El Questro: Emma Gorge, Zebedee Springs and Chamberlain gorge/river

On our first full day at El Questro we chose to do a tour that provided us with a guide and information about the local area. We started with a bit of a hike into 

Emma Gorge

Emma gorge is a 1 hr walk over fairly rocky  terrain that rewards you with not one but two water holes

The first is turquoise pool  a lovely little pool just a short  5- 7 min walk before Emma Gorge/falls.

I had a lovely swim in here , and was told afterwards that a freshwater (Freshie) croc resides in they his pool it seems to be the thing tour guides do up here let you swim then tell you after about the freshies in the pools.

After walking back to base camp at Emma gorge  we were provided with a lovely morning tea and a rest. Then loaded  onto the air conditioned 4WD bus and we returned to  El Questro.

We stopped off a 

Zebedee springs 

Zebedee springs is a series of water pools fed by a thermal spring that maintains an almost constant temperature of about 28- 32 degrees year round. The pools are surrounded by prehistoric palm trees it was like walking into a different place that the red dusty Australian landscape typical in the Kimberlies. They are only available to the general public  between 7am and 12 noon, as we were on a tour we arrived at 12 noon and the 10 of us on the tour had the whole springs to ourselves some of the more energetic members climbed up to the higher pools, but we were quite happy to float around the trees. We did return here on another day during normal opening hours and it was crazily full of people and the water was not as beautiful clear and  inviting. But hey we were spoiled the first time.

After our swim at Zebedee, we returned to the main area of El Questro and had thee opportunity to get changed before a provided lunch, a choice of Barramundi or steak.

After lunch we had a little more downtime until we had to return to the 4WD bus to travel into Chamberlain Gorge

And a sunset river cruise

As you can see the water was so beautiful and still that the reflections of the gorge were almost perfect 

During the cruise we got to feed the fish, above is a Barramundi  apparently one of four that reside in this safe sanctuary , where no fishing is allowed. The most interesting fish though, well i though it was 

Is the spitting fish. The fish are sevenspot archer fish. Their spitting behaviour is their hunting technique. The archer fish shoots water at an insect causing it to fall into the water where it can be eaten.

We were provided with fish pellets and were advised to hold them between our  thumbs and fore fingers about a metre from the water. When we were hit with water we rewarded the fish by dropping the pellets. 

It caused lots of giggles on the boat as streams of water were shot front the fish. The black  brim also residing in the river quite enjoyed scoring the pellets as well.

We were blessed to have Mary a traditional owner on board the boat whom told us traditional stories.

My favourite one by far was the Boab tree story. The Boab is known as Larrgadi in the local traditional owners language and the story goes 

Back in Dreamtime the Larrgadi tree was considered one of the most beautiful trees. The tree was very vain and kept tell in all the other trees how beautiful it was with its beautiful smooth silvery trunk, and it beautiful lush leaves the tree was forever talking about how it was the most beautiful. It was warned by the sprit gods to stop being so proud , as it made the other trees sad. However the Larrgadi didn't listen and continued boasting so the serpent spirit pulled it up and planted it up side down so now the larrgadi always has its roots showing and is no longer the most beautiful tree. This story was told to generations of children too teach them to be humble and kind always.

On the cruise we were provided with drinks and fresh fruit.

This was a really good day ,we enjoyed it.

Until the next blog

The Touring Knights