Day 10 : El Questro to Ellenbrae Homestead

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Sadly had to check out of our “luxury” riverside bungalow this morning at El Questro. Took ages to pack up the truck and fit everything back in it again (its like a hard jigsaw puzzle & once you have a system for where everything goes, you need to stick with it, otherwise you will never locate anything again !)

Before we left, we decided to do a walk up El Questro gorge which was recommended in both our travel book and by the receptionist at the resort. No-one mentioned though that the Jackaroo Waterhole signposted en route had to be driven through. This turned out to be probably the deepest water crossing yet with the water up to the bullbars and hitting the floor of the truck (we could feel it underneath us). Fortunately it was not for very long - maybe 80m or so, and Grant by now was getting quite expert at negotiating these. Once at the car park we set off up the gorge, the walk following a semi-dried up creek. It was beautiful with lush palms & bushes again and high towering cliffs - fairly narrow in places. The walk was hard work as you had to step over a lot of stones & rocks on the creek bed and then back & forth across it a few times. Passed a huge sandstone outcrop which had wasps nests all the way up the side of it - very unusual looking animals, about twice the size of a British one & very orangey / yellow in colour. We only walked to the half way point of the walk, at which there was a deep water pool where you could plunge & swim in. To continue the walk up to the top of the gorge (another hour or so onwards) you actually had to wade waist deep across the shallowest part of the pool for 10m or so and then clamber up & over a huge boulder on the other side. We watched as another couple and a group of 3 others turned up to do this, which was a bit of a mission. We didn’t have time to continue on - plus the route was supposed to get a lot harder - so turned round and went back to the 4WD.

Once out of El Questro we joined back up to the Gibb River Road and continued on southwards back to Broome. Today’s route involved crossing the Pentecost River which has both freshwater & saltwater crocodiles in it and can be quite deep at certain times of the year. When we got down there, a tourist 4WD coach was on the other side getting ready to cross. The timing was perfect as we got to watch them go through to see how deep the water was. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about this one as it’s the biggest river crossing on the GRR and known for its crocodiles. In reality the crossing was fairly shallow - probably just under a foot (30 cm or so) - so it proved to be very easy to get across safely. Apparently the wet season this year in the Kimberley has been relatively dry - at El Questro they only had around 800mm of rain, whereas most years they get at least a couple of metres - so hence the reason the crossing was not too deep. Later on in the Dry Season a lot of the water & creeks will be very dry with just the odd pool of water left in places.

Onwards along the road to Ellenbrae Home Stead & Station. Very little traffic on the road - once out of El Questro we only passed 3 tourist 4WD minibuses and maybe 5 or 6 four wheel drives (we passed more cattle !) We knew Ellenbrae was getting close when we saw a sign 5km out from the turn-off advertising visitors welcome & fresh scones, cream and jam. Once at the homestead we couldn’t resist trying some & they were very good. The homestead was more oriented to visitors than I expected it to be - with a pleasant area for sitting & having scones, tea / coffee & toasted sandwiches plus also some tea towels complete with scone reciepe and stubby holders with the slogan “Get sconed at Ellenbrae” ! The outside area beside the homestead was also very green with a little picnic area set up for people to use. The lady there was very friendly and told us this station was about a million acres again (similar to El Questro) - this is around the standard size for the stations out here. Huge. There are 2 camping areas here - one called “Ringers Campground” and one, which is bush camping, and seems to be used for the overflow when “Ringers” gets full. Only a set no. of visitors stay at Ringers as it has only one shower (powered by a Donkey Heating system) and one toilet (flushing though). The campground turned out to be quite sandy, right beside the edge of the creek and a swimming hole (to try in morning). The Donkey Heating system was a huge boiler with a fire underneath it - if you want a shower you have to get the fire going (firewood & paper provided) and then wait 15 mins or so for the water to get warm. We haven’t tried it yet but will do in the morning & see how we go. At least there is a shower here (unlike the Bungles) !!

Distance travelled : 175kms (3 hours)

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Photos

Store, reception & bar @ El Questro
By day the store & reception; at night becomes the Swinging Arm bar !

Pentecost River crossing
Comes complete with both freshwater & saltwater crocs ! Luckily for us, was not very deep at all - had been through deeper @ El Questro

Pentecost River crossing
Looking back East towards Cockburn Ranges

Heading towards Ellenbrae Homestead
we liked their signs - they had some very 1km or so, spurring you on (especially the one re the scones !)

Finches (double barrelled ?)
From deck whilst having scone and cup of coffee @ Ellenbrae

Donkey hot water system
so you can get a hot shower and BTW it did work !

Dusk @ Ellenbrae
About 5:30pm ish