26 July 2010
Day 316 – Hughenden, NW Qld (26 July)
Left Townsville heading west towards Mt Isa 904km. We are travelling on what is known as the ‘Overlander’s Way’. In the doldrums today as this is really the turning point for us to head home (have to go and sort out our house! who knows what we’ll do after that?) Anyway we keep smiling. It seems to be lately that not a day goes by when something doesn’t have to fixed and today we had to stop in Charters Towers to get the roof rack welded where one of the mounting points had two small cracks in it and was at risk of the roof rack collapsing onto the car roof. Another rattle sorted. We were very lucky and found a welding service that did it straight away leaving everything on the roof all for a $20 donation to their social fund ;-) We have seen so many vans today and suspect NT will be busy so think we will have to start planning ahead and booking accommodation - we hate being so organised! We are over nighting in Hughenden which is about 1/3 of the way to Mt Isa. Not much here except from now to Mt Isa it’s known as dinosaur country with fossils (dead ones) dotted all around the place. You can buy a house here for as a little as $99K if you want to be in a town with an unsure or limited future, miles from nowhere and hot as hell in summer – then this is it.
25 July 2010
Days 312-315 – Townsville, Qld (22-25 July)
John spent the first day here fixing one of the back windows in the caravan that wasn’t closing properly and it took much longer than anticipated with a couple for trips to the local caravan repairer for bits and pieces and then finally giving them the job which resulted in them breaking the glass and replacing it with perspex (all that is available these days) and we suspect they twisting the window frame as it didn’t fit back in snugly which meant more work for John realigning it. He did a good job in the end after spending close on two days on it and it is usable again even though we now have a odd window in the van. Friday we caught up with Sue and Fred a couple we met in Streaky Bay over Christmas. They are from Townsville and had spent 15 months on the road before returning to Townsville to sort out tenants and fix up their house after the tenants were evicted (we are hearing these stories too often – fingers crossed). They have been here since April and will leave by November to start travelling again. They are staying in a caravan park while they are here. Fred and Sue picked us up and took us on a sightseeing tour of Townsville followed by a bbq dinner with them at their caravan park. It was great that they offered to take us out for the day as it is much better to be with locals who can tell us some of the history and give us the ins and outs of the city. Townsville is a very impressive city with great views from the Castle Hill Lookout which gives you 360 degree view over the ocean, city and river, hill ranges and Magnetic Island. The day was a bit overcast but still nice views. We stopped at Jupiter’s Casino (yes there is one here as well as on the Gold Coast) for coffee, had a walk along The Strand which runs along the foreshore edge and a drive to Paradella?? which is popular with kite surfers. There is a coffee kiosk on The Strand that gave us a water bowl and doggie treat for Coco – what a nice touch. We visited Riverway which is a fantastic aquatic centre, free entry to two beautiful sparkling pools of varying depths, cafe’s and an art centre. The centre sits directly on the edge of the river edge which has a boardwalk which joins the cycleway around the river. There are many turtles of varying sizes around this area and quite easy to see. The aquatic centre is very popular in summer. During the summer season (November-May) the ocean is full of stingers and it really is enter at your own risk. There are designated beach areas that have stinger nets and life guards and these are really the only safe areas to swim. The odd crocodile has been known to be around as well so if the stingers don’t get you, the crocs or sharks might. There seems to be plenty of swimming pools around town so no need to risk the ocean for a dip. There are a few boarding schools in town as well catering for local and out of town students. A catholic girls school had steel bars between the balustrade and roof not to deter the boys but to to keep the girls in! Townsville has made great use of the Ross River that meanders throughout the city with footpaths/cycleways pretty much all around it, free gas bbqs, picnic areas, dog exercise areas and green areas with lovely gardens and trees. It is really well done and is popular with lots of people walking, picnicking, cycling, roller blading etc. I was in two minds about the proposed foreshore development in Busselton but after seeing what other towns/cities are doing think we could really benefit from recreational development not high rise apartment blocks. All in all we (I particularly) have been surprised how nice Townsville is. However from what Sue and Fred were telling us the summer season here is pretty horrendous with temps around 35 and 99% humidity with everything potentially getting mouldy and damp if not catered for properly. Looks like we have seen it at the best time of year.
22 July 2010
Day 311 – North Qld (21 July)
Midge Point, Townsville
Took Coco for an early morning walk along the beach and watched the sunrise. It was exceptionally pretty and Coco enjoyed the run along the beach with no one else around. We packed and left for the trek to Townsville – north 320kms. Looking at a map Townsville would be in line about 3/4 of the way to Broome from Port Hedland. It is the capital of North Queensland. Townsville lies roughly in line with 80 Mile Beach in WA (380kms south of Broome). There is talk of making Townsville the second capital city in Queensland and directing the population boom in SE Qld to here although the locals believe the infrastructure would have to be improved upon a lot to make it sustainable. Townsville is one of the few places that has had an increased population growth during the recession with an average of 5000 people moving here last year alone. It sure is a big city – don’t think we have seen so many shopping centres and showrooms. We are staying at a Seventh Day Adventist convention centre that has an area set aside for campers and caravans. A very basic no frills place but OK for a few days. It is very central within walking distance to the largest shopping centre in Townsville called Stockland. The park backs onto the river which is very nice and has some great cycleways for walking. Can walk forever. There is fenced off leash doggie playground along the river that has agility equipment for the dogs to play on. It is very well done. I took a reticent Coco in there as there were lots of other dogs for her to play with but ever since she got dragged through the fence by her tail she is not keen to get near a fence with dogs on the other side. I persevered and she spent the time sniffing the garden edges and then sat at the gate to go out. A friendly german shepherd took a shine to her and followed her around the park but she wasn’t interested. She must have an attitude as dogs start to come towards and then back away – she is funny and only seems to take to a few dogs. The weather is just perfect about 27 in the day and down to 18 at night. Bliss!
Took Coco for an early morning walk along the beach and watched the sunrise. It was exceptionally pretty and Coco enjoyed the run along the beach with no one else around. We packed and left for the trek to Townsville – north 320kms. Looking at a map Townsville would be in line about 3/4 of the way to Broome from Port Hedland. It is the capital of North Queensland. Townsville lies roughly in line with 80 Mile Beach in WA (380kms south of Broome). There is talk of making Townsville the second capital city in Queensland and directing the population boom in SE Qld to here although the locals believe the infrastructure would have to be improved upon a lot to make it sustainable. Townsville is one of the few places that has had an increased population growth during the recession with an average of 5000 people moving here last year alone. It sure is a big city – don’t think we have seen so many shopping centres and showrooms. We are staying at a Seventh Day Adventist convention centre that has an area set aside for campers and caravans. A very basic no frills place but OK for a few days. It is very central within walking distance to the largest shopping centre in Townsville called Stockland. The park backs onto the river which is very nice and has some great cycleways for walking. Can walk forever. There is fenced off leash doggie playground along the river that has agility equipment for the dogs to play on. It is very well done. I took a reticent Coco in there as there were lots of other dogs for her to play with but ever since she got dragged through the fence by her tail she is not keen to get near a fence with dogs on the other side. I persevered and she spent the time sniffing the garden edges and then sat at the gate to go out. A friendly german shepherd took a shine to her and followed her around the park but she wasn’t interested. She must have an attitude as dogs start to come towards and then back away – she is funny and only seems to take to a few dogs. The weather is just perfect about 27 in the day and down to 18 at night. Bliss!
20 July 2010
Days 309-310 – Whitsundays, north Qld (19-20 July)
Midge Point, Whitsundays Boat Trip
Monday we drove into Prosperine to check out what boat trips we can do around the Whitsunday Islands. As you can imagine there are a lot and we opted for a one day trip on an ocean raft (see details later)) the following day. There are a total of 74 islands in total, some are well developed for tourism and a lot that are still pristine without infrastructure. The trip we are going on does more snorkelling than other trips and visits Whitehaven Beach which is an icon on the Whitsundays. We wanted to do snorkelling to see how it compares to Ningaloo Reef in WA. The ocean raft takes half the travel time of the bigger boats and holds 25 passengers compared to the 80 plus that others do. After our trip to Prosperine, John went to the lagoon to try fishing with the tide coming in. Apparently crocodiles have been seen around the lagoon and even further out on the islands! Tuesday we wake up early to get ready for our boat trip and it was really foggy outside but once the sun shone its head through it cleared quickly into a beautiful day. We drove to Airlie Beach which is the launching spot for most boat trips to the Whitsundays. Airlie Beach is a really nice area with a Mediterranean feel with houses sitting on the side of a hill overlooking the water which was stunning. Looks like we have chosen a good calm sunny day for our trip. The vessel we were travelling on are ocean rafts that were originally designed and built as rescue crafts and are driven by 2, 225hp engines. There was not a lot of room with all 25 of us being squeezed on.(John said there were 28!) At the first opportunity the skipper gave us a demonstration of how manoeuvreable and fast the rafts could go which meant going fast and turning quickly – think he enjoyed it more than some of the passengers. We were travelling 50 minutes to get to our first stop which was Whitehaven Beach. Along the way we stopped at Daydream Island to pick up two more people (yes they got squished in). Daydream Island is not the daydream you might think it is with a brown sandy beach (well what bit we saw anyway). Finally we get to our first stop but not without some more showing off and fast driving. Whitehaven Beach is in the Whitsundays Islands National Park and the sand sure is white and is quite lovely after the beaches we have seen since the Gold Coast. We did a bush walk to Hill Inlet lookout where we got a great view over Whitehaven Beach. Whitehaven Beach is the fourth most photographed place in Australia after the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Uluru. The Tom Hanks movie Castaway was filmed here. It is quite spectacular and we couldn’t have had a better day for taking photos. After our walk back down we ate lunch on the beach. The sand is the same as Esperance in that it squeaks when you walk on it. The whiteness is due to the amount of silica in it. After lunch we had plenty of time to relax before we get back on the boat to do our two snorkels at Hook Island. On the way there, we almost ran into a humpback whale mother and her calf they were so close – it was fantastic. Unfortunately we weren’t quick enough with the camera and missed a fantastic photo opportunity. The sad thing the skipper told us is that they are seeing less and less whales due to the Japanese whaling. We also saw a turtle. Our first snorkel was at Mantaray Bay. We had our own snorkelling gear but were asked not to use our fins due to the damage they can cause to the reef and as it turned out we didn’t need them, the water was calm and we didn’t have to swim too far. The Whitsundays Islands National Park wants to ban the use of fins which would be a good idea as they can do a lot of damage by novice snorkellers/divers. The water was cold even with our 3/4 wetsuits but the fish life was superb. We saw many large schools of different fish and the coral was quite colourful and plentiful. It was a great snorkel with the visibility at about 10-15 metres, not the best but still good. On the way back to the boat we saw two enormous lumphead wrasse. They would have been over one metre long – have never seen fish so big – quite magnificent! Our next spot was literally around the corner at Butterfly Cove – this one was more coral – nice but not so colourful and very few fish. After this snorkel we headed home.
It was a great day however we both agreed that we have all of this and much more in WA, we might be biased but you cannot beat Ningaloo for snorkelling and diving, Exmouth and Esperance for their beautiful white sand beaches and WA in general has the best expanse of beautiful beaches we have seen by far! Rottnest island might not have neighbouring islands like the Whitsundays but it is definitely in the same league. The great thing about WA is that you don’t have to get on a boat for 50 minutes or longer to see any of this we have it right there on our shores! Makes us appreciate how lucky we are in WA.
Monday we drove into Prosperine to check out what boat trips we can do around the Whitsunday Islands. As you can imagine there are a lot and we opted for a one day trip on an ocean raft (see details later)) the following day. There are a total of 74 islands in total, some are well developed for tourism and a lot that are still pristine without infrastructure. The trip we are going on does more snorkelling than other trips and visits Whitehaven Beach which is an icon on the Whitsundays. We wanted to do snorkelling to see how it compares to Ningaloo Reef in WA. The ocean raft takes half the travel time of the bigger boats and holds 25 passengers compared to the 80 plus that others do. After our trip to Prosperine, John went to the lagoon to try fishing with the tide coming in. Apparently crocodiles have been seen around the lagoon and even further out on the islands! Tuesday we wake up early to get ready for our boat trip and it was really foggy outside but once the sun shone its head through it cleared quickly into a beautiful day. We drove to Airlie Beach which is the launching spot for most boat trips to the Whitsundays. Airlie Beach is a really nice area with a Mediterranean feel with houses sitting on the side of a hill overlooking the water which was stunning. Looks like we have chosen a good calm sunny day for our trip. The vessel we were travelling on are ocean rafts that were originally designed and built as rescue crafts and are driven by 2, 225hp engines. There was not a lot of room with all 25 of us being squeezed on.(John said there were 28!) At the first opportunity the skipper gave us a demonstration of how manoeuvreable and fast the rafts could go which meant going fast and turning quickly – think he enjoyed it more than some of the passengers. We were travelling 50 minutes to get to our first stop which was Whitehaven Beach. Along the way we stopped at Daydream Island to pick up two more people (yes they got squished in). Daydream Island is not the daydream you might think it is with a brown sandy beach (well what bit we saw anyway). Finally we get to our first stop but not without some more showing off and fast driving. Whitehaven Beach is in the Whitsundays Islands National Park and the sand sure is white and is quite lovely after the beaches we have seen since the Gold Coast. We did a bush walk to Hill Inlet lookout where we got a great view over Whitehaven Beach. Whitehaven Beach is the fourth most photographed place in Australia after the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Uluru. The Tom Hanks movie Castaway was filmed here. It is quite spectacular and we couldn’t have had a better day for taking photos. After our walk back down we ate lunch on the beach. The sand is the same as Esperance in that it squeaks when you walk on it. The whiteness is due to the amount of silica in it. After lunch we had plenty of time to relax before we get back on the boat to do our two snorkels at Hook Island. On the way there, we almost ran into a humpback whale mother and her calf they were so close – it was fantastic. Unfortunately we weren’t quick enough with the camera and missed a fantastic photo opportunity. The sad thing the skipper told us is that they are seeing less and less whales due to the Japanese whaling. We also saw a turtle. Our first snorkel was at Mantaray Bay. We had our own snorkelling gear but were asked not to use our fins due to the damage they can cause to the reef and as it turned out we didn’t need them, the water was calm and we didn’t have to swim too far. The Whitsundays Islands National Park wants to ban the use of fins which would be a good idea as they can do a lot of damage by novice snorkellers/divers. The water was cold even with our 3/4 wetsuits but the fish life was superb. We saw many large schools of different fish and the coral was quite colourful and plentiful. It was a great snorkel with the visibility at about 10-15 metres, not the best but still good. On the way back to the boat we saw two enormous lumphead wrasse. They would have been over one metre long – have never seen fish so big – quite magnificent! Our next spot was literally around the corner at Butterfly Cove – this one was more coral – nice but not so colourful and very few fish. After this snorkel we headed home.
It was a great day however we both agreed that we have all of this and much more in WA, we might be biased but you cannot beat Ningaloo for snorkelling and diving, Exmouth and Esperance for their beautiful white sand beaches and WA in general has the best expanse of beautiful beaches we have seen by far! Rottnest island might not have neighbouring islands like the Whitsundays but it is definitely in the same league. The great thing about WA is that you don’t have to get on a boat for 50 minutes or longer to see any of this we have it right there on our shores! Makes us appreciate how lucky we are in WA.
18 July 2010
Day 308 – Whitsundays, north Qld (18 July)
Midge Point
Had a relaxing day today, went for a couple of walks on the beach and a walk to the lagoon. It is very quiet here even though the park is busy. The beaches here are the kind where the tide goes a long way out and when it comes in it is shallow and the sand is not white but brown and hard so we have ridden our bikes along it. The beach is lined with palm trees which is very tropical. Behind the park is a lovely walk through a forest that ends up at a mango farm and then lagoon which is all part of the park. The lagoon has crocodiles in it apparently so glad Coco didn’t go into it. There are about 500 mango trees and some avocado trees. They used to get pickers but now leave to the park guests to pick as many as they can but still means 1000s of mangoes fall to the ground and get wasted – how criminal is that. Unfortunately mango season is not until the end of the year so we miss out although it is avocado season now so will have to see if we can grab some. Midge Point is a very small town with a population of about 500 and back in March it copped the brunt of Cyclone Ului. There is still evidence of the devastation now with debris on the foreshore. Some houses still have tarpaulin roofs and fences down while they debate with insurance companies. The winds were recorded at 253km/hr and it raged for 8 hours! The town was without power for over a week and Ergon bought in generators to assist. The park managers had evacuated the caravanners two days earlier. The manager showed me some photos of the devastation and it is truly incredible – you can’t recognise the place. It took them 11 weeks and $250K to clean it up and only a quarter of the park trees still stand. It is set amongst a rainforest. It is amazing what the owners have done to restore it to its former glory. It is also amazing to think the ocean came in so far that it flooded the park when it is a good 200m out from shore and is so calm!
Had a relaxing day today, went for a couple of walks on the beach and a walk to the lagoon. It is very quiet here even though the park is busy. The beaches here are the kind where the tide goes a long way out and when it comes in it is shallow and the sand is not white but brown and hard so we have ridden our bikes along it. The beach is lined with palm trees which is very tropical. Behind the park is a lovely walk through a forest that ends up at a mango farm and then lagoon which is all part of the park. The lagoon has crocodiles in it apparently so glad Coco didn’t go into it. There are about 500 mango trees and some avocado trees. They used to get pickers but now leave to the park guests to pick as many as they can but still means 1000s of mangoes fall to the ground and get wasted – how criminal is that. Unfortunately mango season is not until the end of the year so we miss out although it is avocado season now so will have to see if we can grab some. Midge Point is a very small town with a population of about 500 and back in March it copped the brunt of Cyclone Ului. There is still evidence of the devastation now with debris on the foreshore. Some houses still have tarpaulin roofs and fences down while they debate with insurance companies. The winds were recorded at 253km/hr and it raged for 8 hours! The town was without power for over a week and Ergon bought in generators to assist. The park managers had evacuated the caravanners two days earlier. The manager showed me some photos of the devastation and it is truly incredible – you can’t recognise the place. It took them 11 weeks and $250K to clean it up and only a quarter of the park trees still stand. It is set amongst a rainforest. It is amazing what the owners have done to restore it to its former glory. It is also amazing to think the ocean came in so far that it flooded the park when it is a good 200m out from shore and is so calm!
17 July 2010
Days 306-307 – Whitsundays, north Queensland
Midge Point, north of Mackay
Left a chilly Cania Gorge without any real destination in mind just to head north to get warm! We decided to travel via Rockhampton (240kms north east) to restock on groceries and if tired would spend the night. On the way we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. Rockhampton is known as the beef capital of Australia and is a big regional town with a population of 77,000 and as we prefer to stay in quieter areas decided after a quick grocery stop to drive on another 100 odd kms to a small town called Marlborough. (This is also the name of the suburb John was born in, in Rhodesia!) Rockhampton and the surrounds is known as the beef centre of Qld and 30% of beef produced in Australia comes from a 500km radius of Rockhampton. We drove past the stock saleyards and there was plenty of action going on there and plenty of smell!. We left early the following morning (Sat) for Mackay another 230kms north and again may or may not stay. Mackay is also in line with Karratha so expecting some warm weather – yay! We are looking for a nice beachfront caravan park that takes dogs (not easy to find) so we can spend a few days relaxing and absorbing the sun! so decided to drop into the visitor centre in Mackay. BIG mistake! as the volunteer there was not very helpful at all (particularly compared to many other centres we have been too) getting accurate info was like trying to extract teeth! so we decided to do our own research and found a place called Midge Point 100kms further north which has a park in a rainforest on the beach edge – sounds perfect. So we start our trek and were about 22kms out of Mackay staying to the left in a slightly uphill stretch of road with an overtaking lane when a 4wd overtook us doing about 100ks/hr. Which happens all the time except this one had two serious looking mountain bikes perched on the roof and just as they were about 50m ahead of us one broke loose from its mountings and bounced down the road towards us! John braked hard whilst moving our car in the opposite direction of the where he thought the bike was going to go and then to the other side while trying to keep the van and the car on all wheels! the bike bounced off the road and into our windscreen on John’s side of the car. The windscreen shattered and we eventually came to a stop. John had a sliver of glass in his eye which he managed to wash out with water thank goodness and we checked the damage. Luckily the windscreen was the only damage it could have been a lot worse – there was no damage to the car or van. In the meantime the driver of the 4wd realised what had happened and came running down the road to make sure we were OK and his mate retrieved the remains of the bike. They were travelling to Townsville to compete in a bike race – well that came to an abrupt end. After we had stopped shaking I called Windscreens O’Brien to get a new windscreen and John got the drivers details who accepted liability immediately although he is driving a company car so could be a long winded process to get reimbursed the $580 replacement windscreen. As you would guess Windscreens O’Brien had closed half an hour earlier and we were now in after hours charge time. Ordinarily it would cost $408! We had to drive back to Mackay, after putting some cloth tape on the hole to stop more splinters falling out, to get the windscreen replaced which took over two hours. Once done we dusted ourselves off and continued onto Midge Point and got there about 5.30pm, so much for our early start. We had called the reception there to advise them what had happened and they were very concerned and made allowance for us to come into the park after hours. Our site is amongst the trees and the beach is 200m walk. I took Coco for a quick walk along the beach and whilst the ocean is way out and the sand is brown and hard, it is palm tree lined and will suit us just fine for a couple of days. There is lots of walking that can be done and relaxing as there is nothing else here – hooray! We do have internet again after being without it for 4 days.
Left a chilly Cania Gorge without any real destination in mind just to head north to get warm! We decided to travel via Rockhampton (240kms north east) to restock on groceries and if tired would spend the night. On the way we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. Rockhampton is known as the beef capital of Australia and is a big regional town with a population of 77,000 and as we prefer to stay in quieter areas decided after a quick grocery stop to drive on another 100 odd kms to a small town called Marlborough. (This is also the name of the suburb John was born in, in Rhodesia!) Rockhampton and the surrounds is known as the beef centre of Qld and 30% of beef produced in Australia comes from a 500km radius of Rockhampton. We drove past the stock saleyards and there was plenty of action going on there and plenty of smell!. We left early the following morning (Sat) for Mackay another 230kms north and again may or may not stay. Mackay is also in line with Karratha so expecting some warm weather – yay! We are looking for a nice beachfront caravan park that takes dogs (not easy to find) so we can spend a few days relaxing and absorbing the sun! so decided to drop into the visitor centre in Mackay. BIG mistake! as the volunteer there was not very helpful at all (particularly compared to many other centres we have been too) getting accurate info was like trying to extract teeth! so we decided to do our own research and found a place called Midge Point 100kms further north which has a park in a rainforest on the beach edge – sounds perfect. So we start our trek and were about 22kms out of Mackay staying to the left in a slightly uphill stretch of road with an overtaking lane when a 4wd overtook us doing about 100ks/hr. Which happens all the time except this one had two serious looking mountain bikes perched on the roof and just as they were about 50m ahead of us one broke loose from its mountings and bounced down the road towards us! John braked hard whilst moving our car in the opposite direction of the where he thought the bike was going to go and then to the other side while trying to keep the van and the car on all wheels! the bike bounced off the road and into our windscreen on John’s side of the car. The windscreen shattered and we eventually came to a stop. John had a sliver of glass in his eye which he managed to wash out with water thank goodness and we checked the damage. Luckily the windscreen was the only damage it could have been a lot worse – there was no damage to the car or van. In the meantime the driver of the 4wd realised what had happened and came running down the road to make sure we were OK and his mate retrieved the remains of the bike. They were travelling to Townsville to compete in a bike race – well that came to an abrupt end. After we had stopped shaking I called Windscreens O’Brien to get a new windscreen and John got the drivers details who accepted liability immediately although he is driving a company car so could be a long winded process to get reimbursed the $580 replacement windscreen. As you would guess Windscreens O’Brien had closed half an hour earlier and we were now in after hours charge time. Ordinarily it would cost $408! We had to drive back to Mackay, after putting some cloth tape on the hole to stop more splinters falling out, to get the windscreen replaced which took over two hours. Once done we dusted ourselves off and continued onto Midge Point and got there about 5.30pm, so much for our early start. We had called the reception there to advise them what had happened and they were very concerned and made allowance for us to come into the park after hours. Our site is amongst the trees and the beach is 200m walk. I took Coco for a quick walk along the beach and whilst the ocean is way out and the sand is brown and hard, it is palm tree lined and will suit us just fine for a couple of days. There is lots of walking that can be done and relaxing as there is nothing else here – hooray! We do have internet again after being without it for 4 days.
Days 303-305 – Cania Gorge, Qld (13-15 July)
Set of to do a 216km trip north west but we had to go quite a way south (almost back to Hervey Bay John kept harping) to get to Cania Gorge. We also had to increase our trip by about 50kms to avoid a 36km dirt road. So it ended up being a long drive and not helped that we had no choice but to drive over a dead carcass in the middle of the road which had rotted sufficiently to cause a nasty mess on the side and underneath of our van and it stank when we stopped. Anyway we eventually made it and the campground is lovely. Fairly busy with other campers. The caravan park borders the edge of the national park which is handy and they are happy for dogs to stay behind while owners explore the park. And no fee to get into the national park a bonus. Our first job was to get the carcass off the van – nasty work. There is short walk for dogs which John lengthened by some rock climbing so we could overlook the caravan park. The next day we went to check out the lake which is stocked with bass and silver perch but nothing biting although there were heaps of dead fish on the edge which had died a few weeks ago due to the water being too cold! After lunch we dusted off the bikes and rode the 1km to start one of the many walks. Our first walk was to the Dragon Cave, Gorge Lookout and Bloodwood cave. Very pleasant walk but the caves nor lookout were entirely spectacular. On the way back we saw a whip tailed wallaby (we think – it had a very long tail) and a king parrot. That evening we sat outside with two other couples (the southerners from Victoria) we have met in the park and had dinner together and that was very enjoyable. Both couples live in the area that was burnt last year and some of the tales they told of the fires and the terror was incredible. Can’t imagine how difficult it would have been to have experienced that. Today John went back to try to hook a fish, no luck and I went on a 5.2km circuit walk which again very pleasant but not spectacular. In the afternoon we rode again to do another walk to Dripping Rock and the Overhang. Now this was a spectacular walk, we walked through a rainforest and came to dripping rock which would be something to see in the wet season when there is more water running down the wall. We continued on past ochre rocks and small overhangs, some beautiful colours, yellows and browns. Eventually we come to the highlight the overhang which is quite speccy. It has a permanent waterhole with ferns around it and ochre rock. Well worth the climb to get to it. In the evening we had dinner with the two Victorian couples, Kaye and Hugh and Heather and Athel. They had invited us to have a roast dinner with them they were cooking pork which John enjoyed and lots of roast veges and greens for me. It was so cold though that we pretty well ate and ran back to our vans to get warm. It is so cold here but the night sky is absolutely fantastic – the stars and milky way are so vivid! Cania Gorge is a great place to relax with some nice walks it is very quiet and the park is well maintained. However we have been told it is nothing compared to Carnarvon Gorge in the central highlands of Qld.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
