really needed 4WD, incl diff locks, and all my (little) experience to get back out! I thought I had better advise the tour desk on our arrival back that the average 4WD and driver would have needed recovery if they went down there and was told ‘That track is closed’. My suggestion was that perhaps some signage or a barrier would be of some help!.
Zebedee Springs was next on our list and we arose early the next day to go out there as it gets packed. The interesting thing about this place is that it is only open to the ‘public’ until 12.00noon as then it is closed for use by the ‘Private Guests’. Now from what I know and worked out whilst here, there were about 300 ‘public’ camped here and if the homestead was full of ‘Private Guests’, a total of 18, the
maths in my mind do not add up, even if you add in the guests from Emma Gorge! Anyway, we were there early and wow what a place! At the end of a short walk through some tropical rainforest where signage at the parking spot says, ‘if the carpark is full so is Zebedee Springs so come back another time’, we came to some magical thermal pools. Thermal springs at the base of a magnificent sandstone cliff feed a beautiful stream and pools which are around 30C all the time, beautiful! Lining this stream and the thermal pools is this lush tropical forest of livistona and pandanus palms, just magic. After ‘wallowing’ around in the pools for an hour or so we reluctantly dragged ourselves out to let the now ‘masses’ of people arriving in. What a great spot, absolutely need one of these in my backyard! (When we get one!)
Our time at ELQ was now up and it was time to move on again, to Wyndham, so up the track we headed to join the Gibb again for the last 33klms to join the Wyndham Kununurra Rd (Gt Northern Hwy).
The Gibb River Road has been
a lifetime in coming for us and now that we have completed the journey of 670 klm we have had every expectation met. Not only is it an amazing experience, we saw some of the best and remotest country in Australia along with gorges and rivers to die for. Would we recommend this trip to anyone, unequivocally, absolutely!, but unfortunately as more and more people discover the Kimberley Region the more ‘civilised’ (read easier) and controlled the experience will become, but no one can ever take away the scenery, it was majestic, magical, spectacular and fabulous all in one, probably better than that even! Another big tick off the bucket list, loved it!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.132s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 13; qc: 35; dbt: 0.0685s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Brian
non-member comment
I reckon you will soon be in opposition to Lonely Plants with this blog!! Very well done it makes good reading. The price of fuel will soon be catching up with the UK, mind you thay have to transport it so far in the UK !!!! In the great Aussie Outback I wonder what they do with spent automobile lubricating oil? Does it choke engine fuel filters? Another shark attack just north of Perth. How are you getting on with the wild life? snakes? creepy crawlies? snappers? Take care and keep having fun. Brian