El Questro - Lake Argyle - Purnalulu NP
We started our El Questro adventure with more driving, up to a lookout over the Pentecost River and down to Explosion Gorge. We sat and enjoyed our morning coffee while watching crocs cruising around their territory.
One of my favourite trees from this trip is the "White Dragon" tree, which is often seen growing along creek banks. It has a very large pea flower, and long seed pods. I would never have guessed that it was a native, since it looks so exotic.
The boabs are the other obvious favourite, coming in such a variety of shapes.
In fact, the local artist in residence features them in her artworks.
The next day, after a relaxing soak in Zebedee Spring, we went for a hike & swim in the stunningly beautiful El Questro Gorge, and (just) managed to rock hop and scramble to McMickings Pool at the end.
Packing up camp the next morning, we almost took an extra traveller with us.
We stopped at Emma Gorge on our way to Kununurra, an easier walk than the previous day. The resident geologist pointed out these fossilised mud cracks.
Continuing on to Kununurra, we refuelled & restocked our food supplies, then relaxed at a cabin near the lake. It was great to leave behind the dust the next day to sit on a boat on Lake Argyle and visit the Durack Homestead and museum, which was relocated when Lake Argyle was flooded. To top off a perfectly relaxing day we had pizza at The Pumphouse on the Ord River and watched a beautiful sunset.
In our original plans we would have headed home from Kununurra, but instead we made a little back-track to visit Purnalulu NP (the Bungle Bungles).
The windy, rough road from the highway to the park lived up to its reputation, and also kept the resident geologist entertained, since apparently it is a rift zone, with lot's of rocks sticking up in funny directions.
We arrived around midday, and set up camp at Kurrajong camp ground. Since this is near the northern end of the park, it made sense to visit Echidna Chasm, even though it was getting late in the day. It was even a bit spooky. The nearby lookout was beautiful too.
A couple of days later we found time to revisit the Chasm close to midday for the "postcard" shot.
The next morning we headed down to the south-eastern section of the park, where the main attractions are the spectacular Cathedral Gorge and the beehive domed rock formations.
