The Kimberley Gibb River Road

[Hads]

Here are the final pics of this segment of the trip.

Edited January 6, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Next part will be on our way to Home Valley Station - Cattle country and the Pentecost River.

[Zubbie15]

Your various gorge pictures just scream Australia to me, brining back good memories. I'd love to do the GRR someday, I'm s taste of it very much.

[Hads]

Back from Holidays - I will endeavour to complete the remainder of the trip over the next 2 weeks.

I still have to give write ups for:

Home Valley station

El Questro

Lake Argyle

Bungle Bungles

Broome

Edited January 29, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Ok lets get back on the road........

Where was I , that's right we were heading to Home Valley station which is a operational cattle station which is also prospering very well with Tourism.

More on Home valley later though.

From The King Edward river we headed south towards the Drysdale station and stopped at a creek crossing for a swim.

Dad and I had a quick fish and dad caught a small Sootie Grunter.

On our way to HVS (Home Valley Station) we made a small stop over at Ellen Brae station which is well known for it's home made scones and cream.

About 5km's short of Ellen Brae I got my first flat tyre ( shredded to bits).We have been quite lucky up until now as we have passed many people who have various forms of tyre and car damage on these very corrugate roads.

We got to Ellenbrae a little later than expected but the scones and coffee were a much needed treat.

There was plenty of small double barred finches enjoying the location as well.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

After the Lovely Ellenbrae stopover we hit the road heading for HVS.

Along the way we crossed paths with a decent sized black headed python.

Coming into HVS we got spectacular views over the Cockburn ranges and we got glimpses of the mighty Pentecost river.

HVS has got a variety of accommodation sites ranging from stunning chalets to a basic camp ground for campers like us. The camp ground did though have laundry facilities and a place to have a hot shower.

HVS is the first place we encountered the famous pest the "Cane Toad". These toads have a toxic poisonous skin and when eaten by birds of prey and freshwater crocodiles and large lizards can and in most cases kill a lot of the natural animals.

The cane toad was introduced to Australia to help remove the cane beetle, ever since it has created havoc with Australia's top end wildlife.

 

HVS has plenty to do for both young and old. My dad being a very keen horseman in his day got to have a fantastic horse ride in the evening with Linda.

The kids were also treated to some horse rides as well.

Scott, Anja and myself also went for a spot of Barra fishing. We did this travelling in style to our destination in a nice billabong (waterhole) from a helicopter.

Fishing was a little quiet but we all managed to catch a barra each, yours truly caught the smallest.

HVS has also got a camp ground down on the Pentecost river which is a awesome spot to go and have a sundowner or 2 or 3.........

While at HVS we also treated ourselves to a night out at the local Dusty Bar and Grill, great food with exceptional live country music.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

More Home valley photo's

Edited February 18, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Still a few more pics

Edited February 18, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

HVS barra fishing from the chopper - Helifishing is a great way to see the local countryside along with catching a few fish.

As we fished in the cooler winter months the fish were very quiet but we all had plenty of fun.

We saw plenty of birdlife and there was plenty of crocs present but elusive, from the air we saw lots of crocs.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Well it was time to move on from HVS and head to the very popular El Questro station.

I would like to comment that what HVS are doing well is they have traineeships in place for local indigenous people.

I was disappointed to hear El questro did not and have employed a lot of international staff.

 

On the way we had to cross the Pentecost river which had low water levels due to a quiet wet season.

I was really looking forward to our time at EQ as we had a private camp site along the side of the river.

A few last photo's or around HVS - sorry

Edited February 19, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

On our way to El questro.......

Edited February 19, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Sorry for the delay in trying to finish the report - I have spent more time reading the African TR's.

However our next destination is El Questro station and as I mentioned before to get there we had to cross the Pentecost river with the beautiful Cockburn ranges in the background.

At EQS we had a private campground alongside the river which is about 3km's away from the main campground.

It was fantastic and gave us some peace and quiet, it was a beautiful campsite with lots of shady tree's.

Once checked in and set up I took the kids for a walk along the river and saw a nice blue winged kookaburra as well as a very shy Johnson's freshwater crocodile.

I took my youngest fishing in front of the camp and he did catch a small Archer fish.

There was plenty of the nasty cane toads around the river and we did our best to eradicate what we could.

EQS has lots to explore and over the 4 days we went hiking to the stunning Emma Gorge and El questro gorge. I was pleasantly surprised how well the kids did whilst hiking over the rocky trails.

We had a couple of early morning swims in the Zebedee thermal springs which was very relaxing but you needed to be there early to get a good spot.

EQS has a lot of tracks around the property as well and we explored and had sun downers at places such as Branko's lookout, tried our luck at various fishing spots although we did not catch much.

 

One afternoon we had a boat cruise on the Chamberlain river which was in stunning gorge country, along the way we saw a few small wallabies and ended the trip by feeding the Archer fish which are great at spitting water at you, the kids loved them.

The camp life at EQS was very pleasant and to stay 4 nights was great to be able to relax that little bit more.

The first few photo's are around the campsite with the kids.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Campsite and cooking and cane toads.......

Edited March 5, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

El questro Gorge and Zebedee springs.

Edited March 5, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Emma Gorge - quite a hike but the rewards at the end were worth it.

The water was very cool but refreshing once you got in.

Edited March 5, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Chamberlain River cruise

Edited March 5, 2016 by Hads

[SaminKaz]

@@Hads

 

Wow, this brought back many memories from my own trip up to El Questro. A fantastic place to visit. A great TR through some marvellous real Aussie countryside. Well done.

[Hads]

A few last pics of around EQS. As a family we really enjoyed this camp.

Edited March 5, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Thanks @@SaminKaz for reading my TR.

The Kimberly region is definitely one of my favourite places in WA.

You could explore the Gibb for months if you had time.

Edited March 5, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Ok our EQS stopover has come to an end, next destination will be the magnificent Lake Argyle on the Eastern side of Kununurra.

Stay Tuned.....

Edited March 5, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

We left El questro early in the morning and headed towards Kununurra via Wyndham as we wanted to have a look at the 5 rivers look out.

About 10 km's outside of Wyndham there was some small scrub fires and there was hundreds of fire hawks catching insects trying to escape the fire's.

 

Lake argyle is approximately 70km's to the East of Kununurra. It has a caravan park which has all the amenities, great little restaurant , camp sites and cabins if one wants them. It also has a infinity pool which over looks the magnificent lake itself, however in July the water in the pool was quite cold.

Lake argyle is a massive manmade waterway which was created by damming the mighty Ord river. The volume itself is 19 to 21 times greater than the Sydney harbour.

The Dam wall and spillway is worth a visit as the views are spectacular.

The highlight of the stay for us was the lake cruise, we opted for the Sunset cruise where they provided nibbles and light refreshments ( Beer and wine and cool drinks for the kids).

The birdlife on and around the lake is pretty impressive, the lake itself is home to Freshwater crocodiles and abundant fish life.

Some of the Birdlife we saw where

• Cormorants
• Pelicans
• Jabiru
• Brolga
• Honey Bee eater
• Red tailed black cockatoo
• Bower Birds in there nests

We arrived late in the day on our first night at Lake Argyle and we ate at the Restaurant and a nice meal of Fresh Barramundi (Iconic Fish in Northern Australia) and listened to some live music around the bar and restaurant.

The staff are very friendly and helpful at the caravan park and they gave us a few good tips of things to do around the area.

 

Well enough of me dribbling on , here are a few photo's of around the Lake and some of the Flora and Fauna that you can see.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Lake Argyle and the surrounds.

The Bowerbird is quite an amazing bird whilst nesting, to tract a mate the male builds his "nest" out of sticks while putting all sorts of rubbish around the base (bottle tops, plastic, bones etc).

We were lucky enough to see 2 different bower nests during our stay here.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

A few more of the bower bird.........

Edited March 13, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

The Lake sunset cruise and some of the local residents.

It was great to finish the trip with a cold beer having a swim in the middle of the lake.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Hads

[Hads]

Lake argyle was a fantastic place and we really enjoyed our time there

Our last 2 destinations I will discuss will be the Bungle Bungles and Broome, with more of a focus on the Bungles.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Hads