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Published: July 30th 2012
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Day 23 – Sunday 22
nd July – El Questro
The car told us that the morning temperature was 9 degrees so it was a nice cool night in the mossie net. For our last day at El Questro we needed to go to the Zebedee Springs and do the El Questro Gorge walk. The springs apparently get busy early so the plan was to get to the springs for 7am when they open and stay for an hour until it gets busy. At 7am we were the second lot of people in the springs. The air was cool but in the top pool nearest the source of thermal springs, the water was a beautiful temperature. We lay around in the pool swapping tips and experiences with other travellers and enjoying the scenery and stayed until a) it got busy and b) we got too wrinkly (too wrinkly for what exactly??).
Back at our private campsite we made ourselves a decent breakfast and packed some snacks for lunch then made our way to the start of the El Questro Gorge walk. It is described as the best walk in the park and only be undertaken if you are
fit and agile! The tip was also to pack swimmers and towels for the swim at the end, but that is standard procedure for walks in the Kimberley.
The walk to Halfway pool was scenic and moderately tricky, with water crossings via stepping stones and planks and lots of clambering over large boulders. Then it got really interesting. We had to take off our walking shoes, put on swimmers and wade chest deep through the pool, then heave ourselves up and over a 2m large rock blocking the gorge. This was where we could have done with a dry sack, just in case the large camera bag dipped into the water. The second half of the walk was technically tricky with lots of climbing over huge rocks and even climbing up a waterfall (on the dry bit of the falls). Because the track was mostly in the shade it didn’t feel very strenuous, however we were glad of a dip in the deep blue coloured water of the Mac Micking pool at the end of the walk. Two sets of very (fool)hardy parents had made the 3.4km scramble with a 3 month old baby and with two toddlers in
tow. Complete madness! After a quick dip and some diving practice from underneath the waterfall we were chilled to the bone so made our way back into the sunshine to have our picnic, then set off on the return journey, stopping for a quick photo of the red aboriginal rock art figure and at the Halfway pool for a short dip on the way back. It had been a fantastic hike and the rave reviews of the El Questro staff had been spot on. I would rate it as one of the best short hikes we’ve ever done in terms of scenery and the rock climbing bits J
The rest of the afternoon was spend relaxing in our private campsite- fishing, reading and tidying up the bags and boxes in the car and trailer. We did a quick stocktake of groceries and decided we’d have to bite the bullet and buy some expensive provisions at the El Questro shop (2 boxes of crackers, frozen bread, 2 bags of crisps as a treat, 2 tins of tuna, tin of Spam(!), 4 apples and an onion…).
Dinner was tandoori chicken style curry cooked on the campfire and damper twists. Yum.
With a full belly and after our morning spa and long hike, Luke could hardly stay away past 7pm, so he crawled under the mossie net for his night out under the stars and the rest of us joined him in slumberland not long after. All this getting up early makes you very tired!
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