Meanwhile, back at El Questro, we set up camp by the Pentecost River.  We weren't allowed to go past the main camping ground as we had things behind towed.  (After having a look later, we could have gone anywhere).  At least we were near the facilities for the girls in the tents.

It was VERY, VERY hot here, the river was safe to swim in so we were told, so that did provide some relief.

I have to say I was a little disappointed with El Questro.  I had wanted to go there for a long time and I guess I had very high expectations.  The photos you usually see are of the beautiful homestead and swimming pool above the river.  I knew we wouldn't be in anything luxurious like that (not prepared to pay up to $5,000 per night!), but we didn't even see the Homestead.  It is so exclusive that you don't even know where it is.  I suppose it's easy to hide something like that in 1 million acres of land.  The camping area was quite crowded even though it's not really into the main season yet.  In one are of toilet/shower facilities, 4 out of the 8 were out of order and 2 of the remaining 4 didn't have hot water.  There were 4 other toilets and showers, but these got very crowded.  There is however, plenty to do at El Questro, most of which involves driving over very rough roads - definitely need 4WD here.  We were a bit limited in what we could do as we couldn't take the camper off the truck due to a broken leg (on the camper, not one of us).  Some of the others went to Zebedee Springs which they said was lovely.  Warm water for swimming apparently.
We did go to Chamberlain Gorge one afternoon by loading up the other cars.  This was very scenic, but it gets a bit like the churches in England, after you have seen a couple of gorges, that's probably enough.

Definitely no swimming here - a crocodile was sighted here a few days before.

After this we went to a lookout where there is supposed to be spectacular sunsets.  This involved more rough roads and a very steep drive up a hill to get to the lookout.

It was worth the drive and I imagine when it isn't cloudy, it's even better.  There was quite a crowd up at the lookout, so it is obviously a popular thing to do.

The next day was Mothers' Day and my birthday, which has already been covered, and then the day after we moved a bit further west on the Gibb River Road to Home Valley Station.  That will be the next instalment to which you can look forward with much anticipation.
We are currently still at Fitzroy Crossing due to some mechanical problems with the truck. I have plenty of time to fill in so will be able to catch up on the blog posts.  Hopefully the truck can be repaired here although services are fairly basic.  Failing that it will have to go to Port Hedland (almost 1,000 kms away) on the back of low loader.  For those of you familiar with the drowned Chevvy saga a few years ago, this might seem to be a recurring pattern on our expeditions!  As the camper will have to come off for the truck to be transported anywhere and we can't get the camper off due to a broken leg, everything rests on the talents of Keith and Alex at Mac's Motors.  They are going to be working via phone link up with the experts in Port Hedland.  Everyone needs to cross everything and send positive thoughts to Keith and Alex and hopefully we will be underway again soon.  Bye for now! xxx