El Questro is a very large property on which there are many spectacular spots that tourists visit. I did not have time to take in all of them. I will cover those that I had a look at.

The next morning I continued north along the Gibb River road. There were a number of Jump Ups to be negotiated. These are climbs to the top of mountain ranges many of which seem to run east to west. The final one offered a splendid view across the next valley. One could see right across the next valley to the upper reaches of Cambridge Gulf and the town of Wyndham. This town is a Nickle ore export harbor. I could also see a number of major rivers emptying into the Gulf.

View across Cambridge Gulf to Wyndham

A while later I reached the turnoff to El Questro.  Another good many kilometers I reached the grounds of this tourist resort and was impressed by how well developed it was. Great caravan and camping facilities. The general visitor area is impressive as well. The general visitor cannot get to the upmarket facilities.

After a while I carried on touring and went on to El Questro Gorge and to Zebedee Springs.Both destinations are spectacular. As I entered these gorges I could feel the air becoming warmer and more humid. It was like stepping into the sub-tropics. Palms replaced the normal vegetation and the water in the streams became clearer and warmer. Both these gorges were similar in the type of rock and vegetation. It was close to two km up the gorge to get to the spring. Many people were doing the same thing. The water at the spring came bubbling out of the rocks and measured 32 degrees Centigrade. The natural rock formations have created a number of pools where tourists enjoy a natural spa bath.

El Questro tour bus crossing the Pentecost River

Clear water

Start of Zebedee Springs gorge

Tropical climate, palms and stream with deep pools

The water comes out the ground at 32C.

Nothing like a swim!

On the return trip I had to negotiate the Pentecost River once more. That got the adrenaline going as the water was touching the top of the bonnet and I did not have a snorkel on my Patrol. I was aware that if the vehicle stopped I would have to wade through chest high water that was the home to many crocks.

Pentecost River, wider than 50 meters

Somewhere in there Crocks are lurking

Just across the Gibb river road is the turn off for Emma Gorge. This place is sensational. After walking half an hour up a hot canyon I reached this great pool that has a river trickling down an escarpment. The icy water is very refreshing and most people have a swim before heading back.

Canyon walls closing in

Petrified river bed; see the ripples on what was sand once

Yours truly having a swim

I returned to the Gibb River road and completed the last section to the Kununurra – Wyndham road. I decided to spend the night at the Wyndham caravan park which offers shady sites and clean facilities. Wyndham is located on the Cambridge Gulf. It has a large Nickle ore loading facility.

Wyndham ore loading facility.

Cambridge Gulf

If you were to draw a line from Rockhampton to Yeppoon and then to Emu Park (and Zielzie) and back to Rocky, you’d have put a border around some of the most scenic and interesting countryside in Queensland. There are a number of geological features called ‘plugs’ where rocky outcrops appear to have been forced out of the ground. They look almost like pimples on the landscape. These were created by volcanic activity millennia ago.

I am constantly amazed by the foliage. There are many spectacular species of old trees like the Fig tree below. The area is very easy on the eye. One bay follows the other as you head south from Yeppoon. There are at least 15 bays and headlands. One never tires of walking on the beach at any tide. As the bays are very shallow you can walk into the sea forever it seems. Every day we have 23 degrees C. Only a slight breeze…  Yeah I know, it is really tough to endure!!

  and another tree:

However, I am really surprised by the interesting history of the area as some of the links below might indicate:

The town of Rockhampton was created in 1853 by the Archer family. Soon gold was discovered and a 50 year gold boom endured. The largest mine was at Mount Morgan. Initially sheep were farmed and these were later replaced largely by cattle. This area still is a major cattle area. These industries attracted the populations in the early days. These days there is a substantial coal mining industry as well. In the process Rockhampton has become the capital of central Queensland.  The wealth from the gold boom resulted in riches that afforded the building of the many beautiful buildings that have been preserved and adorn the town and river frontage.

In the early days roads were constructed to Yeppoon and Emu Park. There was no road from Yeppon to Emu Park as the Causeway lake at Kinka beach presented an insurmountable barrier. A railroad was built to Emu Beach where the wellheeled had their coastal homes in this slice of paradise.

Some of the history at the link below:

http://library-resources.cqu.edu.au/cqcollection/manuscripts/short-manuscripts/rockhampton.pdf

This summarises some of the main industries of the early days like Beef, gold mining and natural wealth. Gold was found throughout the region and in places was very lucrative like at Mount Morgan.

Some old images showing early Rockhampton at:

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/old-images-show-how-much-rockhampton-cbd-has-grown/1894214/

A summary of early development can be found at

http://ajthompson.com.au/capricorn-coast/history-rockhampton-environs-early-settlement.htm#.VcHpAfmqqkp

The history of Yeppoon is similarly interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeppoon

A quick summary can be found here:

http://queenslandplaces.com.au/yeppoon

Further info includes Emu Park where we have been a few times now:

http://www.cqhistory.com/places/yeppoon.html

I have just had a look at a list of shipwrecks to be found off the Qld coast. There are literally hundreds of them. In some cases Queensland towns derived their names from the name of a shipwreck in their vicinity, for example: Coolangatta at the Gold Coast

http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/qld-wrecks.html

Needless to say the above is just the tip of the iceberg.

I spent some time on top of Mount Archer. The hill overlooks the city from about 9 km  away. It shows off the big Fitzroy river snaking through then landscape. There are some stunning views for 360 degrees.

These little fellas are everywhere

I find the Yorke peninsula staggering at this time of the year. Wherever you drive, as far as the eye can see, you see grain fields. It is beautiful; fields of Barley, Wheat, Pulses and Green fertilizers that get ploughed straight back into the paddock, no wonder they call this Australia’s food basket. I cannot express things better than the link below. There you will find all the facts and pictures for this area. The link takes you to one of the main pages. Explore the many fantastic links from there.

http://www.harvestcorner.com.au/#!farming/c84j

After an hour of driving through cropping farms we arrived in Moonta. The town has a central park with a generous grassy area and many shady old Fig trees and public facilities. This is a reasonable size centre which proudly displays its rich copper mining heritage in the many well maintained churches, official buildings and miner’s cottages.

Great architecture

Moonta square

School of Mines

Miner’s cottage

The history is proudly displayed also in an artist’s contribution in the form of a collection of mining related sketches that include a picture of Elizabeth Woolcock, the only woman to be executed ever in South Australia. See pic below:

Artists sketches of mining

Elizabeth Woolcock

An internet search will reveal the following in Wikipedia:

Elizabeth Woolcock (20 April 1848 – 30 December 1873) was born Elizabeth Lillian Oliver in Burra Burra and was hanged in Adelaide Gaol for the murder of her husband Thomas Wollcock by mercury poisoning.

As one drives through the suburbs of Moonta one arrives in Moonta bay. The large jetty here is well known for being a good fishing and squidding spot. Just down the road is Port Hughes, another lovely coastal gem that is expanding rapidly.

Massive Jetty at Moonta Bay

From there we drove through an increasingly arid landscape to the port of Wallaroo. I found the shipping terminal with its massive ship loading infrastructure fascinating. Wallaroo is also a base for the trawling fleet and if you like boats you will enjoy having a look at the trawlers there.

Kadina has the ‘larger town’ feel as you drive through the light industry areas leading into the town. It is a great town with good public facilities and we went for a walk and stretched our legs before we made our way back to Port Vincent. There we spent a pleasant afternoon on the beach  swimming the dogs and soaking up the tranquility.

Port Vincent – even the fish like it!