9 - 12 June Miserable Mackay

No matter what the weather there is always time for hugs on our trip.

Mr L is carrying out a surprise ninja style hug here.

OK so maybe that’s a bad rap for Mackay but we had lousy weather the whole time and we didn’t get to see some of the things on our ‘really must see in Mackay’ list (in particular Eungella National Park and Finch Hatton Gorge).  We were in a lovely beachfront caravan park which apparently had great island views – however for the whole of our stay they pretty much looked like this (although David did say he saw a bit of the southern end of an island early one morning):

Yep even in our one sunny hour we still can’t see the island – 

you can almost make out the silhouette if you squint really hard.

On our first day we had lighter rain so took the boys to the Blue Lagoon.  This was the first of a northern Queensland ‘tradition’.  The seas can be dodgy swimming up here for much of the time so they have these free amazing swimming oases usually in the middle of town or on the sea.  This was Mackay’s:

We didn’t stay too long – the boys asked why we hadn’t brought their wetsuits (it’s the TROPICS).  We offered a return visit later in the stay – there were no takers,too cold they said.

So we did some shopping.  The boys got their hair cut – David opted for the easy care tropical look so they both got No. 5s for the first time in their lives.

One of our finds in Mackay for inclement weather was the Sarina Sugar Mill.  Leaving aside any discussion of how much sugar we should or shouldn’t eat, considering the acre after acre of sugar cane we had seen we thought it was a good idea for the boys to learn how sugar is made.  There are a number of full working mills up here that do tours but they are apparently very noisy and a bit confronting.  The Sarina Sugar Mill is attached to, but separate to a working mill up here.  It is a mill in junior and with a range of additional pieces of equipment so that you not only get the story from the cane field to the plate, you also get some of the history of sugar cane farming.  David and I learnt things as well – that Australia exports almost all of our cane crop; that you have to get your harvested can billets to the mill in under about 18 hours; that sugar mills now also make bioethanol and are in fact net energy producers.  The proper mill at Sarina (which wasn’t one of the big ones) produces power for about 1,000 houses. 

 

The Sarina Sugar Mill also makes a range of gourmet sauces, relishes, alcoholic beverages and ice creams.  The entry fee includes fairy floss (which the boys ate with gusto) and tastings for adults, I will admit David and I almost bought their lemon alcohol drink, but settled instead for a very nice lime sweet chilli sauce – I am intending to marry this up to some juicy prawns at some stage.  We then took the boys to a nearby park to play off the fairy floss.

The rain really set in so David took the boys bowling the next day.  At this point with the forecast threatening to stay the same for days we decided to move on.  We had planned to go to Airlie Beach but as the boats weren’t leaving Mackay due to high winds we doubted much would be different there.  We had also read a blog from there from fellow travellers and they had also commented about the limitations of bad weather in Airlie.  So we decided to go straight to Townsville – even if it did continue raining there, there were lots of indoor activities.  Of course having made that decision we got one hour of lovely sunshine on our caravan park and finally got to see the beach we had been beside without a howling gale.  It resumed raining and blowing later that evening.

Carnarvon Gorge – a Natural Wonder Indeed

Nice as our photos might be - they do not do justice to the majestic beauty of this amazing place.

The Main Track

The next morning we started along the Main Track which follows Carnarvon Creek, in fact you get very familiar with this creek as you end up crossing it many times. For us some of Carnarvon's best scenery is to be had along this track as it is here you see the most spectacular sandstone cliffs which seem even more remarkable as you are hopping across the stepping stones of your creek crossing.

The Art Gallery

I hadn’t heard about this aspect of the Gorge – the remarkable aboriginal art contained in a number of sites.  The Art Gallery is the best of these sites and contains over 2000 individual motifs, made up of around 1350 engravings, 650 stencils and some freehand art.

Wards Canyon

The track into Wards Canyon is short, but quite steep. You first come across a small but beautiful waterfall but we had been advised that the best of Wards Canyon lay beyond so we continued up the stairs and to a truly amazing place.  Wards Canyon is the most sheltered location in Carnarvon Gorge and has a diversity of ferns including the massive fronds of rare King Ferns.

The Ampitheatre

The track into the Ampitheatre had some lovely sandstone cliffs which were different colours and style to the main track.  As we got closer it becomes harder to see where the track could go until you see that you have to climb up a ladder through an ‘elevated slot canyon’ into a large round hole in the sandstone.  I can’t really describe how amazing this place is, how the acoustics are unreal and how lucky we were to have the place all to ourselves for a period.  There may have been cooeeing and even some opera while we were there – magic.

Back down the rabbit hole

The Moss Garden

The track into the Moss Garden was beautiful in its own right, there quite a few staired sections and the track climbed steeply following Koolaroo creek and through amazing rainforest.  Then you arrive at the Moss Garden – this was the last part of our journey so we didn’t have direct sunlight making it dark and ferny and mossy (but hard to photograph in this light).  The Moss Garden was breath taking and we lingered there for some time.

The Gorge Mouth walks

Baloon Cave

This is an easy, short track and a good way to loosen up our legs after the walk the day before.

Mickey Creek and Warrumbah Gorge

The walking track into Mickey Creek forks about a kilometre in and Warrumbah Gorge turns off to the right. We were given a great tip off from people coming back that way that just past the fork there was a wonderful area were hundreds of butterflies were just hanging around sunning themselves – it was a magical place, almost like a fairy glen.

Shortly after the fork there is a sign informing walkers that the 'formed track ends here'. Some visitors have interpreted this as 'don't go any further', however we were told that the best part of the gorge lay beyond and so we continued hopping over rocks, climbing along ledges into the most sensational place we have ever seen.  Places like these turn up on the cover of something like National Geographic not somewhere we manage to get to. Warrumbah Gorge narrows to a slot gorge and in places you can touch both walls with outstretched arms.  David and I made one promise to each other as we left here – we will come back!

5 - 8 June CARNARVON GORGE – A Place Of Expectations Fulfilled

I have heard of this place for so long – people have used words like wonder, magic, and oasis.  When we began this trip I looked at how far from the coast this place was and wondered was it worth the long drive.  But in hindsight our inland excursion from the coast was perfect (I am sure we missed some beautiful beaches and lovely rainforest – but Queensland is a coastline of beautiful beaches and lovely rainforest).  So as we made our way closer to Carnarvon Gorge and saw our first glimpses of the towering sandstone cliffs, my excitement and anticipation kept building.

We stayed at Takarakka Bush Resort and Caravan Park is located just down the road from Carnarvon Gorge is the only option for caravans outside of school holidays.  We arrived fairly early (having done our first overnighter in Rollestone without even unhitching).  We set up the van and explored the surrounds of Takarakka (Taka).  Taka is a beautiful location itself with a creek running through it, natural pools and a walk to lookout.  There is a platypus pool which unfortunately our kids weren’t able to quite sit still long enough to see any of the occupants, but the pool is lovely.

We walked along the creek and watched the boys playing with rocks and water (a big favourite where ever we go) – already this placed just oozed tranquillity.

Then we walked up to a hill behind the campground and were rewarded with our first real views of the sandstone cliffs that make up Carnarvon Gorge – these were beautiful and we hadn’t left the campground.

We fluked our stay having arrived for the Queens Birthday long weekend so the camp ground was close to full (yep its official we are losing track of things like public holidays).  But this also meant kids, and ours had a great time riding around in the dust and bumping over the rocks with several kids camped nearby.  We also ran into some lovely families yet again – one that had come to join their FIFO father at a nearby mine, another from nearby Emerald.  The people in places like this add such a layer of enjoyment to our stays.

Takarakka offers a range of guided tours but they also provided plenty of information and maps so we decided to walk ourselves.  To see Carnarvon Gorge means one thing – a lot of walking.  The main walk in the gorge is 22k but there was a shorter 14km version which the staff at the campground recommended.  This walk covered all the ‘best bits’ and allowed time to really take them in.  So while we had never done a walk this long as a family before we decided to give it a try.  The Taka staff also recommended walking to your end destination and then taking the side trips on your return leg.

I have never been so proud of how well our boys have taken to this trip as I was this day.  We did the whole walk and just to explain this isn’t a walk along a straight path kind of place, there are creek crossings, stairs, ladders, hills, valleys and more stairs.  They took it all in their stride and stayed the whole distance.  They were also totally involved in the walk and its diversity which made it a truly inspiring day for our whole family.

The first and seriously the easiest creek crossing

 – the rocks on the rest of the crossings were less than half this size.

The hills

 The stairs

And ladders