Arriving at the well-known El Questro Station was rather a shock. I’m not talking about the posh homestead perched on the cliff top for a couple of grand a night. Just the spin off venture that caters for the mass market – ranging from fly-in-fly-out guests who stay in stone bungalows with ensuite bathrooms, to day trippers from Kununurra (it’s only about 100km away), to campers like us towing our house around who have been on the road for anything from a week to months – we camp under the shade of the huge old trees on the banks of the Pentecost River. There’s the shop, the bar, the restaurant, the stables, fuel and gas for sale, and reception – where you can book any manner of guided tour/river cruise/horseback ride/station tour. You name it, you can pay for it. We had read that you can take your own canoe up the Chamberlain Gorge, but that has changed and you can only rent the El Questro boats with a motor (minimum 3 hours). We felt a bit like a sausage in a machine. It’s private property so the National Parks Pass doesn’t help here – you get to buy the El Quetsro pass.
One thing that really stood out was the absence of the Grey Nomads. The other guests were mostly families, Europeans or tour groups. Maybe they just stay on the bitumen.