Spectacular Gorges and gorgeous families.......

Leaving Injune we continued on the Great Inland Way to the turnoff for Carnarvon Gorge.  It is about 40 km from here to the National Park.  Unfortunately Qld Parks have decided to close the camp grounds at the gorge and only allow camping during the school holidays.  This only leaves two options if you want to stay and play and both are just outside the park grounds.

We chose the newer campground called Sandstone Park.  The drive in is very picturesque as you drive through farmlands ringed by mountains.  It is all quite green in this part of Qld and many of the fields were being ploughed ready for planting.

As we arrived at the campground nothing could have prepared me for the spectacular scenery that greeted us.  The park is up high on an open ridge and it has the most amazing views of the gorge walls from every camp sight.  It is a very basic campground, really just a place to park and a few portaloos around the grounds but at $23 per night it sure beats the $60 the NP would charge if they were open.  It's almost like they don't want people to visit these beautiful places.

Carnarvon Gorge National Park covers a huge area and the only way to see it, other than a helicopter flight, is to walk.  The car park and visitors centre is a few km in and from there it is walking only. The picnic area around the visitors centre is lovely and it is just next to this that the campground is when its open.

The walks here are nearly all very long hikes taking anywhere from five or six hours to a full seven day walk.  Needless to say we didn't attempt any of these.  We did the three smaller walks during the one day we spent there starting off with the 3 km Nature Trail.

Most of the walks cross this this creek and fan out from here.  We enjoyed seeing the birds and animals along the track and as it was a loop we didn't have to retrace our steps.

We returned to the van for a coffee and to pack a picnic lunch and then we returned to walk in and have a look at the beautiful Rock Pool.  Not warm enough to swim but I could imagine it would be very popular with the holiday campers.

We enjoyed our picnic lunch in the park after we made it back across the stream and we just chilled out with the very cheeky birds around the place.  They certainly seem to be completely oblivious to the people - obviously used to them.

Our next stop was to Baloon Cave. We walked in and soon found some steps which led up to a large rock overhang which had many handprints painted by the local indigenous people many years ago.

Earlier that morning we had met Wendy and Eric, the camp hosts from Edith Falls, as they parked their car beside ours.  Bill and Eric recognised each other and we had a lovely catchup for a short while.  They had decided to stay for four days and do all the walks and today they were tackling the big one which would take them about 7 hours.  We saw them later as they returned to camp and they had enjoyed their day but said some of the steps/ladder were very challenging.

The next day we left to resume our journey north and after a couple of hours on the road we arrived at Rolleston.  We stopped here at the local park to fill the water tanks and found a wonderful little coffee caravan operating from here.  Of course we had to help the local economy while we awaited our turn for the water taps to be free.

A couple more hours driving saw us arrive at Springsure where we stopped at the park there for lunch.  We had a walk along the pathway linking a number of parks and found this wonderful working windmill.  Shame about the orange tape but it seems that they are redoing all the parks so this was everywhere. It should look great when it's all finished.

After lunch we continued on to Emerald where we joined about 8 other vans at a free camp in the Botanical Gardens car park.  Right under the old railway bridge it is a great place to stay and right across the road from Coles so it was easy to top up the supplies again.  While shopping we ran into Wendy and Eric again and Bill reckoned he liked their shopping better than ours.  When we returned from the shop we enjoyed a drink and a chat with our neighbours Val and John from NSW.

The next morning we had a look around Emerald before making our way on to Capella.  It was fairly early in the morning and the town was only just waking up.  I did love the Big Easel in the park but unfortunately could not get closer to it as workman had the access blocked off.  More orange webbing!

Arriving in Capella who were we parked behind.  Yep you guessed it, Wendy and Eric.  No we weren't stalking them but we stopped and chatted before they hit the road again.  This time we have both gone in different directions so no more catch ups this trip.  We had a look along the street then had a quick lunch in the little cafe there and soon we were back in the car following directions to Old Corry.

We were going to visit our niece Alex and meet her husband, Brenten, and her three children Macie, Chelsea and Weylan.   It has been about 16 years since we last saw her and so much has happened since then.  Her directions were spot on and mid afternoon we arrived at the farm and were greeted by the dog, Roy, who didn't know whether to bark, growl or be friendly so he decided to do all three.  

It was so good to see her again and the girls and Weylan are just gorgeous. Macie, 5, was at school when we arrived and Chelsea, 2 1/2, was very shy for the first few hours but soon came out of her shell and we were best buddies for the rest of our stay.  Weylan at eight months is a delightful little boy who has the biggest smile.

Macie arrived home from school and was soon showing me around the yard.  Swings, trampoline, chooks, Bulls and horses were all shown.  A ride in the buggy to feed one of the horses, Lily, finished a busy afternoon of exploring with the girls.  We met Brenten when he arrived home for the evening and we all enjoyed a barbecue and drinks that night.  

We stayed for three nights and just loved getting to know our newest little nieces and nephew. Chelsea became my shadow for the next two days and Macie the second shadow when she arrived home.  The views and the sunsets over the few days were lovely and I don't think I would ever tire of them.  We thank Alex and Brenten so much for having us and sharing your home and family with us so generously.  We certainly look forward to next time.

We said goodbye to everyone on Saturday morning and our next stop was in Clermont where we were visiting Bob and Olive, a couple Bill met last year at Edith Falls.  They were all chasing Gouldian finches and they have stayed in touch ever since.  It was so good to finally meet them both and we enjoyed a lovely few hours and lunch with them both.  After waving goodbye we made our way round to Hoods Lagoon where we refilled the water tanks.  Found the supermarket and topped up the staples and then headed out of town once more.

Still on the Great Inland Way we made our way to Mareeba staying overnight at rest areas along the way.  On the third morning we woke up to find four Bustards had just flown in and Bill was soon out with camera and got a few pics before they flew off again.

One more night on the road and then we were driving through the now familiar Ravenshoe, The Atherton Tablelands and Mareeba ahead of our arrival at Birds on Barron.  We were met with a big hug from Linda and with only one other camper there at the moment we had the pick of the place.  We caught up with Trevor a bit later and it was like we had never left.  They truly are the most welcoming people and their place is like a tonic for the soul.

We stayed for three nights and it was time to get prepared and ready for the trip to the top.  We shopped for groceries, bits and pieces for the car and fuel.  We visited the visitor centre and picked up the latest information on the roads.   All are open, some graded and seem to be ok. I washed clothes, hair and cleaned the van.  Not sure why I did that as I'm sure it will be full of dust soon but at least we can start clean.

While relaxing at home Bill was in his element with all the birds around the property and in particular loved the gorgeous little sunbird.  Linda came down one afternoon and said bring your camera, I'm taking you out in the tractor.  There were seven bustards and they don't mind the tractor.  Off they went and Bill has got some great shots of these birds and truly they just didn't mind this great tractor looming.  If a person tried to get close they would fly.

On our last night there Linda and Trevor invited us for dinner along with Trevor's Mum Bev who we met last time we stayed.  The neighbors, Leanne and Rob, joined us along with their friends, Sandra and Peter visiting from Cranbourne in Victoria.  A great night was had by all and we can't thank them enough for making us so welcome once again.  We'll see you again on the way back down.

The next morning we said farewell and drove out to begin our journey to the top.  We'll let you know how it goes.

until next time ..........