Gibb River Road/El Questro

---

Up v. early and off to Marlgu Billabong, where it was bird-watching a-gogo! There was a lot of lens envy going on between the guys as they got their cameras out. It was a really beautiful spot, but there's only so many photos of birds you need!

Later on we saw these huge statues of aboriginis, kangaroos and stuff .. very random indeed. Also visited "5 River Lookout" where, bizarrely, five rivers come together into Cambridge Gulf. Next stop Timor! Then on to the famous Gibb River Road and to El Questro, a million hectare ex-cattle station that has now been transformed into a huge kind of resort with very expensive heli-fishing and horse-riding trips and accommodation that costs $1000 a night per person. (I later found out Nick is friends with the people who used to own the whole thing and who just sold this for a huge sum, but this is the guy who did the best man's speech at a Rockefeller wedding, so nothing surprises me anymore about his connections).

No nice $1000 accommodation for me, story of my life - we were just going to El Questro gorge. This was quite a cool walk as we had to strip off down to our bikinis (keeping our hiking shoes on - always a nice look!) as we had to wade through water up to our chests and over boulders. No time to worry about cellulite or how neat your bikini line was as it was legs akimbo, stretching and almost doing the splits between huge boulders and up and down rocks. Plus Finn always managed to position himself so that he got the best eyefull as he was "helping" you down the rocks! LOL! When we finally got to the waterhole it was really small and dark and the water was freezing!! It was a good laugh though - on the way down we had to half slide, half jump down this gushing waterfall into a pool which was pretty scary but the only way down. Rich, the big girl's blouse, made me go first and then handed me his t-shirt so that i could swim back with it (holding it above my head) so that it wouldn't get wet!! I banged my knee x2 and it almost went under, quite funny as everyone was watching, but i got a round of applause! But he did have a nice dry t-shirt to wear and i looked like i was in a wet t-shirt competition so he was probably the smart one.

When we got back to the van the battery had almost died - cue Camp Melbourne being most umimpressed once again! We had to give it a push and thankfully it roared into action. Drove to the campsite and had satay beef for tea, then went croc spotting at night nr. the Pentecost River. You hold the spotlight up right next to your eyes so that if it reflects against anything you see it shining back at you - saw 16 pairs of red eyes lined up in the water (luckily quite a way away and freshwater crocs). We also spent ages staring at the reflection of something strange in the bush, something massive which Finn thought was an owl .. it turned out to the a discarded coke can! LOL! The stars were stunning as we walked back up to the camp site, then bed!

---