Kunnunurra-El Questro

Kunnunurra is a very small town that we decided to stay in because it was one of the closest places besides Wyndham that we could leave the caravan to head off and see El Questro, which is off the famous Gibb River road.

We found a nice 'Big4' caravan park to stay at which is right alongside the lake and only 4km from town, we went all out and paid $1 extra for a lakeview site (Big4 love to charge for anything and everything) it cost us $32 per night for a powered LAKE VIEW site, we also were under a big shady tree and seeing as the weather was not cooling down shade is a must!

Brenton kicking back.

The view a few steps from the carvan, lot's of fresh water crocs!

Hard to see but we had a couple of lizards crossing the road on the way in to town.

Our car had been making a few weird noises on the way to Kunnuurra so Brenton decided to look into and found we had a few problems.

Hhmm not meant to look like this so we needed to replace them before going anywhere!

As you may assume it's not easy to get anything you need fast here, it's not even easy to get anything you need, Brent went to nearly every car shop in town and it took the guys a few days to find something for him , even then they weren't sure it would work.
After spending a fair bit of time on the car and with me as his trusty (clumsy) assistant we were up and running and were enjoying the surrounds of Lake Kunnunurra, more amazing sunsets, sunrises and another opportunity for brenton to have a fish.

Doesn't this look inviting? You can hardly tell but there is a baked potato somewhere in there!

Rex Hunt at work.

And he officially caught a fish, with a rod!!

Too bad it was a cat fish and not a tasty barra!

Another little visitor we had in the caravan park, just outside of our toilet block.

Brenton managed to catch 4 more fish but it may have been the same one, they were all cat fish, although it was just nice to see him catch one, he was very excited!

 Sunrise on the lake.

The sky was amazing!

After the car was fixed and we enjoyed the sites of kunnunurra we left our caravan at the showground caravan park for storage, only $5 a night and headed off toward the Gibb river road. 

We were lucky because some rains passed through a week or so before we got there and El Questro was shut for a while but re-opened just a day before we got there. 

El Questro is about 110 kilometres from Kunnunurra or if you want somewhere closer to stay Wyndham is about 58 kilomteres away.

Gibb River Road

There was still water over a few sections of the road.

This guy was in no hurry to get off the road, so we waited for him.

It was a rough ride to El Questro on the Gibb river road, they were doing some road works on certain parts of it so we had to wait at one section for 15 minutes for the truck to get off the road.

We made it eventually though, and there were a heap of water crossings!

I was on croc watch...

Before we went and checked out El Questro gorge we went to the township to buy our park pass which cost $17 each and also pay for our campsite, $17 per person, no power. 

After we were settled and our wallet was a bit lighter we headed off to El Questro gorge for a walk and hopefully a swim.

The start of the walk was rocky, very easy ankle spraining terrain.

Lots of obstacles, under tree's, over rocks...

All the while following the blue triangles.

Halfway through the walk we found water, but not enough to swim in!

There was lots of shade on this walk, thank god, because the sun was beating down.

Then a swimming spot!

Troy Dan resting near the clear waters of el questro.

The water was freezing but so refreshing!

It was so green, and there were a heap of frogs jumping around.

Everywhere we go we run into one of these guys.

After our walk and our swim we headed back to the camp site.

 Brenton braved the dirty waters next to our site.

Then when we got back we notice a bull roaming around the camp grounds.

After dinner we headed to bed early but were quickly woken by our friend the bull who was rustling some bushes about a metre away from our tent, we were a tad scared that if we made any noise he might stampede us and I think Brenton was more scared when I got the giggles like a 3 year old and could not, not make noise.

We did make it through the night without being squashed and were up with the sun to go on a walk to champagne springs, we just left the car at our site as it was only a short walk to the starting point of the champagne springs trail.

The walk was 10 kilometres and they say to give yourself four and a half hours without a swim, and there was no way we weren't swimming, so we were ready for a 5-6 hour day trip.

              

We headed off around 7am and it was already so hot!

We had a rest after about an hour and half at this huge boab tree

After 2 hours we were wondering if we were ever going to see water.

There were times it was hard to find our blue markers and seeing as I managed to drop our map at the half way point we really needed to find them, it is only a recently established trail and that was obvious, it's considered a moderate to difficult trail and with the sun beating down it's more difficult than moderate.

Champagne springs is named after the thermal springs that bubble from deep inside the earth's interior and surface at the end of the walk and we couldn't wait to see it and hoped it would all be worth it.

There were some great sights on the way, but there were also some times when we wondered if we should turn back.

Hhmmm are we there yet??

After we had been walking for just over two hours we really were ready to give up, we had walked through sand and mud, climbed over rocks and under trees , had to navigate across a creek bed whilst trying to duck under the palms that were growing out of it, we had also finished all of our water so desperately needed to find some a.s.a.p!

And then just when we had lost hope, we could hear running water in the distance....

And this is what we found, aahhhh Champagne springs.....

We were so delirious all we could do was laugh, maybe it was just to avoid crying at the disappointment of what we had found, on the map it described a gem pool and thermal springs to swim in, even a waterfall, so we were expecting clear water and well.... a waterfall, it was green and in some parts very still and sickly looking.

We did splash around a little and managed to find a flowing area with water that we could fill our bottles with for the walk back.

Then just when we thought it couldn't get any worse my hat blew off into the green water!

Brenton saved the day and although green and slimy it survived.

So after our water bottles were full and our spirits not so we began the big trek back to the homestead, it seemed a lot longer on the way back but we still managed to take some snaps, we found a huge bee hive on this boab tree, honey galore!

After another 3 hr walk we found ourselves back where we started, it was around 1:30 in the afternoon and we even passed some people who were attempting to start in the middle of the day, we did give them the heads up but they still seemed happy to keep going, at least they can't ay we didn't warn them.

Yay we made it!

Brenton making some friends at the homestead.

Finally back at the township.

We decided to head off after our big walk, we were going to stop at a few more springs on the way out but when we got to most of them they were closed, apparently a lot of places closed by 12pm to 'help protect the vegetation', at least that is what the sign said, we heard later that it is so El Questro can take their private tour groups in there.

As much as we did enjoy some of the sights here it is overpriced like a lot sights out this way, they charge you for everything and then the fact they don't let you into places after a certain time so they can look after people with more money annoyed both Brenton and I. 

So it was back on the Gibb river road and back to collect our caravan.

He was even in the middle of the road on the way back, stubborn bird.

We had paid for our caravan to be stored for 2 nights so decided to look for a camp area that the caretaker of the park had told us about.

It's not sign posted so we had to use the info he gave us and make do, there weren't too many dirt tracks off the main road and the first one we turned down was the right one and after about a 5k drive we were at Molly Springs.

Molly springs was great, there were tables and places you could have fires and best of all there was a swimming hole, that was believe it or not, free.

On the sign it does say they 'prefer' you not to stay here but we were very good house guests and after all the money we spent at El Questro it was great to have a free night at this magical place.

The water was so clear you watch all the little fish swimming around you.

Snags & Mash for dinner.

After a refreshing night at Molly springs we were back on the bitumen heading towards Kunnunurra, where we stayed for one more night before heading off toward the bungle bungles.

xxxxx

Heading West

We left Adelaide River nice and early on a very sunny day and headed down towards Katherine where we stopped to do a groceries shop and then parted ways with Megan and Stu, they were off east and we headed west on the Victoria Hwy.

 

There was not a whole lot before we got to the border, a few small towns including Victoria River, a town that  we actually thought would be a bit bigger because the name was highlighted on our map, how wrong we were, it’s tiny!

We stopped to take some  photo’s at the Gregory national park, just past the town on the left.

On our way down to the river we had to walk past a heap of tall grass and copped a few grasshoppers to the face, but they were the least of our worries, we were just hoping we wouldn’t bump into a croc , there were lots of warning signs mentioning the river is full of them, so we were happy to take some pictures and keep on driving.

Busy day at the park.

Small town of Timber Creek, we were even breath tested on the way in!

We got to Timber Creek and filled up the car and decided that a free rest stop would be a good idea for the night and there are plenty of 24 hour ones along the way, we had a huge day of driving about 600kms all up, which we could probably do a lot quicker with just a car, but our van is a fatty and sometimes the car won't go over 85 km, very stubborn!

At the rest stop we chatted to a few of the workers from a local community who were there just having a drink, the community they work in is a dry one  (no alcohol whatsoever!) , so most of their afternoons were spent at the rest stop.

After they left a few more campers showed up and everyone was trying to race the sun and cook tea before it got late.

Someone else showed up who was a little un-welcome though,we got the weber out to cook  and we found a stow away in the bag………..

A big fat cane toad!! As  most people may know they are a huge pest in the territory and W.A do not want them there, so whilst I covered my ears, closed my eyes and sang to myself, Brenton took care of this slimy little critter that can lay more than 8,000 eggs in one go!

We gave the BBQ a good old clean out after that and had an early night so that we would be nice and fresh when we crossed the border the next day.

One of the first things we noticed about the change in the landscape, even before we officially got over the W.A border was the amazing BOAB trees that were popping up all over the place, I fell in love with them instantly and took way too many photo’s.

 The weather also changed slightly and it was still hot but more of a dry heat than a sticky one and although there was a bit of greenery around it was a lot less tropical than the drive into Darwin.

We got to the border nice and early and realised that we still had a heap of fruit and veg, so not wanting to waste anything we sat at a little stop just in front of the border sign and ate a heap of tomatoes on salada’s, we also had 2 or 3 pieces of fruit each, we have learnt not to waste anything!

We stopped at quarantine as bloated as anything and we got rid of a few potatoes, (we just couldn’t fit them in!) they also took our honey! 

It wasn't all that exciting, we were honest and handed over what was asked of us and were happy to finally be in Western Australia!

Our first stop in the west was Lake Argyle, Australia's largest man-made freshwater lake,we had heard great things about this place from many other travellers and were happy that the road on the way in is sealed, although it's not very wide and can be a bit hairy when there are motorists coming the other way, but it's only 30 kilometres off the highway and well worth a look.

There is only one place to stay at Lake Argyle and it caters for all types of travellers, with camp sites, caravan sites, powered and un-powered and even cabins if you have the cash!

We took an un-powered site for the night which was only $27-, a good price considering how nice the park is and how close you are to everything!

Im officially a tree hugger!

Brenton enjoying some scones at the inn.

We had a nice shady spot and after un-packing some chairs it was time to check out the infinity pool that looked over the lake, apparently a new addition to the park!

The pool and the view were breath taking, so was the icy cold water! 

This is the coldest pool we had been in, almost freezing, even when it's 36 degrees outside, our teeth were chattering when we got out and stood in the wind and it was refreshing not being hot for all of 5 minutes, we made the most of the pool and then went to check out some of the sites Lake Argyle has to offer.

How is that for a view!

Learning to use the timer!

It's a tough life.

We drove over the Ord River Dam , this a view from the top with lake argyle on the left and in the picture below is the Ord river. The dam can only be crossed from 8am until 5:30 pm then they close it for the night. 

There are apparently great fishing spots around this area, we had heard that a day earlier two French tourists were chased up the river bank by a fresh water croc who wanted the fish they had just caught, they were happy to oblige and dropped everything in fear of being eaten !

We also visited the Durack family homestead, you can either walk from the caravan park or drive if you have a 4wd, you do have a pay about $3 to get in .The area was first settled by Patrick (Patsy) Durack in 1882 and this is who the homestead belonged to the family although it has since been moved. It's a great bit of insight to how they used to live and there is plenty of wildlife to see, including the wonderful bower bird!

A male bower bird nest, a nice collection out the front, trying to attract the ladies!

HHmmm who will win? The skink or the hopper? 

There is a viewing area not far from the caravan park and we went there to check it out just as the sun started setting on a another eventful day, we did have a bit of a dip in Lake Argyle but seeing as it's home to about 25,000 freshwater crocs we decided to cut it short and head back to the pool.

The sky was so pink!

We only stayed a night, you can see most of the sights in one day, although it would be a great place to relax and do nothing for a few days, but we had things to do and more sights to see, this was our shortest driving day, only 75 kilometres to Kununurra.

xxx