Mawle Family

Big day today!  Emily and Oliver had been counting down the hours since yesterday.  The four of us went horse riding with Christian (7:00AM start!).

On leaving the stables we crossed the Pentecost River and out into the wilds.  OK, it wasn’t very far from El Questro but it seemed like the wilds.  We rode across open grassland with the occasional Boab Tree, far off to our left were ochre coloured cliffs.

End of the Gibb River Road – El Questro

Ollie followed Christian and bombarded him with questions about horses, the landscape, the trees and numerous other topics.  Christian patiently answered all questions and even managed to tell us about Cattle Mustering and Bush Tucker.  At one point he leaned over and picked some small berries from one of the bushes, he persuaded us to try them.  “Don’t crunch em, the seeds taste sour.  Just eat the soft fleshy bit then spit the seeds out”.  We did as he said.  He then informed us that the Aboriginals eat them when they need “bunging up”.

Fascinating!

Christian grinned then told us that if we got “bunged up” we could eat the leaves from the same plant because “The Aboriginals eat em if they need “un-bunging”.

Lovely!

We stopped under a very large Boab Tree, which is over 2,500 years old, then rode on through Scotties Yard which was used during the cattle muster.

Christian demonstrated how the Stockmen would use their horses to push tethered Bulls sideways towards a large fence with huge posts driven into the ground.  It was fascinating to see the ease with which Christian made his horse walk sideways and backwards, total control.  He explained that once the Stockmen had secured the Bull against the fence it would be branded with a hot iron, de-horned, and castrated, all in less than three minutes.

The return journey took us through a deep river crossing (great fun!) then back to the stables.

After two hours in the saddle Charlotte and I ambled, John Wayne style, across to the Swinging Arm for refreshments.  The children grabbed a couple of Christian’s Stock Whips and worked on their whip-cracking technique – they’re getting good at it!

The afternoon was spent preparing for tomorrow’s departure followed by a swim in the river where the children found another, yes you’ve guessed it, rope swing.  Woohoo!

Quick showers then we drove along the 4WD track to Pigeon Hole Lookout to watch the Sunset.  It didn’t disappoint, we had marvellous views over the Pentecost River and the surrounding ranges:

Pigeon Hole Lookout

Dinner was the very good BBQ Buffet at the Swinging Arm with entertainment from Chris Matthews.

Up very early to drive to Zebedee Hot Springs, we needed to be there early to be ahead of the tour buses.  The track gate is opened at 7:00AM, we were there at 7:01AM yet there were five or so people ahead of us.

Zebedee Hot Spring

The spring water emerges from the bottom of a cliff into a series of small pools connected by small waterfalls.  Ollie and Ems quickly found the top pool, which was empty, so we all got in.

We spent about 40 minutes in the pool before the first tour bus arrived.  We walked down to the lower pool to get our shoes and found that it was now occupied by a heaving mass of bodies, and more were on the way up the path.  The tour guide sat on a rock beside the pool, lit her cigarette and, with an air of detached boredom, watched her flock clamber over each other to reach an available spot or pass cameras back and forth for photos.

Back at the camp ground we had scrambled eggs and toast for Brunch then drove about 30 kms to Emma Gorge which belongs to El Questro Station.

Emma Gorge

Emma Gorge is magnificent!  To reach it we walked for about 45 minutes beside and along the creek bed, the gorge gradually closing in as we progressed.  The creek stops at a large deep pool fed by a 65 metre high waterfall.  The pool is also fed by a hot water spring which we swam to.

After a couple of hours we headed back to El Questro.  That evening I saw the gentleman from Melbourne and his wife relaxing outside their caravan.  They smiled across at us and raised their glasses to a good day.  The Triton looked OK, maybe a bit more knocked about but it didn’t seem to have lost any more parts.

Ems and Ollie had another riding lesson this morning, they’re hooked.

Mum Was Banished for Interfering!

This time Christian banished Charlotte from the stable area for being too protective (i.e. chipping in with “expert” riding advice).

Emily On Moonshine

After a few minutes watching from the stable area we wandered over to the cafe for a coffee and a large chunk of Carrot Cake.

Back at the camper trailer we met a nice old gentleman from Melbourne who’d been travelling Australia with his wife for years.  He seemed a gentle, kindly sort, a Florist perhaps, but clearly he wasn’t too gentle when he got behind the steering wheel.

Over the years he’d destroyed two cars on the Gibb River Road and another couple on the Savannah Way.  As he chatted away to us about the beauty of the El Questro Gorges I sneaked a glance at his current motor, a quite new Mitsubishi Triton – a tough workhorse used by builders, miners and the like.  The car looked a little worse for wear with a few dents and scratches, and the radiator grill was missing.  I looked back at him just as he was about to leave, his departing words were something like; “Well, must be off, we’re driving up to Explosion Gorge this afternoon.  I’ve been told it’s a bit rough but I’m sure we’ll muddle through”.  His wife gave a cheery wave as she got into the Triton which seemed to have a nervous look about it.

El Questro Gorge

After lunch we drove to El Questro Gorge for a swim.  The path follows the creek bed, so it was hard going:

El Questro Gorge.MOV

We only waked to the first swimming hole which is just below a little waterfall.  We lounged in the water for an hour or so and chatted to a French couple.  We didn’t have time go to the second swimming hole so headed back to the camp ground.

Much excitement!  Emily and Oliver had a horse riding lesson today.

Waiting for the Horses at El Questro

Quick breakfast, cleaned teeth, washed up.  If only the children were this helpful every morning!

Christian showing Ems and Ollie the handlebars.  Ollie can’t wait to get going!

We were met at the stable by Christian, a tall, straight-talking, good humoured guy from Victoria.  He’s responsible for everything horse-related at El Questro.  Within a couple of minutes Christian had Ems and Ollie hanging on his every word.  Charlotte and I watched from a shady spot near the stable.  The children absolutely loved the experience, Christian made it an enjoyable and informative – so-much-so that Charlotte and I were bombarded with facts and technique tips for several hours after the ride.

Ready to Go

After lunch we drove to Moonshine Gorge for a swim.  We were a bit low on fuel, and the El Questro fuel pumps were out of service for the day.  Based on the Moonshine route description we decided that we had enough and set off.  The fuel light came on as we headed down the Moonshine Gorge track but we carried on (She’ll be right mate!”).

We arrived at the most daunting river crossing that we’ve seen so far.  It was wide and looked deep, and there was a sign saying that it should only be attempted in high clearance 4WD vehicles.  While we pondered whether we should cross, another 4WD turned up.  The driver got out and joined us at the river bank.  As he looked across pensively then said “Looks alright, I’ll walk it first”.  Charlotte asked him if there were any Crocodiles.  “Nah, it’s the same creek that we’re gonna swim in and we’re upstream from there”.  I was just about to ask him if he was sure when another 4WD arrived at the far bank and slowly edged into the water which came up to the middle of the radiator.  I noted that the car didn’t have as much ground clearance as ours as it rocked from side to side and pushed a bow wave before it.

On reaching our side the car stopped and, after our applause, the driver assured us that we had enough clearance as long as we stayed right of centre.

As we slowly crossed I could hear the water lapping around the doors and the exhaust blowing bubbles but eventually we chugged up the far bank without any problems.

Moonshine Creek Crossing

The track onward was extremely rough and we realised that we should have asked the other guy how far it was to the swimming section.  We trundled on for a while before we decided to turn around, go back to El Questro, and fill up from our Jerry Can (great idea!  Why didn’t we think of that before setting off?).

After refuelling we retraced our journey and reached the swimming section which was only about a kilometre past our turning point (if only we’d known!  Still, better safe than sorry).

The swim was lovely, the river was not too deep with a sandy bottom and surrounded by tall trees and Palms.

Spent the evening at the Swinging Arm – Waygu Beef Burgers and a couple (or three) beers.  We joined in with a Trivia Quiz (our team was called the Smawleworld Stars) and finished second, Woohoo!  Not bad for two adults and two children against other teams of up to six adults.

Today is our Wedding Anniversary!  19 years of bliss with not a cross word between us.  Ever!  OK maybe one or two cross words.  So to celebrate Charlotte and I got up early and loaded a couple of washing machines with Gibb River Road-dust encrusted clothes and bed sheets which had turned from white to pinkish-brown.

Quidditch (Drysdale Rules, El Questro Variation)

The children spent the morning updating their journals and playing Quiditch (Drysdale Rules, El Questro Variation).  Then they disappeared inside the camper and became very secretive.  Half an hour later they presented us with Strawberry Sundaes to celebrate our Anniversary, the Sundaes even had those coloured sprinkles on them!

Our 19th Wedding Anniversary at El Questro

A lazy afternoon then dinner at the El Questro Steakhouse.  We were looked after by Bernie (who we had met at Bell Gorge).  She showed us to a table with a view across the garden to the river, and she took very good care of us.  The food was excellent, we had the Tasting Platter for starter, and I had one of the best steaks I have ever tasted.

Yummy!

The children started to make lame excuses to leave the table, we knew they were scheming with Bernie.  Had we not known we would have been concerned about Oliver’s bladder as he kept using the Loo excuse.  At least Emily managed a few creative (but rather far-fetched) excuses.  Any way, it was worth going along with the charade because they both arrived at the table carrying a beautiful Chocolate Cheesecake to share (Aaaawww!).

After dinner we strolled over to the Swinging Arm bar and found a table outside next to the bonfire.  Entertainment was provided by Chris Matthews, a very good guitarist with a bluesy, rock style.  We didn’t stay long as Ollie was concerned about some people dancing to the music (“Daddy, I think they’re a bit drunk!”).  He also wanted to get to bed quickly because he wanted “the night to go fast” because he and Emily have a horse riding lesson booked for tomorrow morning.

On the road by 8:30AM and headed back down the road from Drysdale to the Gibb River Road.

Ellenbrae Station.  Great Cream Teas… and a Dunny to remember!

We stopped at Ellenbrae Station because we’d been told that it does very good Cream Teas.  What we weren’t told about was the nasty little creek crossing on the road to the station.  The slopes in and out of the creek were pretty steep so we crept in at walking pace.  The car rocked and jolted from side to side as we rode up and over some pretty big rocks, and there were a couple of bangs underneath the car and trailer but no damage done.

After the dry and dusty conditions of the Gibb River Road Ellenbrae was like an Oasis.  It had lush green lawns and plenty of shade from the large trees including a giant Boab tree, at the bottom of the Boab was a small shed in which there was a bath with lovely views down across the sloping gardens.

The Cream Tea was excellent:

Ollie Likes Ellenbrae!

So does Emily!

“Blimey, the Dunny is an experience!  It’s a short drop and you need to mind yer head when you go in”.

The statement came from a bloke with a shell-shocked expression on his face.

As I approached the little shack on the far side of the garden I was met by a woman coming the other way, she had the look of someone who had just unexpectedly eaten a whole lemon.  Her only words to me were “Be prepared!”.

Sure enough, the corrugated tin roof was low enough to take a chunk out of the unwary visitor’s head – especially if they were in a rush.  And inside with the door closed was an overwhelming experience.  Nuff said!

After negotiating the creek crossing (more bumps under the car) we joined the Gibb River Road and continued towards Home Valley Station.  It was rough going in places – the corrugations were rock-hard – and we were down to 40 kph in places.

We reached Home Valley Station at 1:30PM, expecting to stay but the campground near the station was full and available sites were 4km away.  So we decided to have lunch in the cafe then go on to El Questro.

Pentecost River Crossing

The biggest and most famous river crossing on the Gibb River Road is the Pentecost River crossing.  In the Wet season it is very deep and wide and, at times, impossible to cross even in a 4WD.  In the Dry it can also be a challenge – we had watched videos of the crossing so we were getting excited as we approached it.  The river is also inhabited by Saltwater Crocodiles.

The 2013 Wet was actually very dry, hardly any rainfall compared to “normal” Wet seasons, so the Pentecost crossing was shallow and not as wide as I had expected.  Never the less it was great fun with a few big rocks to keep the pulse rate high:

Pentecost River Crossing

A few kilometres later we reached the El Questro turnoff and after cruising down the beautifully graded road we arrived at 5:30PM (9 hours after leaving Drysdale).