Rocks, Rocks, Rocks

Its an odd place El Questro. Its hugely popular and people say its one of the best things on the GRR. But I'm not so sure. The private camping on the river is great, but its otherwise very busy and also pretty hard core. We've had the deepest and longest creek crossings in the Prado so far this trip - just about washing over the bonnet! We've had the most arduous walks on rocks, rocks and rocks today, including up El Questro Gorge. At one stage you have to wade (to your chest) across to a huge Boulder and shimmy up it (see photo). There's various other difficult scrambly bits for hours. I conceded defeat when you had to scale a ledge up a waterfall to get to the end pool - my balance and poor old knees just aren't up to it (when if you slip you fall down the falls - see photo). It didn't seem to stop anyone else, including Marian! They make 'em tough in WA! The gorge was otherwise very attractive and huge (see people for scale). Earlier this morning we tried another walk where the trail was too overgrown to continue, so we went up to a lookout on more rocks. The central facilities here are a bit resort like - had Tandoori Chicken Pizza for dinner. This meant we had to navigate back to our camp in the dark and dust, crossing a crocodile infested river at night! As I say, they make 'em tough in WA!

Getting Wet in the Dark!

Two great activities today. First we went for the full Winjana Gorge walk which was excellent. It has world significance as a Devonian Reef, rising from the floor of an ancient ocean 380 million years ago (the Age of the Fishes).The gorge was then eroded through the exposed reef. Many freshwater crocodiles were lounging about on the banks. Second, we swam (!!) through Tunnel Creek in Tunnel Cave, about 35kms south of Winjana Gorge. It was awesome and a real life experience. We had to wade along the creek in the cave and swim once, wearing head torches as it was often pitch black! At least they reflected the eyes of the crocodiles in the shallows at the sides! We saw aboriginal rock art out the other end. [The cave photos are of my iPhone screen, because I didn't want to risk the Samsung phone getting wet (as it has a cracked screen)]. We finished off with a short walk back into the Gorge for sunset viewing (and a selfie!).

Up and Away!

These are two drone videos on the way to El Questro.

https://youtu.be/JACdpnSqUSI

https://youtu.be/uXqdYmX2xhk

Ir a El Questro

We expected to go to Home Station today but its closed due to Covid (its owned and run by an aboriginal corporation). Its not far from El Questro so we brought that forward a day. They've 4G here so I have posted my backlog of posts (from Bells and Donkeys). We started the day visiting a nice river gorge at Ellenbrae Station where we stayed last night, then had some speccy mountains on the way up here. The Pentacosta River crossing was particularly scenic. We had lunch on the banks, but not too close because of the crocodiles! Camp tonight (and the next few days) is on a remote site on the Chamberlain River (in El Questro). The central facilities are big and comprehensive here - back to civilization (almost).

...And We Made it Back!

Mostly a lazy and drivey day coming back to and along the GRR. The grader improves the roads on some places but generally its pretty bad. The corrogations get massive and I'm amazed the cars stay in one piece - some don't and we've seen a few vehicle 'casualties'. Crossed lots of lovely watercourses, one with Brolgas. Had quiche and scones for lunch at Ellenbrae Station, which is where we have rested up for the night.

The Mitchell Falls

The walk to Mitchell Falls was fantastic. There were two other falls on the way. Little Merton Falls enabled you to get under the waterfall and also see some rock art. Big Merton Falls was big! After a different rock art gallery, we spent some time at Mitchell Falls where you can walk all around for different views. Then we helicoptered back to camp! Awesome.

We Made It...!

...but we have to make it back yet. We bumped our way up to the Mitchell Plateau today via a few excellent rock art sites and the King Edward River, which has extraordinary polished pink rocks everywhere. The final few hours were through very attractive palm forests which was quite unexpected. It is super hot at camp, which is unusual. 

Bumpety-Bumpety-Bump!

The corrugations were in force today! It's amazing the car holds together at all - but it has so far. We started the day by swimming our stuff across a large waterhole (in blue tubs!) to commence a walk to Manning Gorge, which was awesome - with a very large waterfall. On the way were fields of 'Batchelors Buttons', particularly fetching wildflowers found all over. Otherwise, we bumped and jigged along to Drysdale River Station, prior to our trip up to Mitchell Falls tomorrow. During the day we saw two different rock art sites.

Onward on the GRR

We had a little unseaseasonal rain last night. Quite odd. It has meant realtively cool and shady days. Tomorrow is meant to clear up. The drive out of Mornington was great. We saw four Bustards close up and various other critters. On the way to Manning Gorge we dropped into Adcock Gorge and Galvan Gorge which were each very picturesque. We're camped above the very sandy banks of the Manning River this afternoon with a lovely aspect over a forest of paperback trees.