VanDijkTrack

Not long after the start of the new school season, Jorick already was lucky having an excursion with his school class. They went to Trevena Glen Farm and some parents joined. Jorick insisted that his Dad also should join, so he did, which was fun. The kids could feed calfs, pigs, goats, hold chickens, ride a pony, sit on a bull and milk a cow. It was a real educational interaction with animals and they loved it.

The next weekend we went bush camping and walking in Lamington National Park being one of the beautiful rainforest parks close to Brisbane (around 110 km, 2hrs drive). We selected the Green Mountain region, close to the well known O’Reilly’s region with O’Reilly’s resort to put up our tent.  A more than 30 km one-lane road with small and steep parts is leading to this destination. It was a beautiful road in a natural environment. After reaching our destination we could set up our tent, look around and have a barbeque in the evening.

During the night it became fairly cold on the mountain around 10 degrees Celsius. Other people camping here were walking in ski clothing, which was a bit weird. As usual the darkness already started early with complete darkness after 6 pm. That’s something we cannot get used to after being used to the long summer evenings of an (North-)European summer. So we went early to bed and awoke with the sounds of many birds, brush turkeys and also saw some very small wallabies (Red Necked Pademelons).  We started the day with the Botanical Gardens and the Tree Top Walk, which is an elevated path/bridge high through the trees. This gives unusual nice views of the forest.

After that we walked the Morans Falls Track of 4.6 km, 800 m down hill. It leads to the Morans Falls. First we could watch the Falls from the other side of the valley. Then we went to the top of it.

It was a nice walk in a beautiful area.

Especially around O’Reilly’s it was busy with much tourism since this is a popular destination.  The walking track was much better, although not as quiet as many other tracks in other areas.

At home we still enjoy the bush environment and all flowers in the more cultivated garden. For us it is unusual to have flowers around the house during the whole year. Also the trees always have leafs and also are loosing them continually. This makes us less aware of changing seasons.

Thanks for your interest.

Kind regards,

Jan, Anita, Nicole and Jorick

Our first night in our tent was a good experience. Nicole found it a bit scary in the dark and in the bush, but Jorick enjoyed every bit of it. The dingos crying at night were sounding a bit scary but everything went well. We had a good night sleep and the next day we started early with the Canarvon Gorge Walking Track. The track had a length of 11 km (22 km return) and several beautiful canyons, caves, views and several places with aboriginal art.  We left the camping place early since we didn’t know how far the kids could make it.

Our first target was the Moss Garden. Water drips constantly from the sandstone walls of the Moss Garden supporting a lush carpet of mosses, ferns and liverworts. Beneath tree ferns staining for sunlight, a small waterfall tumbles over a rock ledge into an icy pool. It was a beautiful cool intimate location.

The next target was the Amphitheater. Hidden inside the walls of the gorge is a 60 m deep chambe, gouged from the rock by running water. Resounding acoustics add to the awe-inspiring atmosphere. It was a nice place for having lunch. Then Jorick discovered an Easter bunny in the wall relief.

Nicole and Jorick showed to be good walkers. After already more than 5 km (one way) we decided that Jorick shouldn’t go further, 11 km would be enough. Nicole however wanted to go further and see the Art Gallery (Anita and Jan too). So Anita walked first to the Art Gallery and back while Jan was making up stories with the kids. Then Anita and Jorick went back to the car and Jan en Nicole to the Art Gallery, a few km further along the track.

At the Art Gallery over two thousand engravings, ochre stencils and free hand paintings adorn the 62 m long sandstone walls of this significant Aboriginal site. The stencils were made by putting ocre+water in the mouth and blowing it over the subject to be “painted”.

After having seen the Art Gallery we went also back and enjoyed the peaceful nature and quietness.  The combination of the canyon, the gorge, the flora, fauna and the quietness was really overwhelming. This is a place we will never forget.

At the beginning of the track Anita and Jorick were already waiting for Nicole and Jan. After crossing the gorge many times during the day Jorick fell into the water while playing and got his clothes wet. After he first wanted to take his clothes off, he decided to play in wet trousers and to enjoy it, and he did !!

This tempted Nicole to join and some parrots did as well.

In the evening we had another barbeque and kept ourselves warm near the kamp fire. In the evening the temperature came below 20 degrees Celsius. In the tent Nicole was not so scared anymore and again we had a good night.

The next day we packed up early,  made a short walk to the Baloon Cave following an Aborignal cultural trail and drove a long way home. 

The whole trip to Rockhampton, Table Mountain and Canarvon Gorge took us around 2500 km. It was great fun.

Cheers.