Kununurra

Saturday 29th - Restock and refuel day, we started off at the local markets and then to good old Coles, Chris said she never spent the amount we did at our local Aldi. I needed gas and a replacement gas stove as our other portable one caught fire so I threw it out but all the local shops close at 12 so it will be a trip into town tomorrow. The afternoon was spent lazing around.

Last day on the Gibb - 17 days.

Today we left El Questro after 17 days on the Gibb, we have changed our plans and are heading to Kununurra to restock with diesel, water, battery power, food and more importantly beer and wine which we ran out of 2 days ago. We decided to detour via Wyndham as we where told there where spectacular views from the Five Rivers lookout. It was amazing to see the amount of water where the five rivers meet, we also had breakfast at the "Rusty Shed" cafe. It was then onto Kununurra to find a caravan park with a powered site, we began to worry as the first 3 had no vacancies and the 4th one only had 2 left, anyway we are setup and tomorrow we will restock. Noting the amount of caravans in Kununurra we have decided to book at Lake Argyle so we don't miss out.

This is why you take notice of the croc signs, this guy was heading for the swamp, adjacent to where we parked the car, he submerged not long after I took the photo.

Rusty Shed cafe

You are also reminded that you are in a Cyclone area.

And when you thought it was safe on the land you come across this guy.

Chamberlain Gorge Boat tour -ELQ

Thursday afternoon - this afternoon we went on a boat tour of Chamberlain Gorge, the trip took about 2 hours with commentary on the gorge and also the history of El Questro, the trip ends about 2 km down the gorge because of the lack of water, in peak flood in the wet season it can get to 20 meters above what it is now as it did in 2011. Champagne and fruit was served along the way, the boat captain also gave us a demo on how to start a fire by rubbing sticks together, the kids loved it. It is a small country as we met a couple who used to live 3 doors up from  Cindy and Chris at Middle Boambee, they knew Buster very well as he would visit when he got out, by coincidence they have bought a block of land in the same estate where Cindy and Chris have just bought.

The day finished off with a dusty drive back to camp.

Zebedee Springs & Moonshine Gorge - ELQ

,Thursday -this morning we went to Zebedee Springs which are thermal pools at the end of a short walk, the pools are reported to be at 32 degrees, when we went for a soak in the pools and stayed     2 1/2 hours, it was very refreshing.

After the springs we visited Moonshine Gorge, you follow a 4wd track into the Gorge, going through 2 water crossings on the way. The Gorge has a 3 km circuit, but we decided just to do a small part of it and then go for a swim.

El Questro Wilderness Park

Wednesday - 26th We setup in the Station campground and met up with people from Home Valley and also the Qld crew. In the afternoon we went 4wd driving to Chamberlain Gorge, where we are going on a boat tour tomorrow, Pigeon Hole lookout and Saddleback Ridge lookout. There is no coverage of the State of Origin which we had planned to watch with the Qld crew so will just have to depend on feedback from someone with a Satellite TV in their van. The views from the lookouts where awesome and gave a true appreciation how big El Questro is, and what you can see is only a small portion of the property.

Crossing the Pentacost River en route to El Questro

Wednesday - The trip from Home Valley to El Questro is about 50 km and along the way is the iconic Pentacost River crossing, today it was very easy as the was not much water across the crossing at all. The countryside has started to flatten out a bit with the Cockburn Ranges still a feature around the edges. There is a small crossing of the Pentacost on the road into El Questro.