Sunday 11th July - El Questro to Kununurra

We have survived the Gibb River Road.  After over 1500km on gravel, we finally reached bitumen in the form of the Victoria Highway and an easy 45km to Kununurra and civilization, or as close to civilization as you’ll find around here.  Apart from the smoothness, one big advantage of being back on the hard top is that we don’t have to wind up the windows each time we pass an oncoming vehicle to avoid getting engulfed in it’s dust cloud.  As the temperature has increased a notch the last couple of days (to mid-30s), we need our “air conditioning” working full time.  You really appreciate the strength of the sun when you start seeking out the shady side of the Land Rover at 7am.

We enjoyed our final two El Questro gorges, Emma and Tier, this morning before we left the Gibb River Road.

I could have sworn that the Whooping and Hollering World Championship was being held at the pool at the top of Emma Gorge, but no, it was only a Western Exposure tour party. SPOT

We’d first bumped into one of these groups in the Cape Range National Park, then again in Karijini and finally early on the Gibb River Road.  Up until now we’d been lucky with our timing and they had been leaving as we’d been arriving, but not today.  They were in full “having fun” mode so we didn’t hang around long, swimming instead in splendid isolation at Tier Gorge which was one of the stops on a short 4WD track to the east. SPOT

Also along the track was the grave site of stockman James Johnson who died in 1908 at the age of 48, his headstone came from Melbourne courtesy of his mates.

En-route I just had to climb Matteo Rock, a sandstone outcrop that afforded stunning views of the surrounding landscape (Anne’s knee was bothering her so she had to leave the climb to me).

After a final photo opportunity we waved the Gibb River Road goodbye,

stopping in Kununurra to check-in to the Ivanhoe Caravan Park and fill up with fuel to take us the 70km down to Lake Argyle, Australia’s largest body of freshwater, formed when the Ord river was dammed in 1972.  The steep red ridges of the Carr Boyd Ranges plunging into the calm blue waters look particularly picturesque at sunset. SPOT