To El Questro

Crossing the Gibb River Rd

Wednesday 11th June 2008

Although we are all now waking earlier, Paul was unable to leave his bed (or his book) until the generator came on at 7:30 so that he could have tea and toast (which can be done without power but is generally too much effort!). The inside of the roof above the beds was covered in condensation and the sun, although hot enough to make packing up an effort, was not enough to dry the insides before leaving.

The Stanleys were up and off much quicker than us but they wake even earlier and only have a tent at the moment. When we hit the road we were pleasantly surprised by the relatively good condition of it. We’d expected worse following the rain but we were achieving speeds of up to 100km/hr on some stretches – but, of course, we were also down to 40 in other places because these roads are nothing if not variable!

I got out to take a photo of the Gibb River (which doesn’t even cross the Gibb River Rd but rather the Kalumburu one) since its name will stick in our memories for a long time! The scenery along the north eastern stretch of the Gibb River Rd was quite different – more rocky escarpments and winding bends – but still with the creek crossings, serious corrugations and deep ruts. I dread to think what it’ll be like later in the season when it supposedly gets worse.

We had lunch on the road since we had about 280km to cover at these much slower speeds and we were pleased to reach the Pentecost River crossing by about 1pm. The road leading up to this part has spectacular views of the Cockburn Range and what I guess is part of the Ord River system. The river crossing itself is wide but not particularly deep – just very rocky. There were two motorbikes standing on the near shore with one of the riders wading about in the water – apparently he had taken the more rugged path through the water and had been unable to stay upright! Bits of his baggage had floated downstream a little and he looked a sorry sight. The Landcruiser cruised powerfully through the river without a hitch and the trailer followed obediently behind.

By now we were all looking forward to the El Questro turn off but even then we had 16km before we reached the ‘Station Township’. There is the option of camping either in the general campground near to the township or you can (if one is available) pick a more secluded spot down the river. We had mountains of washing to do, fancied a meal at the Steakhouse and the hot showers looked very inviting so we chose to be near to the facilities but in fact we have a lovely spot right beside the river with our backs to everyone else and the Stanleys are more or less next door – perfect.

The Stanleys made enquiries as to whether their camper trailer was ready to hit the road again and were delighted to find that all had been fixed so plans were made for a trip to town tomorrow.

The kids went for a swim in the waterhole just upstream which is supposed to be free of saltwater crocs (not the case where the other campsites are – another reason for not going there) and we all chilled out with a cold beer at Happy Hour at the bar.

And yes, many loads of washing have been put through, the showers have been enjoyed and the food at the Steakhouse was not bad (specially since we didn’t have to cook it ourselves or wash up!).