El Questro

We had booked to stay in tents in the Emma Gorge.  Unfortunately (or as it turns out fortunately) the site had been washed away in Cyclone Ingrid in February when 485mm (half a metre!) of rain fell in just 14 hours.

El Questro had kindly upgraded us to a township bungalow free of charge woo hoo!  This is a big woo hoo because this place is mega $$$$

Given the heat, we doubt our ability to have survived a tent.

well this will just have to do if you've no tents left!  tee hee!

this is amazing given that it really is in the middle of a total wilderness

It's difficult to age a boab because they don't have rings like a conventional tree.  It's estimated that when the branches start to drop towards the ground, as this one has, then they are around 1,000 years old.  This one had an initial inscribed by one of the first European settlers.

Explosion Gorge

the debris shows the height that the river rises (about 10m higher than present) in the wet season

Oh no...Kairen's got the champagne!

Cockburn Mountain Range in the setting sun

Zebedee Spring

deeper in to the wilderness we start to get quite remote....

Kairen has insisted that it is recorded that she risked life and limb to take this photo as the river was 'infested with crocodiles' ("the sign said so, and we saw one the next day!")

we are on our own and it's so peaceful

a crystal clear water hole...lovely!!

I don't think we'd know what to do with tarmac if we met it now!

Oh no!  He's off again!!

..back for another sunset

It's not much different to being outside!

This is a three showers and two baths a day place. A shower in the morning, one at lunch and one in the evening.  The baths?...well they are the bits in between when you're outside!!!

Bungle Bungle

We leave El Questro and continue 200km south and a further 80km on a really rough track. 

Warning signs to 'engage 4wd NOW' are a stark warning for the really rough pounding we are about to receive, 

Averaging 20mph we eventually arrived at the spectacular sandstone pinnacles and the gorge we intended to walk. 

Greeted almost immediately by a group who had retreated from the 50C+ temperature in the gorge we decided just to take pictures and that discretion was the best course of action. 

The road back was just as bumpy and hot!

Welcome to Bungle Bungle

the road to the main range was very long, hot and incredibly rough.  We averaged 20mph and felt that we were 'pushing it'

amazing sandstone formations

great scenery. but the heat is searing
(Laurie burns his nose on his camera!)

We are racing to avoid the dark as the sun sets...but it's been a great day with some spectacular scenery.

'Wonka' has been a star today.. taking unbelievable pounding, rocks, gradients and dust, in outrageous temperatures ..bless!

Fitzroy Crossing

300km south of Halls Creek we pull into Fitzroy Crossing.  We had planned to go to the meteorite crater at Wolfe Creek but it was a 280km return trip on a rough road that even the locals have given up using.  It was going to take us 10 hours!

We go direct to the conurbation of Fitzroy Crossing which for some two months of each year is marooned as an island and only accessible by helicopter.  Luckily for our visit the rains were yet to come.

Geikie Gorge is hardly mentioned in the guidebooks but is a stunning limestone gorge

The sand bank that retains the water in the gorge in the dry season

The limestone cliffs are stunning in their formations.  The stain at the base of the cliffs shows the flood level.

Beautiful colours as the sun sets