El Questro (Sunday 8th June – Tuesday 10th June)

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Six hours of mud slides and corrugations later we pulled into El Questro with one very muddy car and van. El Questro is the tourist mecca of the Kimberley’s with small store, restaurants, art gallery as well as you basic campground.
We were all exhausted after the long day in the car and looking forward to setting up and having a wash. It was so nice to have our first hot shower in over a week! We also enjoyed an icy cold drink at the bar, even though one Lemon Ruski was $9.00!!

There are many gorge walks to go on in the surrounds of El Questro. We decided to hike into:
• Zebedee Springs - A permanent thermal spring surrounded by palms and sheer cliff faces. This was a short 1.5km return walk to the beautiful cascading thermal pools. The water ranges from 28 to 32 degrees and is a beautiful temperature to sit in and relax (as much as you can with 3 kids playing around you).
• Amalia Gorge - A 3.4km return walk which required some climbing and clambering over falls and large sandstone slabs. This was another beautiful water fall with icy cold water - definitely a refreshing swim!
• Emma Gorge - A 3.2km return walk. Another rocky walk but with beautiful views of the rock walls and stream running down the centre. The water falls and pool at the end of the gorge were spectacular. The best view could be sought by swimming to the centre of the pool then floating on your back and watching the water rain down over the pool.

The girls were real troopers walking into the falls (although some piggy backs and shoulder rides were required where possible!!

After completing our final gorge trek in the Kimberleys we loaded back into the car and drove the last 34 km of the Gibb River Road. We have never been so excited to see bitumen before. It seems so peaceful and quiet on the road after all that shaking about over six hundred odd kilometres of corrugations!!

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