The children who run free

I can’t believe 16 days of this trip have flown by already! I’m excited to head over to Asia and relax a little on some beaches but it also means I’m getting closer and closer to the end of my year of travels and adventures. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to head back to reality but I suppose the sooner I head back the sooner I can graduate…..and hopefully head out on another trip!
We spent the morning in Zebedee Hot Springs on the El Questro Station Resort (I do think resort is an odd choice of word to use though!). It was the first time I’ve actually got in the pools here as everywhere else has been far too cold for my liking! I’m definitely going to struggle when I get back to Manchester weather! Unfortunately we didn’t get to spend that long here but the time was mostly spent laughing at Lydia again!

Next up was another gorge – shocker! This time El Questro Gorge which was less rock climbing but more rock scrambling… Not the more enjoyable thing to do in a pair of converse and I’ve managed to twist my foot somehow so the walk back was even less enjoyable! Fingers crossed it heals more before the next walk! 

Hayley and I sat and relaxed for an hour or so at the pool as we were people watching a variety of families who seemed to let their children run wild around the rocks with no concern for their safety! 

    
 We were able to have a nice and relaxing afternoon at camp – great time to have a nice long shower and get started on the slow roast lamb dinner we cooked up. It tasted delicious! Although the meat was a little chewy it was just nice not to have some kind of meal with a weird Asian sauce to it. I’m very much looking forward to being able to choose my own food again soon!!

As we were sat around the campfire one of the girls jokingly asked our English doctor what he would suggest for my foot and surprise surprise all he could suggest was paracetamol and ibuprofen (which is all he’s suggested to anyone all trip!)…. I don’t know why I always seem to have such useless experiences with English doctors – Australian doctors seemed to be far more useful! 

Save a horse, ride a Cowboy

We set off for Manning gorge this very cold morning but it was far too cold to swim across to the other side to begin the hike so we piled 6 of us into the very small boat and used the rope to pull ourselves to the other side – I’ll admit it definitely didn’t feel like the safest journey I’ve ever been on but we did make it across safely!
It was about an hour and a half hike up to the gorge itself but we were rewarded with beautiful views and beautifully cool water to refresh ourselves with. Christina and I found a perfect spot where we were able to sun bathe but keep our feet dipped in to keep us cool. We chatted for so long about what we both wanted to do with our lives over the next couple of years that we didn’t even realise most of the group had already started heading back and we were almost left behind!

Luckily the long hike had managed to tire me out enough to nap on the ridiculously uncomfortable bus! Boy the things we would do to get Storm’s luxury bus back!! It was a long drive to El Questro Cattle Station but luckily we had a few majestic lookout point along the way! 

    
   
We are camping at El Questro for the next two nights, luckily with it being two nights it means we get the luxury of pitching up a tent to keep us warm! Ariane gave out the instructions (I think it’s already clear that camping isn’t my forte) and our tent was up in no time!! I definitely chose the right roomie there!

Once camp was set up we headed over to the luxury shower huts where we were spoilt with our own individual bathrooms! Unfortunately it had to be too good to be true in some sense and although we did have hot water for once it wasn’t very consistent!

Ariane and I headed over to check out the music at the local bar and grab a quick drink before dinner. We were tempted in my the smell of fish and chips though so treated ourselves to a pre-dinner bar snack whilst listening to the locals attempt to sing some songs – “save a horse, ride a cowboy” was my particular favourite!!