El Questro Station

The remaining 24 km until we reached the EL Questro turnoff were quite badly corrugated just like the road has been since leaving the Kalumburu turnoff. 

The grader was working on the access road into ELQ and we sat comfortably on 60 km per hour until we crossed the Pentecost River just near the station township. 

Distance covered 50.7 km

Elapsed time 01:35, Time moving 01:17, Avg speed 39.3 km/h, Max speed 66.6 km/h

After setting up we did very little for the remainder of the day. The daytime temperatures for the past two weeks have hovered around the 38 degrees mark and our first night here was a balmy 20 degrees and our best night’s sleep in many weeks.

After happy hour they fired up their brand new wood fired pizza oven and we were the first paying customers to sample them. We ordered a seafood pizza with barramundi, prawns and calamari, a chicken pizza and a meat lovers and all were delicious and more than ample for four people. The 2012 Pepperjack Shiraz at $65 was more than we would pay for it at home, but we both thoroughly enjoyed it with our meal.

This morning we tackled the Saddleback Ridge, Pidgeon Hole and Branko’s Lookout. The access track to each location was very steep and it was the first time we have used low range in our 200 Series which handled the climbs with ease. The platform on Saddleback Ridge gave 360 degree views over the surrounding escarpments and views down the Pentecost River while Pidgeon Hole gave different views of the river. Branko’s Lookout provided a view where the Chamberlain and Pentecost Rivers merged.

Saddleback Ridge Lookout:

Taken from Branko's Lookout:

Pidgeon Hole Lookout:

 The following photos were taken from the helicopter flight over EL Questro. It was an early birthday present for Ros.

The expensive Homestead perched above the Chamberlin River. Prices vary between $2000 and $3000 per night. To the left of picture is Branko's Crossing.

The Durack Tree:

We left early one morning just after 7:30 to drive the 30 km to Emma Gorge in the hope that there would be few people there at this time. The 1.6 km walk took us 35 minutes as we clambered over rocks towards the pool at the end. 

Just as we arrived a couple were leaving and we had the whole place to ourselves for over 30 minutes while we swam in the very refreshing clear water. The falls were now just a trickle but I'm sure it would be wonderful to see just after the wet. Unfortunately our cameras could not do justice to the gorge.

On our way back to our campsite we visited Zebedee Springs and El Questro Gorge. Zebedee Springs are permanent thermal springs along a walking trail 1.5 km from the car park. The springs range between 28 and 32 degrees and tumble down small waterfalls into pools that are surrounded by large boulders. The springs are set in a forest of Livistona Palms. The age of a Livistona Palm can be roughly determined by counting the rings on the tree and dividing that figure by four.

El Questro Gorge is very narrow and follows a spring fed creek with the walls covered with palms and ferns. We only attempted the first half of the walk into the gorge. At this point the gorge is blocked by a huge boulder with a  small waterfall plunging into a beautiful clear pool. Once you have climbed over the large boulder the walk to the end of the gorge takes another hour and is extremely difficult. The water here was very refreshing to say the least and we stayed for half an hour before returning to the car. 

EL Questro Wilderness Park is an amazing destination with so much to see and do. The property contains one million acres of ranges, pockets of rain-forest, gorges, waterfalls and wildlife. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.