KT Day 7: El Questro Gorge

Hoards of campers moved out this morning, so we are expecting more hoards to arrive later today. There are over 400 a day at the height of the dry season. In the Wet there are only 6 staff here to look after things while everything floods. We went out early to El Questro Gorge, approached by a deep river crossing, so deep that water splashed up from the bow wave onto our windscreen!

The gorge is narrow and shaded, filled with palms and other trees clinging to the walls or rocky floor, trying to remain holding on when masses of water rage down the gorge in the Wet. Walking is moderately challenging, especially for ankles, as it is a constant slow ballet of dancing from rock to rock that gradually takes you deeper into the chasm.

At the halfway point the way is blocked by a giant boulder, so for those who want to continue they must get wet, and risk falling as they try to scale it. We saw three alarming slips while we were there, where climbers had to go barefoot after landing suddenly back down on the rock as they lost hold.

Others like us were quite content to swim in the pool, and sit soaking up the beauty and coolness of a very special place.

With the sun rising higher we walked back, bathed in pink light bouncing from the red rock walls.

Leaving the tranquil pool and quiet canyon, we slowly emerged back into the hot dryness of the East Kimberley landscape.

El Q has Wi-Fi at the Station store … so I know I can send these last two posts soon. We are booked on a Chamberlain Gorge cruise this afternoon, so I will go up early and make contact with the blogging world! The wifi worked but there was no internet … so posting this from further down the road today 🙂

 

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