It was time to leave the comforts of the van and start our camping leg of the Wild Adventure. The vans were moved to the storage area of Wyndham caravan park and locked securely…..

We headed out full of expectation and excitement for the Gibb River Road stopping momentarily to have a pic at the giant crocodile at Wyndham.

The road from Wyndham was great – straight and lined with spectacular hills, mesas, boab trees and savannah…

The mandatory group photo under the Gibb River Road sign done and we started on our way after a prayer for safe travels for the day ahead.

First stop was Emma Gorge – part of the El Questro station – and our first 2 river crossings still with water flowing.

We did the gorge walk – about an hour each way to the top pool. The gorge was beautiful with the creek still running – the pictures do not do it justice.

The top pool was absolutely stunning and we all jumped in for a swim – the water was cold but refreshing after the hot hike up the gorge – Rosie even went in in her clothes as she had not been able to locate her cozzie before we left the cars in the carpark. There was a great sense of achievement by all having reached such an awesome place – it made the trek very worthwhile.

The water dripping over the rocks was warm – shower material so we all swam over and enjoyed the experience! The rock shelf was deep so it felt like you were in a cave – hopefully no tremors or rockfalls or we would have been history!

After spending  a good hour at the pool we returned back along the gorge with only 2 minor incidents – Gordie tripping and falling into one of the only thorny bushes along the way and Rosie taking a tumble leaving her legs up in the air!

We grabbed some lunch at Emma Gorge Resort and continued on reaching El Questro and the start of the dirt road. After letting down our tyres we travelled the Gibb heading for Ellenbrae Station the location of our first nights camping.

The road itself was not too bad – corrugated in places and some small tar stretches. Grading and roadworks were underway as they were preparing to tar some more sections.

The views over the Cockburn Ranges were magnificent – the reds, greens and blue of the sky a great contrast. The area was remarkably green but the river crossings including the Pentecost River were dry although the river itself still had some water.

We arrived at Ellenbrae at about 4PM and set up camp for the night – lovely flat sites with trees around. Everyone was keen to try the famous scones jam and cream here – they will be ready at 0800 tomorrow morning so we planned for brekkie, pack up and then an early morning tea before heading back on the Gibb.

The campsite had a donkey to heat the water and the showers and toilets were rustic but very clean!

A slight hiccup occurred when cooking tea – a bit of a “Gasgate” affair as confusion arose between Kerry and Trev as to what Trev had said about how many gas cookers we were bringing…Kerry had remembered (correctly) that Trev had instructed the Hunters NOT to bring their small cooker as they were carrying the big BBQ…. all was sorted out after some lively discussion!! Our first dinner on the Gibb was enjoyed by all…