The final leg of the Gibb River Road saw us head off from Drysdale Station again, but this time to the North.  We stopped off for morning tea at Ellenbrae Station. The promise of scones, jam and cream was too much for us to resist and, true to the claims, they were as delicious as we’d hoped they would be.  After looking around the lush gardens we headed off yet again, this time to Home Valley Station.  The road at this end of the Gibb River was a lot more bumpy and corrugated than the first part, but again we adjusted our tyre pressures, took it easy and arrived with no trouble.

Arriving at Home Valley Station was lovely. Hot clean showers, shade, a playground, pool and The Dusty Bar were a vision to behold after lots of bush camps, cold showers and long drop loos.  We booked in for four nights and made a day trip into Kununurra on our first day there. About 100km each way, we desperately needed to stock up on everything! We weren’t ready to finish our GRR adventure yet when we still had Home Valley and El Questro to go.

The second day at Home Valley we were able to relax and enjoy ourlseves.  After a bit of school and a swim in the pool we took a drive out to the Pentecost River.  Lockie quickly whipped out the fishing rod as soon as he thought he might be able to catch a fish of some sort, despite the warning signs and my worrying, with no luck.

The following day the boys headed off on a shore fishing tour to try their luck at catching a Barra, while Lily and I stayed back at camp so Lily could go on a horse ride.

 

Lockie and Phil returned empty handed – those Barra are proving to be quite elusive! At night we enjoyed a whip cracking show and a bit of live music at the Dusty Bar.

Crossing the Pentecost River

The next day we headed to out final destination on the GRR, El Questro. What a way to end our trip. The campgrounds are lovely, and there are loads of gorges, falls and scenic lookouts to see.  Our first afternoon we went for a drive to Chamberlain Gorge, then out to Pigeon Lookout, which gave us magnificent views of the station with The Pentecost River running through it.  We then decided to tackle Saddleback Ridge and were rewarded with more stunning 360 degree views over El Questro as well as another incredible sunset.

That night we enjoyed pizza night and some more live music at The Swinging Arms Bar with some new friends we had been running in to at various places along the Gibb.

The next day we headed to Zebedee Springs for a swim in the thermal pools.  It was absolutely beautiful. Surrounded by palms with little pools cascading down, it was easy to find a little spot for a swim. It was not so easy to try and get a photo without a backpackers head popping up somewhere, but I still had a ball trying!

We then went to Jackeroos Waterhole for a bit of lunch before heading out to Moonshine Gorge for a walk and swim in yet another beautiful spot. This was much quieter than Zebedee and we pretty much had the place to ourselves which made a nice change! That night we enjoyed more live music at the bar with the he added bonus of happy hour!

Moonshine Gorge

Feeding the El Questro Donkeys

Our final day we drove out of El Questro to see Emma Gorge, which is part of El Questro but has separate accomodation. We walked into the gorge.  It was a fairly long rock walk, which I wouldn’t recommend doing in thongs ( yep, we did!).  We passed Turquoise Pool and then found Emma Gorge.  It was probably one of the best we’ve seen with water trickling down over the rocks and ferns and the sun streaming in from the top.

Our last hurrah for the day, and the trip was to treat ourselves to Barra Burgers at the Emma Gorge Resort and celebrate the fact we had just ‘Done the Gibb’.

What an amazing  trip and experience we have had. We keep telling everyone we meet how much we loved The Gibb, it is definitely something to go the bucket list for anyone who loves outback travel, camping, adventure, meeting others and magnificent scenery.  I can’t rave enough about it!

Best three Weeks EVER!