Gibb River Road – the other end

by inka on Mai.31, 2011, under The Kimberleys

Saturday, 28th May – Tuesday, 31st May 2011

After several hundred kilometers of driving and the highest LPG price we have ever seen in all of Australia we arrived in Wyndham where we expected to be able to fuel up and get some nice groceries. Far from it, we shopped at a very small and expensive supermarket and could only get normal fuel being much more expensive for us than LPG. After a quick look at one of the big things (remember the big lobster in Kingston?), a crocodile, and the Five-Rivers-Lookout we were only too happy to leave the area again.

: Big croc in Wyndham

: One of the five rivers

: Mountain range from the Five-River-Lookout

: Sweetie at the Five-Rivers-Lookout

: Mountain range from the Five-River-Lookout

: Sunset over the Five-Rivers-Lookout

: Danger lurking around every corner

On the way to the Gibb River Road we stopped at the Grotto where we almost couldn’t find the entrance. Have a look at the pictures, can you find it?

: View into the Grotto – but where is it?

: The way down to the Grotto ist barely visible

: In this area a boab tree cannot be missing in the picture ; )

: See the water? There is the Grotto!

: The way down to the Grotto

: Some of the steps down to the Grotto

: Sweetie at the Grotto

: Me at the Grotto

: The Grotto

: The Grotto

: At the Grotto

And finally we arrived at the entrance of the Gibb River Road and headed towards a yet unknown mekka of 4WDing! But first things first:

: The entrance of the Gibb River Road from the North-East

: Closed, closed and closed – but not for us!! : )

: On the way to El Questro Wilderness Park

: Part of the Gibb was bitumen but mostly it was good gravel road

: Cockburn Ranges at the Gibb River Road

: Photo stuntman sweetie taking a picture of Cockburn Ranges

Our first stop was Emma Gorge which was part of the El Questro Wilderness Park as we learned later. The first excitement of the day was an encounter with a quite large and quite deadly King Brown snake though on which we almost stepped on…

: Just count the numbers beforehand so that you know how long it is still to go

: At the beginning of the walk

: Along the way

: Emma Gorge

: Ripple marks from the water along the way

: Was the snake as shocked as we were since we almost stepped on it?

: Such beautiful colours

: Almost there

: Emma Gorge

: In the end we were rewarded with a nice waterfall

: Emma Gorge at the waterfall

: Emma Gorge at the end

: Emma Gorge waterfall

: Piece of cake to cross a creek and stay dry

: Please report to reception! Emma Gorge was not for free!

: Very convenient…! Want to have one too!

Here’s a short clip of Emma Gorge:

We learned that the El Questro Wilderness Park had several more gorges, hikes and lookouts as well as camping spots and we decided to have a look and bought a 7 day pass.

: El Questro Wilderness park

We quickly left Emma Gorge in order to take a bath at the hot Zebedee Springs that closed after 12 pm. And what an oasis it was, the water nice and warm and the surroundings amazing:

: Zebedee Springs

: Waterfall and palm trees

: Down the small waterfall

: Come on in! : )

: Ah, goood! : )

: Paradise!

: An oasis

: Surroundings of Zebedee Springs

: Surroundings of Zebedee Springs

Since it was still early in the day we decided to do the next walk on the list – the El Questro Gorge! To get there was already a challenge but very exemplary we walked through first to see how deep it was.

: Only for 4WD’s – good so!

: A long way through the water..

: Checking out the water

: Landcruiser ready for action

See how it went:

No problem at all for SuperLandCruiser!

Should we go 2.6 or 6.8 km return is what we asked ourselves at the beginning of the walk? Being ambitious we decided on the whole walk. The first part was fairly easy walking:

: “Shall we go right until the end?” is what we debated in front of the sign

: Ready for the long walk

: First and easier part of the walk

: Rocks, trees and nice shade

: Part of El Questro Gorge

: Still very easy part of the walk

: Looks like rainforest

: First part of the walk

: Beautiful scenery

Then we got to half-way point and a huge rock. Two possibilities ahead of us, either through rather shallow water (to your thighs) and trying to climb up the rather steep middle of the rock or follow the markers to the left, swim through the water and climb up there…
Clever us remembered the disastrous shoe crossing at Manning Gorge and just threw our shoes on the rock which was the best thing to do and then into the water and up the rock!

: Beginning of the difficult second part

: Mastering the steep climb

The second part of the walk was very rocky, up and down, over small creeks and up a waterfall until we arrived at the Mac Micking Pool and waterfall:

: Finding our way through water and rocks

: Rocks, rocks and rocks

: The water hole got its first victim : )

: Along the way

: Up and down over a lot of rocks

: And up waterfalls as well!

: Hiking sweetie

: Mac Micking Pool and waterfall

: Mac Micking Pool and waterfall

: Photo proof – we made it to the waterfall

: Climbing down the waterfall

: Down the same waterfall again (on the way back of course)

: Even some rockart on the way

The only downside to these kinds of walks is that you have to go back the same way you have come and that can be a bit boring.

We headed back and decided to have a look at the El Questro Wilderness Park Station to check out the camping conditions. In order to get there we had to cross another river. There we found a few cars waiting for a motorhome to be pulled out of the creek after unsuccessfully trying to cross it. It got almost up to the end with its 2WD, but still got bogged down, damaged its radiator and was stuck at the crossing for a few days waiting for spare parts!