Not Before Time

Sunday October 19, 2008

Today we went to El Questro Wilderness Park. El Questro used to be a working cattle station, and it still is, but it is now also a wilderness park offering a variety of activities from hiking through to helicopter fishing. There’s a range of accommodation ranging from camp sites (in certain areas) right up to the exclusive homestead stay.

El Questro became a wilderness park in 1992 with the opening of Emma Gorge Resort, and over the years other areas were opened up. The park is currently leased by Voyages.

A park permit is available, currently costing $15 per person, which allows access to most areas of the park for a period of 1 week.

We went first to Zebedee Springs as it is only opened to the public until 12 noon when it is opened only to tour groups. This is a gorgeous series of thermal springs which is very popular with the locals. We were happy to spend an hour or so here.

After our lovely dip in the springs we headed to the Station township which is flagged as the hub of El Questro Wilderness Park. This is also where you can start helicopter tours and heli fishing, hire a tinny to cruise down the river or start some short or long walks. We were too lazy to walk, so we went for a drive down to the jetty. From here you can just see the entrance to Chamberlain Gorge. The only way in to the gorge is by boat. We were the only people around, although we did pass a lot of horses and a couple of donkeys on the way there – it was really lovely and quiet. Unfortunately you can’t swim in the river here – crocodiles again!

I’d made up some roast lamb sandwiches to take with us and we decided this place was a great spot for lunch and the fish in the river liked the crumbs from the bread. Here’s a couple more shots, just cause it’s so lovely

After lunch we headed to Tier Gorge, and David got to take the truck through some reasonable sized puddles – it would be really awesome here during the wet, but I imagine some of the roads would be closed then.

Part of the wilderness park is the Cockburn Range which is made up of Cockburn Sandstone and massive Quartz Sandstone. The strata of the range is mainly horizontal as they were laid down 1800 million years ago.

It was really hot so the first place we went to at Tier Gorge was the waterhole, and swimming is ok there. Once again we were lucky, we were the only people there. This time I got in the water too – the water was really clear and there were heaps of little fish swimming all over us. It took me a few minutes to get used to that! It’s a lovely swimming hole and the water was really cool and refreshing – oh, and easy to get to, which isn’t always the case up here.

Just as we decided to move on, two other cars arrived. Good timing!

Just down the road a bit there’s a big stand of boab trees – have I mentioned that I love these trees? I’ve been taking so many photos of them. I think they have lots of character, some are tall and elegant, others short and dumpy, and then there are twins, and even triplets. I find it’s easy to imagine them as cartoon people. Well, maybe that’s just me, but here’s a couple of photos –

There is also a huge outcrop of sandstone nearby called Matteo Rock which has Aboriginal Rock Art on it, but there is a sign saying that El Questro can’t give permission to access the site due to an ongoing Land Rights issue.

Most people who have been reading this blog know that I really like cows, and there are lots of cattle wandering all over the wilderness park, of which I’ve taken numerous photos but I won’t bore you with them. Usually they are in fairly large groups, but this poor fella was all on his own – I think he’s really cute (and very curious).

We only had the day to spend here which is a shame as there is so much more to see than what we saw. Most of the roads at El Questro are dirt roads and 4WD is really recommended, so if you’re up this way and have a 4WD we’d really recommend spending at least a day here, more if you can.