We needed an
early start this morning as we planned to head out and have a swim at Zebedee
Springs in their thermal pools. We also
knew that these springs were only open from 7am to 12 noon, and we had a 100km
drive to get there.
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| El Questro |
El Questro
is situated on the Gibb River Road, and the first 26kms is still good
bitumen. The turn off into El Questro was
about 17kms of dirt road (not too bad, a 2WD car could do it, but there were
two creek crossings, again not too deep, and there was a solid stone base to
drive across the creek on.
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| On the walk into Zebedee Springs |
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| Lovely palm tree canopy |
We got to
Zebedee Springs around 10 15am only to find out that we needed to pay for a
pass from El Questro itself to use the springs.
In the end, we just decided to play ignorant, and have the swim first
and then go pay for it at El Questro Station later. We figured that by the time we drove into El
Questro, bought the pass and drove back again, we wouldn’t really have any time
in the springs.
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| Arriving at the Springs |
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| The water was around the 34 degree mark - lovely and warm... |
These
springs are like the Bitter Springs, there were many little pools amongst the
rock but each one was crowded with people sitting in them. The water was quite warm also. Still it was a pretty spot set in a tropical
rainforest, with waterfalls and a canopy of palm fronds overhead. We spent a good hour or more in the water
here before leaving around 11.45am to make sure we were back at the car before
the 12 noon when the gates were closed and locked. There were still lots of people in the
springs when we left. No one seemed in much of a hurry to get out….
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| El Questro Station |
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| Picnic Area at El Questro | |
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| Sightseeing at El Questro |
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| Ian and Steve enjoying their lunch... |
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| Kathy and I enjoying our lunch |
We had
packed a picnic lunch so thought we would go through to El Questro Station to
have it, and we also needed a permit to be on the Station. I must say I was a little disappointed in the
Station part of El Questro, it was
nothing like the brochures made it out to be.
I would think it was pretty expensive to stay there. It cost us $12 each for a permit just to be
in there for the day.
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| Chamberlain Gorge where the Main Homestead sits above this gorge |
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| Boat ramp at Chamberlain Gorge |
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| Chamberlain Gorge - El Questro |
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| At Chamberlain Gorge |
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| Chamberlain Gorge was full of these spotted Archer Fish.. |
In saying
that though, we did have a great day. We
had lunch in their picnic area and then took a drive to their boat ramp to see
Chamberlain Gorge. This also was nothing
like I expected. I guess in my head, it
looked something like Katherine Gorge, and it wasn’t like that at all. The main homestead is built on the top of
cliffs, but we weren’t able to go there,
we could just see it from a distance.
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| The Main Homestead on the top of Chamberlain Gorge - we could only see it in the distance. |
When we
bought our passes, the lady at reception gave us some maps of places of
interest on the Station. There was a
pretty rugged 4WD track up to the Pigeon Lookout on the top of Saddleback
Range… It was steep and windy with lots
of rock, and diverts in the road, at times you almost felt like you were
climbing up vertically. Steve was really
in his element. I must say though the
views were stunning from up there and you pretty much had a 360 degree view all
around.
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| The 4WD track along the ridge on Saddleback Ridge. |
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| At the top of the Saddleback Ridge |
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| Views from Pigeon Lookout - Saddleback Ridge El Questro |
The climb
down was equally exciting, and there were a few times where I was gripping the
handle bar on the dash of the car. We
made it down in one piece.
It was
pretty hot, and we were pretty keen for another swim, so decided to go and
checkout Moonshine Gorge as apparently there was a really lovely swimming hole
there and was only about 100m from the carpark…
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| Heading down again |
That was
another rough rocky 4WD track in, and it went for about 7-8kms, a lot further
than we thought… We also had to cross through 3 lots of water, the first being
a river that would have been a good 18” to a couple of feet deep. I was a little nervous about going through
the water, but Steve got out, walked into it, and tested it before we drove
through.
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| Going through the creek on the way to Moonshine Gore |
Moonshine
Gorge was quite spectacular. We had the
whole place to ourselves. We almost had
to pinch ourselves, to even check that we were in this beautiful setting. It was kind of like the highlight of our
day. Kathy, Steve and I went swimming
whilst Ian went for a little walk to explore the gorge.
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| One of our favourite spots |
One of the other places we wanted to go but were told it was too rough to walk into and quite a hot walk was Emma Gorge, so we decided to miss that walk, but then on the way home we thought we could at least drive into the resort and check it out....
It looked pretty good, much nicer than the accommodation we had seen in at El Questro...
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| Accommodation at Emma Gorge |
The scenery was really quite spectacular on the drive out also with the sun setting. The ranges around this area are really stunning.
It was quite
a magical afternoon, and we were on a high as we left El Questro.
This whole
holiday has been magical, we feel so
blessed and so appreciative of the opportunities we have been given to have a
holiday like this and check out our beautiful country. It is going to be so hard going back to work,
and the mundane of every day life after living the dream for six months.
It was after
7pm and dark by the time we got home. A
big day, we were all tired but feeling so blessed.
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