Thursday July 14    El Questro

We woke before sunrise, as soon as the birds began to call. The hissing tyre on the Land Cruiser was silent, and quite flat. John changed it for the spare one before breakfast. We ate, organised ourselves, and left the campsite before 7am. We dropped off the flat tyre with the mechanic at the "Station Townsite", made a booking for a private electric boat trip on Chamberlain Gorge in the afternoon, and headed for Zebedee Springs. This was wonderful. A short walk took us to the springs, to join the dozen or so people already there. The water was warm, the setting amid palms idyllic, and the peaceful setting restored us after the trauma of the night. After an hour and a half in the water we dragged ourselves away.

We drove on to El Questro gorge, a very slow trip behind a very cautious driver. Putting on our hiking boots, we set off into the gorge. We walked on river stones in a dry creek bed, and then through a shady forest as the sides of the gorge closed inwards. Eventually we arrived at a pool. The track continued at the other side of this waist-deep pool, at the other side of a huge granite boulder. To scale the boulder we had to climb up along a slippery fallen tree balanced against another boulder. We were very glad to be wearing boots at the point. The rest of the trip up the gorge was made in squelchy boots. It was a difficult climb. We went as far as a small waterfall, and stopped for lunch. This was a bit short of the end of the gorge, as we wanted to ensure we got back in good time for the afternoon gorge boat trip. On the walk out of the gorge we managed to find an aboriginal rock painting mentioned in the trail notes.

Back at the Station Townsite we collected the tyre, then went to pick up the electric motor and propeller for the boat. While doing this someone called "Cheryl" by name – the first person to recognise us on the whole trip. It turned out to be Chris Rowley from London. We had not even known that he was in Australia! Chris was travelling in convoy with a small group, each with their own four-wheel drive vehicle. He was just booking into the campground. So we invited him to join us on the boat trip.

After a twenty-minute drive to Chamberlain Gorge, we found the boat, installed the motor, and set out on our almost silent, slow trip up the gorge. The trail notes were full of warnings about salt-water crocodiles in the gorge waters, and there was one instance where we saw a shape (possibly only a large fresh water crocodile) disappear into the depths. We alighted from the boat at the end of the gorge, and spoke with a family fishing next to the "no fishing" sign. They pointed out some archerfish in the water, and we watched these fish spit – actually squirting a jet of water to knock insects out of the air for food. Walking on past the end of the gorge we saw several pieces of aboriginal rock art. The return trip was more pleasant than the outward one as the sun was lower in the sky and cast long shadows over much of the gorge. Cheryl skippered the boat back. Driving back to the township we caught sight of the homestead, the place where the rich and famous stay for $1500 per night. Very secluded. The road leading to it was not signposted.

When returning the motor to the township store, Cheryl asked about salt-water crocodiles in the Pentecost River. We were told that none had been seen this far up the river this season. That evening we relaxed over a drink at the "happy hour" at the township bar/shop. It was very nice to sit in the open and many people took advantage of it. We met the group who had camped next to us in Halls Creek. They had been travelling in the opposite direction and had reached El Questro by over-shooting Kunnunurra. We then joined Chris and his group in the restaurant for an enjoyable dinner.