Emma Gorgeous

Monday, after a beautifully quiet night at our campsite Wren at El Questro, a little cool towards dawn, after breakfast we set out for Zebedie Springs. This is popular with the tours, because it's only 750m easy walk. The Springs are a wonderous series of small pools in a cascading creek - it's very shady but what makes this place unique is that the springs are hot, so it was most relaxing to laze in them, unfortunately with lots of other people. We were lucky enough to get 10 minutes by ourself in the top, hottest spring!

Then we drove to Emma Gorge, unfortunately not a long enough drive to fully recharge the batteries in the computer. This was entirely different to El Questro Gorge yesterday, because it is very exposed to the sun, and for 90% of the walk it was blisteringly hot. The degree of walking difficulty was "blue" (same as El Questro Gorge, moderate on the El Questro scale), but we found it quite difficult. You had to clamber over boulders virtually the whole way. The creek crossings were easier. At the top was a shaded, very cool, pool, which again, we were lucky enough to have to ourself for 10 minutes, before another mob came along. This was surprising, as we had passed an entire bus full of people walking back down as we clambered up.

A hot walk back down the hill, but we rewarded ourselves with a fine lunch at the plush Emma Gorge Restaurant, before driving back to our secret little Wren spot at El Questro (about 30km).