28 June 2019

Bill and I kicked off the day with a weights session (shoulders and triceps today) and then we packed up and headed 170 ish km’s to the Munurru campground on the King Edward River. We stopped at Drysdale Station where Bill was stoked to find toothbrushes for sale. He had accidently left his toiletries bag at El Questro. The road was not superb and it got worse for the last 100 km with some nasty patches of corrugations – one lot which pushed both the Ranger and the Landcruiser out towards the edge of the road. The campground made up for it though. My favourite so far, with the King Edward River being a fantastic swimming hole. It was really beautiful, and the water so clear and refreshing. The usual setting up of camp was followed quickly with a swim. Snags and veg cooked over the campfire for tea. Dad is doing all the campfire cooking on this trip and is doing a bang up job of it.

5 July 2019

We started the day searching for the endangered Purple Crown Fairy-wren. The best known populations of them live in the Pandanus alongside the creek we are camped next to. There was a trail with information boards along the way. We made our way slowly along, listening and looking at the multitude of birds. Mum and Dad spotted 2 female Fairy-wrens which I thought was pretty great. It was a slow morning after that with laundry, coffee and reading. After lunch we headed out to Sir John Gorge – the best swimming spot at Mornington. We walked the Termite Trail on the way back to camp and learnt a bit about those creatures. Some of the Termite mounds we have come across have been enormous. And so many of them.

Beer and twisties for afternoon tea. Fabulous combination.

3 July 2019

Today we headed to Mornington Wilderness Camp for 3 nights. The Australian Wildlife Conservancy have held the lease since 2001 and have de-stocked the 300,000 odd acres. They only allow 50 people at a time there – I had booked the camp site months ago. We snagged a great site, had some lunch and then headed to one of the swimming holes for a dip. It was a shallow and fairly warm section of the Fitzroy River.

After dinner we headed up to the restaurant/reception area where an ecologist that works for the AWC gave a presentation on their work, and also talked about some of those most significant threats to native wildlife. Cats were the winner. They are fierce and talented predators and are decimating native wildlife populations. They had a bit of a library there with lots of interesting info.

1 July 2019.

Dad’s birthday today!

We packed up and made tracks for Manning Gorge today. Fuelled up at Mt Barnett Roadhouse and bought our day passes for Manning. It was only 7 km off the main road and a pretty busy campground. There was a great swimming hole right at the campground, however Dad, Bill and I headed off on the 2.5 km walk to the larger swimming hole at the end of the gorge. What an absolute cracker! Absolutely the best swimming hole for the trip so far and it is going to take ALOT to beat it. My nephews, Lachlan and Braden had told me it was the best spot for jumping off rocks, and they weren’t wrong. Only problem was that I was to much of a wimp to jump off the higher ones! Bill jumped, and then I stood up there for about 15 mins trying to get the courage to jump. I had young teenage boys giving me advice (“just step off”) and then the smallest scrap of a girl, probably about 8 years old jumped twice in the time I was up there, the second time telling me “don’t look down, just look straight out”. It was all pretty hilarious, and in the end I gave it up for a lost cause, climbed back down to the lower rocks and jumped from there. It was such a great spot, I could have spent all day there. However lunch was calling. We walked back out, had lunch, another swim with Mum, showers and then drove the 40 ish km’s to our camp for the night.

After setting up camp, I made Dads birthday cake – chocolate cake made in the Weber. We decorated it with jaffas and had it with cream for dessert. No such thing as roughing it out here!

27 June 2019

Bill and I started the day with our first camp site workout. VDF ELQ, the workout written in the dust on the Ranger. Then we packed up, headed to the Station for showers and to fill everything up with water, as it will be 6 nights until we get to our next water point.

First stop was Home Valley Station for a bit of a bo peep and then Bindoola Falls for a short walk to an escarpment looking out over a large deep pool, where falls would be in the wet season. Dad, Bill and I all proceeded to pick up large rocks and throw them as far as we could into the water, to which Mum claimed that she didn’t realise she was travelling with 3 children.

Then it was off to Ellenbrae for their famed lemonade scones. We all got one, and the fellas a second one. They sold almost about 17,700 scones last year – almost double to what they sold just 4 years ago. One of the things that made the scones so special in the early years was the jam they made from rosella fruit grown on the property. Being so popular now, they have gone to using the ol’ strawberry jam out of a 5 kg tub. A make your own cup of Nescafe blend 43 was an eye watering $3.50, and their ‘speciality’ coffee (the tubes of moccona latte mix) $4. Bill thinks it was a disgrace and has declared that he should buy a station so he can rip off tourists with overpriced Nescafe too.

We continued on to our camp for the night, on the banks of the mainly dry Gibb River. It was a great campsite. Level with lots of wood and a few stray bulls that weren’t concerned in the slightest that we’d camped just near their watering hole. There were a couple camped not far away from us, and after tea we wandered over with our chairs and chatted to them.

26 June 2019

Today started with laundry. Exciting stuff. Around 1030 am we headed down to the jetty for the Chamberlain Gorge boat cruise. The sandstone cliffs of the gorge were beautiful and we saw, and were squirted, by plenty of Archer fish. Lunch after the cruise and then Bill and I headed off to Jackaroos waterhole for an arvo swim. I was pretty disappointed not to be able to do the full El Questro gorge walk, but the cancellation of the cruise yesterday, and then being re-booked onto the 11 am cruise really snookered us for doing any longer walks.

Bill and I lobbed in to the cruiser with Dad and we headed up to the top of Saddle Back Ridge to watch the sun go down. It was a bit bumpy and a couple of tight turns, but the road wasn’t as bad as we thought it might have been. The view certainly was lovely. After dinner (venison backstrap cooked over the camp fire – ‘lish) we headed to the Station to listen to some live music. We didn’t stay long, all agreeing that the noise coming from the direction of the ‘musician’ couldn’t really be described as music.

Whilst I don’t want to be an El Questro hater (there are plenty of them around already) suffice to say that I wouldn’t rush back here. Perhaps I would think differently if we hadn’t been stuffed around with the gorge cruise and had been able to fit in some of the longer walks. Everything just came up a bit short of expectations.

And as I was writing this, Bill got crapped on by a bird. Made him a bit nostalgic for home and Skully I think.

25 June 2019

Two weeks since Bill survived Bass Strait. 14 days of Kylie being reminded of it daily.

The 4 of us headed off on the El Questro gorge walk this morning. It is a stunning walk, though a narrow gorge, almost completely shaded. We stopped at the halfway pool, after which the walk gets more difficult, starting with wading through waist deep water. Bill and I might head back and tackle it tomorrow but for now we had to head back out to make it to our 1 pm Chamberlain Gorge boat trip. Unfortunately on returning oon the Station we found it had been cancelled and we were now booked on for the following day. We spent the next few hours relaxing in camp (except for when Bill spotted a croc in the river that runs alongside the camp. We jumped had out of our chairs to have a look at that) and then headed back to the Station area with intentions of a swim in the waterhole there. It was pretty murky though and not very inviting. So it was showers, beers and back to camp for dinner and triominos.

Credit to our friend Jess for the hilarious comparison photo below

‘who wore it better’

24 June 2019

We started the day with a trip to Zebedee Springs. We got lucky with the timing, heading in just as a heap of people were coming out. The water was a lovely 28 – 32 degrees, and there were many small and larger rock pools to laze in. After an hour, we braved the cold to hop out, and headed back to camp for morning tea. After some relaxing and reading, Bill and I headed out to do the Moonshine Gorge walk, and Mum and Dad went to explore the Station surrounds.

There was a slightly deeper water crossing on the way to Moonshine Gorge. We watched one vehicle come out and then headed through. It was easy going with the Ranger in low, and the water came up about 10 cm above the bottom of the doors (or if you ask Bill, just below the roof racks). Bill loved it so much that later on, he dropped me back off the other side, turned around and did it again so that we could get some photos.

The walk was lovely, although we didn’t do the full circle, opting to walk back out of the gorge rather than up and over. I went for a dip in the swimming hole at the start of the walk to cool down and it was lovely. Perfect temperature. Then it was showers, beers, dinner and another early night. This camping caper is pretty tiring, and we are all finding that we are ready for bed by 8 pm.

23 June 2019

Today we packed up and left Kununurra for El Questro. It was only 110 km, so a short driving day. First stop was Emma Gorge (through the Rangers first ever water crossing) which is part of the El Questro property. It was a 3.2 km walk and very very busy. Not surprising given how beautiful it is. We got to the first pool where Bill and I had a swim. We continued up to the next pool which was absolutely stunning, however the sun was no longer over the gorge, and so the water didn’t look quite as inviting. We headed out, had lunch and then continued on to the main El Questro station where we checked in for 4 nights. Where at a private campsite along the banks of the Pentecost River and it is wonderful. We can’t see or hear anybody else and the campsite is lovely with a good amount of shade and a great size. We have to drive back to the station for showers however we quickly worked out a system where we all head down together, shower and then meet in the bar for a beer. They have all the conveniences here and you have to respect what a money making machine this place is with tours to everywhere, helicopter rides, horse riding, boat cruises, 2 restaurants and of course the bar, where we have enjoyed their tap beer.

We headed back to camp for tea and holy cow was it cold! It got down to 11 degrees last night. Lovely for sleeping, but a bit of a surprise nonetheless.

Odometer:

23 June 2019

Back to the gym today for Bill and I followed by the big supermarket shop in preparation for embarking on the Gibb River Road tomorrow. After a quick lunch we drive the 70 km out to Lake Argyle. We had a quick look at the Durack Homestead, which was built by the Durack family in the mid 1800’s. It originally stood where Lake Argyle now is, and before the area was flooded every stone was numbered and the house taken down, and then put back together exactly the same in the location it now stands. We drove over the dam wall just cause, and then headed off on a 3 hour sunset boat tour. It was fantastic. Lake Argyle is the second largest man made lake in Australia, with Lake Gordon and Lake Pedder being the biggest (shameful moment for me that I live down there and didn’t know that!)

Bill was pretty quiet whilst we were heading over the 1 cm chop, however perked up a bit when we got to go for a swim. We saw lots of freshwater crocs, rock wallabies and fed archer fish by holding bread up in the air and then they shoot water at it trying to knock it down. Very cool. With over 30,000 freshwater crocs in the lake, we can now say that we have swum in croc infested waters. Not too many people went swimming which meant that I had the dip and bikkies that was floated out on an esky lid all to myself for awhile. Winner winner chicken dinner. The sunset was beautiful. We got back to Kununurra around 7pm and grabbed fish and chips for dinner. The potato cake was an absolute shocker. 0.5/5. I think we’ve found Australia’s worst potato cake whilst on the #huntforaustraliasbestpotatocake