Monday, October 5, 2015

Highlight of the day was contact with Canada via phone. How strange it seems to be sitting by a pool in Western Australia talking to Dorothy, Maria, Colin, Liam and Sean (we left messages for Erin and Kate) as if this were a normal Sunday evening.

We began the Gibb River Road part of this adventure, though since it was paved (or bitumen in Aussie), these 30 kilometres didn’t really count.

El Questro is privately owned by an American company and comprises 1,000,000 (yes, I’ve not added an extra zero) acres, camping, helicopter, airplane and cruise tours, horseback riding, aboriginal culture talks (not available when we were there), trails, friendly staff – thank you Sally for the complimentary coffee to go along with Geoff’s long black, and a fine steakhouse restaurant.

Geoff gave the Land Cruiser and himself a real workout on the “Difficult” rated Saddleback Ridge Lookout 4WD track. He describes it as an incredibly rough crawl with hairpin turns up the side of a very steep rocky incline. My heart was in my mouth on the way up and the way down. From the lookout the view extended over ranges beyond ranges. El Questro as far as the eye could see.

The great treat for the day and a reward for Geoff’s 4WD handling skills was Australian wine and steak for dinner served by a waiter from France. Our table was in the corner of the open air covered dining room overlooking a pool in the river. Perfect!

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