Tuesday, 19 May 2026
We have had an adventurous day today. After a leisurely breakfast in our cabin, we set off to explore some of El Questro’s walking trails. To drive to both places we planned to visit today, we first had to ford the Pentecost River again. Both Zebedee Springs and Amalia Gorge are off the El Questro Road between the Gibb River Road and The Station. The river was still at 60 centimetres – they say it is navigable up to 80 centimetres! – so Bernie drove us back across the river. After a couple more shallower fords, we arrived at the car park for Zebedee Springs.
The springs are accessed via a short walk (600 metres, Grade 1) through dense Livistona palms to a series of rocky thermal pools. The pools are a natural oasis that sit at the base of sheer cliffs. Zebedee is considered a must-see destination and a fabulous place to soak and relax. Following rock falls, the upper pools are closed, so we had to find ourselves a spot in the lower pools in front of the rope with the ‘Danger, Do Not Enter’ signs strung up on it. The pools are always staffed to make sure they don’t get too crowded and, at the moment, that no-one enters the danger zone beyond the rope. Bernie greeted this morning’s attendant saying so, you’re on duty today, to which he replied yes, I’m the monitor, like a lizard, ha, ha.
A man in a group of four very generously indicated that they could squeeze up to let us in. We picked our way over rocks to enter the space that had been vacated for us. On the plus side, these pools did not have squidgy leaves in the bottom, although I did have my water shoes on this time so I didn’t have to feel what the bottom was like. We settled ourselves into a couple of spots in the warmish water (always been 28-32°C apparently) and relaxed. I was glad that I had my rash vest on so that I didn’t have to feel the mossy stuff against my back. It was sort of rough and looked a bit loofah-like … and then there were the dark, algae-looking bits floating around. I told Bernie that I am more a Peninsula or Daylesford Hot Springs sort of gal. Someone else is definitely a bigger fan of this wild swimming caper than me!
We lounged around in the pools until our fingertips looked like prunes and then decided we should head to Amalia Gorge if we planned to hike in there today. As we were leaving, I heard a woman asking the Monitor, if there are leeches? He was telling her absolutely, yes, there are leeches. Lucky I’m not my Mum who absolutely HATED leeches. I’d rather a blood sucking leech over a venomous snake any time!! On the way back to the car, Bernie asked me what my favourite swimming spot has been so far. My response, the pool at the Discovery Park Katherine. When pressed, I agreed that the Buley Rockhole in Litchfield National Park had been alright for a wild swimming experience.
I strung up a towel between the front and back doors of the truck and changed from my togs into shorts and a shirt more suitable for hiking. I dried my feet and put my socks and hiking boots on. Now, our guide said of Amalia Gorge ‘In the dry season, it is a stunning walk over a valley floor covered with wildflowers and river rock. There is a permanent pool half way and at the end, a seasonal waterfall where you can swim and cool off. Amalia Gorge has very little shade, we recommend doing the walk early morning.’ Sounds idyllic, right? Hmmn, the summary over at the side says ‘3.8 kms return, Grade 5’ and suggests allowing two and a half hours to complete it. Sounding a bit more difficult AND at the Bungles someone told us that El Questro’s grading system is … not like the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attraction’s (DBCA) trail ratings for national parks.
Off we set regardless. More walking over rounded river rocks, stepping stones through running water and rock shelves. There were occasional sandy patches, which were actually more trouble than they were worth, adding a layer of sand to the base of our boots, which only made the next rock section more treacherous with sand on our soles. Ugh! We soldiered on, even hauling ourselves around one rock outcrop on a chain secured to the cliff face. I am certifiably insane the way that I just keep on tagging along after Boulder Boy.
We reached the permanent pool at the halfway point and we were very lucky to have someone tell us about a rare and spectacular Magnificent Tree Frog resting near the waterfall. We may not have clambered around that way without the head’s up. This was a very big green frog with yellowish speckles on its back. Always great to see frogs as they are a good indicator of the health of the environment.
And really, perhaps I should have stopped there? But did I? Heck no, I kept on going as we tackled the second half of this gruelling walk. Such a bonus that it was overcast and cool today to undertake this arduous hike. In this second half, we were no longer hiking, but rock climbing. Every time that I managed to clamber up another section, I asked Bernie how am I going to get down on the way back? In his usual style he told me – We’ll just take it slowly and you’ll be right.
Somehow, I slithered, clambered and boot scooted my way to the end. At one stage I sort of dived up onto a rock shelf like a whale beaching and then barrel rolled to get my feet back underneath me. It sure wasn’t elegant. Finally we reached the pool and the waterfall at the head of the gorge. Thank goodness there was still a waterfall to see!! We hadn’t carried our togs in to swim here, thinking there is little point cooling off when you then face a nearly two kilometre hike back to the car??! It was still warm enough to swim and people were but, with the weather much cooler today, a swim didn’t feel necessary.
And then it started to drizzle, just as we had to set out on the return journey. Hmmn, a little bit of water on those rock shelves sure did add to the degree of difficulty. I told Bernie that I was now rating this walk an ELEVEN on my personal rating system. I’m pretty sure DBCA’s rating would be ‘Exceeds walk trail classification’ as per their rating for the Piccaninny Gorge Trek?? What can you do though? You’ve got yourself into the head of the gorge, you’ve gotta get back to the car park somehow.
More slithering, sliding, boot scooting and clambering, but now over wet rocks. I slipped and not even on a particularly difficult section. In fact, on the way in, I saw a woman come down this bit, with a child on one hip and an apple in her other hand. She managed it like a mountain goat. Maybe my problem was that I was saying to Bernie that this was the section where we saw the woman carrying her child, instead of concentrating on where I was putting my own damn feet? Anyhow, no broken bones BUT a rather impressive graze on my right shin. First aid administered with a Dettol antibacterial wipe, I soldiered on.
Now we reached, without a doubt, the most difficult part of the climb where we had to kind of clamber onto and around a small tree before negotiating a cliff face. Bernie went first and was trying to tell me where to put my feet but, after my slip, I was feeling a bit less confident in my abilities. A lovely younger couple came along and were offering assistance. I think it’s almost harder being assisted because you know what you can do and you don’t know if their plan to ‘help’ is going to be within your capability or might make things worse? Anyhow, after shying at the obstacle, I reassessed and decided I would slither over it on my butt. That creates the biggest point of contact after all. I made it.
Then, we are standing on the rock slope on the other side with Bernie telling me to be careful, it’s slippery from the rain and then HE loses his footing and slowly slides down the slope and into the water. Fortunately, he stopped sliding with only one hip in the water and his camera stayed dry. Bloody hell, we’re too old for this shit!
We stopped in to see the Magnificent Tree Frog again – we’ll probably never see another – and then we took a wrong turn. Honestly we followed a blue marker but could soon see we had gone wrong. So we had to climb back UP that bit, then negotiate a narrow rivulet flowing over the rock. I slipped again, this time resulting in only a small graze to me left knee. And after this I still had to negotiate the chain section around the boulder. FFS, I AM NOT A MOUNTAIN GOAT!! For some reason (exhaustion and injury??) the whole chain thing seemed more of an obstacle than it did earlier. After the younger woman (still hiking together at this stage and I have to say appreciating the moral support) scooted around on her bum, I also decided on that option.
After that it was easy going, although Bernie did have another slip on a rather treacherous sheet of the dead algae that forms on the rocks as the water recedes. Apparently, during the wet season it is bright green but, by this time of the year, it is dead and forms black stains on the rocks where the water has dried out. While I was still walking, I refused to get complacent about how (relatively) easy it was on this last stretch back to the car park. We were still walking over rounded river rocks, so I wanted to keep my wits about me right until the end of the trail. I didn’t want to add a sprained ankle to my grazes by misplacing a foot on a loose rock. Very glad to see the truck when we reached the car park!
And that was certainly enough activity for today. Bernie drove us back to The Station and, despite the light drizzle, the final water crossing seemed to have dropped to about 58 centimetres rather than the 60 centimetres we drove through yesterday on our arrival.
We ate some lunch, we read our books, we showered, I put Betadine on my scrapes and we washed some clothes and strung them up on our balcony, because the drizzle persisted all afternoon. They have lots of clothes lines near the laundry but, unfortunately, it just wasn’t the weather to line dry your washing.
At dinner time, we wandered across to the bar/cantina where we discovered that they were ‘changing the menu over’ and the only food on offer tonight was pizza. We could have mucked about finding the camp kitchen to cook ourselves some food, but pizza just seemed so much easier. We are going to have to cook at Ellenbrae and Mount Barnett, but we know that and will be organised to do it. We have to defrost some meat from our freezer. Tonight we planned to get something here, not knowing there would be such a limited choice. At least tomorrow night we are booked into the Steakhouse, their fancier eating option, so that should be a bit better than pizza.
Steps: 8,913 (5.42kms)
