This is a big day in Wyndham, the day the fruit
& veg van comes from Kununurra to the Market at the camping ground. No
wonder, the produce was fresh and a third of the price of the shop, which only
gets a delivery once a week. We stocked up and also had the treat of a cup of
frozen mango purée on a stick - the most delicious ice block I've ever had - maybe
we could experiment with daiquiris?
We had seen on the church notice board that
there was an early service, so we thought we'd go before we set off. We turned
up at 9.00am but there were no people and the church was locked up. As there
was another that started at 9.30am, we drove around the corner and waited in
the shade. When it was time, we strolled over and wandered in. It was all set
up but, again, no people! There was a room to the side with an Aboriginal lady,
watching TV. We asked her, but she didn't speak English, so there was a pause
while she fetched her little grandson to translate for us. He told us the
service would be at 6.00pm, which was a bit long to wait! We now realise that, in
Wyndham, everything is a movable feast!
At last we were setting off on the Gibb River
Road. We were excited and a bit apprehensive as we've heard such mixed reports
about the state of the road. Anyway, no worries today as the road was sealed as
far as the turnoff to El Questro Wildlife Park, our destination. On the
journey, we passed through a couple of fires, which came right up to the road.
We thought they were purposely lit burning off fires but it still a bit scary,
especially as the birds all go crazy and fly very erratically.
El Questro is privately owned and run and, again,
we'd had very mixed advice about it. It's certainly very commercialised and
expensive ($20 a night each for an unpowered site plus $20 each for a 7 day
pass to be there). They try to talk everybody into day tours and expensive
helicopter trips.
They offer several walks and as it was only
11.30am, we set off to Emma Gorge. It was a challenging walk over lots of
rocks, especially in the heat of the day, but we didn't mind as we knew there
was a swimming hole at the end of it. It was a beautiful pool, surrounded by
high cliffs on 3 sides, so shaded most of the day. As a result, the water was
deliciously cold, except for one corner where a hot spring trickled in.
We found a camping spot, had dinner and found
we were falling asleep, so went to bed at 9.00pm.
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