It was Saturday by this stage and there were markets on at Kununurra on a Sat morning from 8am, which I said I’d like to go to before we headed off. I was up early with the younger girls anyway, so had most things done by 8am. It turned out that Michael, I, Hannah and Beth all went to the markets while Lauren and Sam stayed home and read/watched a movie. We were back bys 9.30 and packed up ready to leave the van park by 10am.
We had a little detour on the way as we missed the turn onto the Gibb River Road and were heading towards Wyndam a little while before we realised. Then we got back on track and were at El Questro Station by about midday. We checked in and set up and then proceeded to get some lunch. It was a very hot day again (around 36 degrees) and, because El Questro campsite was all unpowered, we couldn’t use the A/C – oh no! We struggled through the chores and then headed for a swim at the Pentecost River beside the campsite. I was very happy to go in also. The kids found a deep area where there was a tree with spreading branches overhanging the water. This was just perfect for adventurous kids – climb out along the branch and jump into the water. Sam could have done that for hours. Lauren and Hannah joined in for a bit, but also played some other games with Bethany and so on. They had a ball and I had a nice relax in the water and then warming up again on the sand bank. We went back to the caravan for a snack and a rest and then Michael took them for another swim before showers, dinner and to bed – not before deciding what walks and swimming spots we were going to visit tomorrow. We were going to have to start early to do any walking before it got too hot. So we decided to try to be ready to leave the van by 7.30am and do the El Questro Gorge walk and then Zebedee Springs in the morning.
So we did get away around 7.30 the next morning. We all had our swimmers on under our clothes as there was a swimming hole at both spots. It was a 15 min drive to the start of El Questro Gorge walk. The information had said about 1 hour walk to the halfway pool (which was as far as we were going to go) along a rainforest area by the creek. This is one of the reasons we had chosen this walk – it would be cool along the way. And we weren’t disappointed – it was a lovely walk beside a cool creek within the gorge – very pretty. It took us about 50mins to reach the halfway pool and there we enjoyed a lovely cool swim. We were then refreshed for the walk back. We then drove 5 mins down the road to the Zebedee Springs carpark. Zebedee Springs is a thermal springs and it is only open to the public from 7am until 12 noon. It is closed in the afternoon for private tour groups. We arrived at the carpark at 10.45am and it was only a 5min walk to the springs, so we would have plenty of time for a swim. They were fairly crowded but we were able to find a spot to sit and soak – it was lovely! There were a series of little pools as the water cascaded down the rocks and then there was a larger pool at the bottom where the kids could move around a bit more. We stayed about an hour and then headed back to the car and then back to the van, having enjoyed our morning of walks and swims.
We had lunch, a short rest and then the kids were keen to have another swim in the Pentecost River beside the campground. So they swam, had a break for some afternoon tea and a play and then swam again – 4 swims in a day. Then all of us except Lauren and Bethany (who wanted to just rest) went for a short drive to a lookout as the sun set.
Then we came back for a BBQ dinner. We had eaten every meal, except breakfast outside whilst at El Questro because it was cooler outside. We made plans for the next day – we were going to try to be packed up and away by 7.30am again so that we could do the Emma Gorge walk on our way out of El Questro, once again before it got too hot. So we all got to bed reasonably early.