There are lots of road works along this stretch of road.

It would seem that over the wet season with all the floods, the roads get very damaged and this dry season is the only time they have to do roadworks. (Even though this is the time of year that the roads have the greatest useage due to tourists.

They are even building a new high level bridge across the Victoria River.

Victoria Crossing Roadhouse

12:50, 121174 – Katherine

We’ve again averaged less than 4k per litre as we do frequently whe towing the van.

17:00, Katherine Hot Springs
We parked above the Katherine River and walked down to the springs (which flow into the river) and were reminded of the possibility of salty’s in the river by the crocodile trap.

These hot springs were actually a creek about a metre deep which had it’s bed covered by white sand and gravel at a very pleasant 28deg. It even had seps and a disabled ramp access ramp. This was very welcome after a long day of travel.

We had noticed photos in town of previous floods in Katherine reaching 20m+ and saw evidence of this on the walk back from the springs. See photo below with a huge log lodged high in the tree top.

After 3 weeks waiting for car parts and roof top tent, that didn’t arrive anyway, we are finally leaving.

All the tourist brochures said to spend more time in Kununurra, we should’ve believed them!

11:30, 120745 – Rest stop along the way
The rest stops are very few and very far between, on this stretch of road. But, this one was exceptional.

It had drinking water, shelters, toilets, fireplaces with wood provided and chopped, garbage bins with lids, 24hr stays, and wonderful views of rocky cliffs. It was quite busy while we were here with quick stopovers and we imagine would be packed overnight.

14:00, 120849 – Big Horse Creek
This is a National Park camping area just off the road near the creek. It had toilets and water but no showers. It cost $6 per night and was close to the 4wd boat ramp into Big Horse Creek, It would be great during the proper Barramundi season. It’s too late late in the season to catch any at the moment.

We set up quickly and after talking to neighbours we drove around the local pionts of interest.

The Escarpment Lookout

This point was a designated rest area only but there were many people camped here who were obviously staying longer. We followed a track to the “boat ramp” which proved to be a very steep 4wd access to the creek. It was bad enough in a car let alone a car and trailer.

Bradshaw Bridge
This is the acess bridge to the Armed Forces restricted area (we heard frequent aircraft taking off all evening and saw an army vehicle accessing the boat ramp track at our campsite.

View of creek from Bradshaw Bridge

17:00, 120883, back to camp

Our mileage today was 247k.

We spent the rest of the day packing and getting ready to head off to Darwin.

Thoughts
This is like a lovely oasis with great camping facilities, lovely green grass, great pool, internet, and a wonderfully serviced bush camp by the river.

We would enthusiasticly recommend this park to everyone, rather than staying at |El Questro.

09:00, Home Valley Lookout

10:30, 120556 – Tier Gorge
This sounded like a nice remote spot to go to via a 4wd loop but we had great trouble finding the track at the Home Valley end so we continued on the Gibb River Road and took another turnoff which was easier to find. Judy had a great swim and we met another couple from Brisbane who we had also met previously at Zebedee Springs.

120621 – Back to Kununurra again

Unfortunately we have discovered that our roof top tent has not been delivered to Kununurra as requested. The supplier stuffed it up and sent it to our previous postal address in Karratha rather than the delivery address given in Kununurra. We have no option now but to have it forwarded to Darwin where we can hopefully pick it up at the TNT Depot.

Leaving El Questro

09:40, Pentecost River Crossing

10:00, 120465 – Home Valley Station

This station was suggested by other campers as better value than El Questro so we gave it a try. It is only 49k further into the Gibb River Rd and the facilities, including wireless internet, were much better and a lot cheaper.

Bindoola Bush camp is another option to the main camping ground but as far as bush camps go, this is 5 star. The camp is on the bank of the tidal Pentacost river, has shelters, showers, toilets, water and fireplaces.

While we were there we got a great shot of one of the many eagles flying over.

We drove out to the local lookout to watch the sunset, great lookout over the Cockburn Range, but there was too much dust in the air from all the travellers along Gibb River Road so the photos are a bit fuzzy. We also saw flocks of crows flying home to roost for the night. We actually had Telstra internet here so we stayed for a while longer to do a bit of loggng.

We had a walk around Station Township and took a few more photos.

The area we camped in.

A blue winged Kookaburra.

Zebedee Thermal Springs
We drove the short distance to the Zebedee Springs. These springs are fed from deep down and flow at a temperature around 32 degrees and are very pleasant indeed. The water is crystal clear without any smell that often occurs with other thermal springs, and set in a beautiful lush tropical plam fringed valley.

There are a series of various sized rock pools and small falls. It was very busy but you could still find a spot to relax or get massaged by the stronger water flows.

Judy found her special place where the water was at it’s hottest.

Everybody was taking turns to get under the main falls to get a quite vigorous hot massage.

Judy didn’t want to get out of her special spot.

She did sit up for a while to have some smoko.

Chamberlain Gorge Cruise
This was a “must do” trip while we were there It was a very impressive 3k gorge with spectacular scenery. The cliffs were on either side and very high.

We saw a freshwater croc at some distance, a largish barramundi, around 900mm, a shag on a rock, a rock wallaby and some cattle on the banks

The Chamberlain Cruise Boat

If you want to spend $500 for half an hour you can do a helicopter tour instead.

The surprise ending was to feed the Archer fish. These fish can spit at considerable pressure and height to dislodge insects from overhanging branches or even in flight. By hanging your hand over the edge and wiglling your fingers they will spit very accurately on your hand or sometimes your face. They have been trained a little for this behaviour, as each time they spit you drop a small pellet of fish food.

When driving back to camp into the sun and at dusk we came very close to running into a couple of wild donkeys that were roaming on the road.

We went to a BBQ and guitarist evening at the Township Bar and had a great time listening to the excellent music, and singing along around a huge log fire. Great way to finish an excellent day.

09:43 to 12:45, 120358 – Emma Gorge
A very challenging rock hopping walk up the gorge to a big water hole with some waterfall action. There was a main set of falls with a reasonable amount of water and another set of “raindrop” falls on the otherside as well as a hot water thermal flow lower into the pool.

Emma Gorge Resort itself was very green and pretty with quite new facilities following a destructive cyclone a few years ago.

14:00, 120386 – El Questro Township Camping Area

Only a short trip of 107k today on the Gibb River Road which had recently been graded, but still with some corrugations and lots of dust. There are, however, many sections of bitumen over creek crossings and a longer section near the El Questro turnoff.

El Questro is very busy and quite touristy. There isn’t a township as such just a caravan park with a shop, bar, gallery and restaurant. It is quite expensive for a porly serviced campsite. You have to pay $16 for a weeks wilderness permit plus $17 per person per night with no power.

Combined Toilet and Shower “ensuites”, which had tepid hot water at best.

Gallery with riverside restaurant behind

The Pentacost River running through the township

Dammed section of Pentecost River behind restaurant which is the only place you are allowed to swim due to crocodile risk in the rest of the river.

Flock of white cockatoos

Pentacost River down stream from Township with more, unserviced, private campsites on the bank above.

Check out the old Harley and Indian motorcycles which have been ridden here along the Gibb River Road, without rear suspension, Ouch!.

08:00 to 09:30 – Jinumum Walk

The sign said “Ëasy” Ha Ha Ha! Not on your life.

It was a great walk though and we saw a flock of about 50 red tailed black cockatoos.

Bower Bird Nest

09:55 – Gurrandalng Campground and Walk

This is the main campground for the Keep River National Park which accepts caravans. It has pit toilets and drinking water but little else.

It is a lovely campground around some interesting smaller rock formations prior to going on the main walk.

We were a bit dissapointed that we missed going in to the Bungle Bungles but this walk has very similar features to the Bungle Bungles, just not as large an area or individual features. The walk took around 1.5 hours.

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Ginger Hill Walk

This was just a very short to the top of a hill to see a very interesting structure, see explanation and photo below.

12:08 – Cockatoo Lagoon

This is the Ranger’s STation for the whole park and it’s the only body of water that lasts through the dry season, so it concentrates all th elocal birdlife and is a very pleasant stop.

14:00 back home to Hidden Valley Van Park.

We passed some dogs eating roadkill on the main highway, a bit of an unusual sight (near an aboriginal community)

We’ve now passed over the border into the Northern Territory. There a was a quarantine station on the border but it is all about stopping fruit and veges getting into the Ord River area, so we didn’t have to stop.

07:25, 120141 – Keep River Information Bay

There were no entry fees at this gate, unlike WA, and it was OK to collect firewood in this national park, again unlike WA.

08:20, 120171 – Jarrnarm Camping Area

We headed straight off for the 8k walk around this magnificent rocky area. The photos barely do it justice. We culled a lot of photos but there are still a lot left, see below.

We talked with our neighbours for hours, set up our camp fire and cooked tea. We then continued doing photo selection and logging by the fire for hours.

What a great day.