Kununurra and El Questro

From Jeanette – Thursday we stored our van, got our tenting gear together and headed into Emma Gorge and El Questro.  To get there you travel on the Gibb River Road.  This road was extremely rough with heavy corrugations and of course most of it is dirt road.  Our little car didn’t like much of it as we broke one light because of the rough surface of the road and broke our CB Radio aerial.  We were so worried about blowing a tyre as we had heard that a tyre place in Kununurra had repaired 40 punctured tyres that week from people going into El Questro.  Thankfully our tyres held up and we firstly explored Emma Gorge.  Emma Gorge was beautiful.  It took one hour to walk in a fairly hard walk for me but eventually we made it to the end to the most beautiful waterfall and swimming hole.  After coming out of Emma Gorge we headed on up to El Questro.  This is a privately owned Wilderness Park area where you can camp out and explore many of the Gorges and Springs in the area.  It was crowded and you had to fight for the showers.  We went into El Questro Gorge first and I slipped over again and hurt my leg.  We only went in half way where there was a beautiful swimming hole so we thought that would be quite far enough especially for Jeanette who falls over all the time!! The second half of this walk is very tough, so not recommended for many.  I was happy to have walked in though a big achievement.  The next day on the way out of El Questro we stopped at some Thermal Springs called Zebedee Springs.  The water is 32 degrees all year round and it was so nice just sit back and relax for about 20 mins.  The place also was absolutely crowded with people so we didn’t stay long.  All in all a great experience.  The only thing we didn’t like was all the dust. 

We got back to Kununurra and went to another Caravan Park along Lake Kununurra.  This was such a lovely spot we decided to stay another night.  I caught up on some washing and Ross got his light and aerial fixed.  Sunday morning we got up at 4.30am and went on an aeroplane flight across Lake Argyle, the Argyle Diamond Mine and the Bungle Bungles.  It was a two hour flight which included a cooked breakfast afterwards and well worth it.  From the air the Bungle Bungles looked amazing and Ross has some photos to share.

After the flight we packed up and are now having two night in Lake Argyle Resort.  A beautiful spot, very picturesque and we are just enjoyed some relaxation.  More to follow…..

RB ---Its been some time since we have had mobile coverage, but will try to get a few pics online.  Jeanette has given a run down since last blog, so I wont add much this time.  Below some pice of our time in Kununurra etc.  We have been to Lake Argyle over the past 2-3 days but will include in the next entry.  We have left Lake Argyle now and heading towards Katherine.  We met Ian and Anne Ball at Timber Creek today and decided to stay the night in a small park just off the road.  

The pics below are a bit out of order unfortunately but I cant take the time to sort at the moment, sorry

In El Questro we went to Emma Gorge and El Questro Gorge,  Some of the hikes in can be a bit of a challenge 

This is camp in El Questro

Emma Gorge is a beautiful gorge, water was great

The zebra rock gallery was a great place to visit and the items for sale were amazing, this is just a basic sample  

The Gallery is on the Ord River and you can go to the river with some bread and feed the fish, hundreds of them.

One of the residents at the Gallery is this rare bird, the Buff sided Robin,  

On the way out of El Questro we stopped at Zebedee Springs, a series of small water holes  in the rock with the thermal water flowing out of the rocks.  The water is a therapeutic 28-32 deg all year round

Zebedee Springs a great place to relax, and show case the Victorian suntan.

Right on the Edge of Kununurra is a National park called  Mirimu, or known as the "Mini Bungle Bungles"  a very pleasant and easy park to visit, and literally  3-4 mins from centre of town

On Sunday Morning the 17th at 6 am, we did a fly over the Bungle Bungles and Lake Argyle and the Argyle diamond mine .  What a great flight , and very popular,  Alligator Airways had 5 planes take off for this flight this day.  Our pilot was David Ball and the planes were the Gippsland Aeronautical planes made at Latrobe Valley Airport,  an 8 seater plane, so everyone gets a window seat.

Sunrise over Lake Argyle from the air.

After our flight we all had a complimentary breakfast  at the Ivanhoe Cafe near the airport before being dropped back at the van park.   We left the park as soon as we got back and headed for Lake Argyle caravan park for the next couple of nights.  This pic is of the water gushing down the spillway on the way to the caravan park.  The lake is still 3.5 metres over the spillway, it got to 9 m over the spillway with the big wet they had this season,  they had , believe it or not 10 metres of rain up here this year.
Next entry will be of our stay at lake Argyle.  Loved it there too.  We have now left and staying in Katherine tonight before starting our journey south