Kununurra

After leaving Kununurra we finished the Gibb River Rd. It was an incredible trip and my first serious stretch of unsealed road. About 600km of gravel, sand, rocks and water crossings, plus some side trips.This photo is lacking myself and my trusty steed because I never saw these signs as I was going around a road train at this point and couldn't see much of anything with the dust. I was belting along a stretch of bitumen shaking off the dust at a somewhat illegal speed while these guys were posing for photos. After a week on gravel a bit of bitumen was a nice change.

That night we camped just outside Kununurra at a place called Black Rock pool, which was a nice quiet out of the way spot. While doing some vehicle checks after the Gibb rd Rupert was checking to see how much brake fluid he had in the reservoir, in the process of trying to clear the dust so he could see the fluid level he put his thumb through the plastic container ensuring he now had no brake fluid at all.

To avoid driving on the main road into Kununurra without brakes and therefore risking a road train up the ass, Rupert chose the alternate road which rather than having a bridge over the Ord River, it had a concrete causeway. The causeway was in 2 parts and the 2nd section was more than twice as long and a bit deeper as the first which you can see below.
This was the only point in the trip where I was on the bike and chose to go around an obstacle that Rupert went through. In fact I got there first and before the 4WDs were even on the scene I was telling them on the radio that there was no way in hell I was crossing that on a motorbike. I stayed to watch Symon and Rupert struggle though and once they were safely on the distant shore I took to the road for a 30km detour. I still made it to town only 5 minutes or so after them.

Amazingly Ruperts uncanny luck held and by lunch time he had found probably the only guy in town with a Landrover who also just happened to have a spare brake fluid reservoir and by the end of the day the green machine was once again roadworthy - I think.

Another shot of the Ivanhoe Crossing causeway, from downstream where Symon and I were unsuccessful in catching some fish for dinner.

The next day we drove to Lake Argyle for a look at Australia's largest freshwater lake (obviously Eyre when it's full is much bigger). Frankly from our vantage point it wasn't that spectacular and the dam wall was pretty small. I guess you need to get out on a boat for a day or take to the skies, both options were available, but not cheap. So we were satisfied with our quick look and watched the movie about it's construction in the visitors centre, and drove back past the dozens of bushfires and returned to Kununurra to visit the Hoochery to taste and buy some rum. Hmm Rum!!!!!

El Questro

Okay so I've been slack with my updates. I last left you at the Pentecost River Crossing on the Gibb River Rd. From there it was a short uneventful ride into El Questro.

El Questro used to be an enormous cattle station, but is now they call themselves a wilderness retreat or some shit like that. Basically they have put a lot of facilities in and with a large number of incredible gorges and mountains to walk/climb/wade through now probably make more money then they could have dreamed about with cattle. This image is a view of the area from a tough to get to lookout - numerous creek crossings and a tough climb - but well worth it.

It is a common destination for celebrities who want to enjoy a resort without the madding crowds.
We saw Hugh Jackman there, he had just finished filming the movie Australia nearby.

Anyway enough about the place, here is some of my photos and adventures there.
Maartin - The crazy dutchman I mentioned in my last post joined us in El Questro and abandoned his bicycle in favour of sharing the passenger seat of Rupert's Landy with Alja and getting driven to all the sites.

There are some delightful hot springs (Zebedee Springs), which was where we saw Hugh and his entourage. While we were there Maartin leaned against Hugh's car and left an arse print in the dust on the side of the car. There are a number of small pools along the springs, some are warmer than others and some a bit more private. We preferred the top pool, but on our second visit we found it occupied by a pair of oldies in the nude, not the best mental image.

There are a number of spectacular gorges in the area, reminiscent of Karajini but these are generally smaller (narrower and not so deep) but with a lot of vegetation growth.

When we got to the top of Emma gorge there was a group of retirees who were "Spending their Kids Inheritance" according to their printed polo shirts. There were also a couple of tree snakes swimming in the pool, which they informed me about once I was about half way across the pool.

So I had to go hunt them down of course but unfortunately hadn't brought my camera and couldn't take pictures. I actually climbed some rocks above the snakes rather than swimming through the water to find them, there was also a large water monitor.