We
hadn’t heard of El Questro but were advised to check it out if we could before
leaving the Top End. Having already exhausted our travel budget we weren’t keen
on making any more significant plans, but decided to take a look anyway. Jane’s
first couple of minutes on the internet, and the photographs she saw sold us –
we just had to do it. El Questro is an old pastoral lease in the Kimberleys
(Western Australia) that sits at about one million acres. It had a fairly rocky
ownership history until someone with foresight decided to invest in tourism. We
will post photos in the next blog, but the place is just amazing – a must for
any bucket list.
Our
only available window was at the very end of the dry season, and we were always
going to be chancing potential storms and rising humidity. Not the best
conditions when camping out under the stars in swags… As we drove out of
Darwin, the heavens opened, and well and truly washed the car – and all the
swags that were strapped to the roof. Not to worry we thought, only another
800km or so to El Questro, so plenty of time to outrun the rain.
We
headed inland at Katherine, stopping at a little settlement called Timber Creek
for lunch. We had excellent burgers (one of the best ever) and then headed into
Kununurra where we were staying overnight at the Country Club. After 10 hours
of travel, including the border crossing between the Northern Territory and
Western Australia where any fresh produce and honey is confiscated we were
finally able to get out of the car and into the pool. The staff at the Country
Club were just brilliant, and the food was excellent. The Chef originates from
Germany and had been at the Club for three years. Such a change from our Top
End experience where everything tends to be very transient.
After
a very comfortable night we restocked the portable fridges, and headed out to
El Questro. The advisory notice is that 4WD is recommended for the last 16km
into the station, as the road is unsealed, is very corrugated and there are river
crossings that you can’t get around. Our travel companions were in a Toyota
Troopie, so no dramas for them. For us in the Territory, things were a little
more uncertain. When we got to the first crossing, it looked a little dodgy –
you couldn’t see the bottom of the creek, and was very rocky. Paul and I walked
the crossing, and figured it should be OK. Having committed, we went across
with no drama. The second crossing was both deeper and longer. Bugger – but
still committed. We made it across nice and slowly, moving rocks with the pan
under the car as we went (oh for a little more clearance!). Fortunately the
door seals held up.
We
had booked a private campsite with river access, but decided to give that up
and return to the main camp site. The long dry season meant that all the grass
cover had gone and the site was just bull dust. Not so good for Paul and
Helen’s toddler, and our crawler! The main camp site was excellent though. We
had a powered site, were only 100 m in either direction from shower/bathroom
facilities and the river in the other direction. Another bonus was that we were
only a stones throw from the bar! Being so late in the season, the camp area
was largely empty so we had plenty of space to string a hammock and for kids to
run around.
We
tried to do our activities in the mornings, and then relax in the heat of the
afternoon which worked really well. The resort closes several of the walks in
the afternoon also, reserving them for those in the expensive resort
accommodation (think thousands of dollars per night!). Our first afternoon we
went on a cruise through the Chamberlain Gorge which is just stunning. No
crocs, but plenty of Barramundi, archer fish and all manner of birds. The
archer fish is amazing – they see you holding bait over the side of the boat
and will spit water at you to get you to drop it. They aim for the shine, so
invariably get you in the eye. We were plied with bubble and a fresh fruit
platter out on the river – very civilised and a most relaxing way to get
started on a short break. I won a trivia question for a bottle of bubbles –
correctly answering the question “How many spots does a seven spotted archer
fish have?” For the record, it is 14…
After
a night that was a bit stuffy (not for Jane – she is up off the ground on a
comfy double stretcher, with a dome swag and a battery operated fan) we left
for our first excursion (out over 16km of corrugated road with two rover
crossings…) to Emma Gorge. The walk is about a 3.6km trek up into a gorge that
runs through several very different eco systems, from open grassland to rain
forest. The pool at the top is incredible, and the waterfall was still running,
even at this late stage of the dry. The water was icy cold (not just me being a
tropical sook…) so it was really rather nice to discover the thermal spring off
to one side. After a leisurely walk back down (with a cold beer at the end to
freshen up) it was time to head back to camp to find shade, the river cascades
to cool off in and (later) more beer from the bar.
Night
two got quite cool, and the view from the swags was magnificent. Our next trip
was out to El Questro Gorge. This was in no way accessible by the Territory, so
we were ferried in by Paul, who enjoyed the 4WD drive. We could only do the
first half of the walk, as there is a rock wall that needs to be scaled that is
a bit difficult with babies on the back. At the end of that first half there is
a beautiful pool that is crystal clear and deep. We played and swam for an hour
or so before heading back to camp for another restful afternoon. It was on this
trek that we got introduced to Captain Jarrabonga (spelling definitely
phonetic) – a lovely alter ego that appeared in MacK… complete with dodgy
pseudo English accent.
The
last night at El Questro was very cool, and we were all looking for blankets.
Not for warmth mind, but for comfort! We were headed to Lake Argyle for a
couple of days, so headed out early past Zebedee Springs. It is a very short
walk in to the Springs, and they are just gorgeous. If you took the natural
landscape and recreated it in a hotel resort, you would be questioning the
designer’s authenticity. It really does look that fake. There are several pools
and each is a different temperature up to about 34 deg Celsius. The only
downside to the Springs is that there are leeches in there. I get latched onto
twice, but no-one else got targeted. You only have to expose them to air and
they drop off, so no real dramas.
We
had chosen Lake Argyle for a two night stay on the return journey as the air conditioned
cabins might have been necessary if the build-up had been in full force at El
Questro. Lake Argyle is a part of the Ord River irrigation project, which
opened in 1972, adding an additional 76,000 hectares of arable land to the
Eastern Kimberley region. The lake is massive, and the engineering work that
has gone into making it work quite astounding. The resort was ok, and provided
a nice respite before driving back to Darwin. The infinity pool is every bit as
impressive as it looks in the promotional material, and we spent the better
part of a day in the pool.
MacK
and I hired a kayak at his insistence to get out on the lake for an hour or
two. He was really funny – we were paddling out into the wind to explore one of
the channels, when he turned around and asked me if there were any crocodiles
in the lake:
MacK:
“Hey Dad, are there crocodiles in this lake?”
Me:
“Sure are mate” (something like 50,000 Johnson’s freshwater crocodiles…)
MacK:
“Then why are we in a kayak? This is a stupid idea!”
We
kept paddling, and by the time we got to a pontoon he was happy enough to dive
into the water. Have to be pretty unlucky to get in trouble with a freshy…
The
overwhelming thought/impression of our trip was how truly incredible the
landscape is. Each of the gorges we walked through had a different eco system,
climate and fauna. We stopped taking photographs of the scenery and landscape
as we just couldn’t capture it. There are so many incredibly different aspects
to the Kimberleys – you just have to experience it for yourself. We feel
incredibly privileged to have been able to explore this very unique part of the
world, and to know that we get to go back one day to show Hugo!
