Emma Gorge & El Questro

One major day trip we did whilst in Wyndham was down the Gibb River Road to Emma Gorge and El Questro. The first (or last, depending on your direction of travel) of this quite infamous road is in fact not too bad. Of course it is corrugated and very dusty but seems to get regular attention from the grader. This is something I guess you would expect because of the popularity of these two attractions and there certainly was a lot of traffic going to both.

Emma gorge was the highlight of our day and we would recommend to anyone who is going to spend a day like ours, to go to El Questro first before returning to Emma Gorge. Why? you may ask. Well Emma Gorge is just so fantastic that anything else for the rest of the day just does not measure up. It is quite a strenuous walk up to the gorge as you negotiate the rocks and boulders and cross the creek a number of times. At the end of the climb you are greeted by a most magnificent sight of a cascade and drip waterfall falling into a large crystal clear pool. Another tip we will give you is, don’t do what we did, and leave your swimmers back in the van, because the pool is very inviting and we sure could have had a cooling dip after our strenuous hike. We had to make do with a bit of a paddle and a splash of water on our faces and heads.

It is about 23 Km down the Gibb to the turn into Emma Gorge and then just a couple more to the carpark. Back on the Gibb it is a further 10 km to the turn into El Questro and then approximately 18 Km to the station township. During our visit we walked to Zeberdee springs and up El Questro Gorge, visited the small township and took the very steep 4WD track up to Saddleback Lookout. We had lunch beside the Jackeroos Waterhole, a pleasant shady spot. All of this is very much worth the effort and quite enjoyable. However as previously mentioned, the attractions of El Questro, although good, are just not in the same class as Emma Gorge, in our humble opinion.

There is camping available at El Questro and the camping areas we saw looked quite good. However, if you are considering visiting and staying at El Questro please be aware that since they have declared themselves to be a wilderness park or reserve they charge $17 per adult just to enter onto their property. Camping then costs $16 per person per night for an unpowered site. You do the sums, and then see if you think it is worth it.