VanDijkTrack

The day after our visit to Great Keppel Island we went from Rockhampton along the Capricorn Highway to The Blackdown Tablelands National Park (180 km west of Rockhampton).

This is an amazing sandstone plateau that rises out of the flat plains to a height of 600m. It features stunning panoramas, great bushwalks to waterfalls and lookouts. Because of the height the temperature was a bit lower up there which has impact on the type of flora. We experienced the bush there a bit more European, which made it a special experience in itself. A short walk brought us to the Horseshoe lookout and a longer trail to the Two Mile Falls with a beautiful view.

We also enjoyed a 4WD track (16km) showing other parts of the Park with other beautiful views. The road was easy going until the last part. This National Park was certainly worth a visit. It is beautiful. Finally we left the National Park and continued our trip to Emerald (261 km west of Rockhampton)to spend the night in the Emerald Meteor Motel.

The following day we left early to Canarvon National Park passing Mt Zamia and Virgin Rock (The Virgin Rock was named after the feature which resembles a statue of the virgin Mary and Child). 

We drove into the Canarvon Park to Takarakka Bush Resort at the beginning  of the Canarvon Gorge. Here we would experience our first nights of camping in Australia.

Lonely Planet describes Canarvon Gorge as simply stunning. Massive, crumbling, yellow-white sandstone cliffs, up to 200m high, conceal a “lost world” of giant cycads, cool moss gardens, king ferns and rare palms. Over millions of years Canarvon Creek and its tributaries have carved 30km of twisting gorges and waterfalls through the soft sedimentary rock. 21km of walking trails bring you to majestic scenery, rare plants, wildlife and poignant Aboriginal art.

Ater setting up our tent (Coleman Chalet 9CV), and greeting the Kangaroos that were looking around, we walked the Mickey Creek Gorge track. It was a very beautiful track walking along exotic palms, very big and high rainforest trees. At the end we (carefully) walked a bit into a cool cave with beautiful flora. There we saw many well growing palms that are doing less in our (much dryer) garden.

There are many species of Kangaroos and Wallabies in Australia. When we left the track a Whiptail Wallaby (one of the species we had never seen before) was saying hi.

At dawn we went to a Platypus Creek where sometimes Platypuses show up, but  unfortunately we didn’t see any. At the camp site we had a barbeque and in the evening we visited an presentation from EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) with a slide presentation about the history and beautiful features of the Canarvon Gorge. That was a good introduction to the next day experience.

(to be continued)

Cheers.

The Travelodge hotel in Rockhampton was a good experience and the kids kids liked to swim in the swimming pool and especially Jorick enjoyed the breakfast. From this hotel, we also made a trip to Koorana Crocodile Farm. We saw several crocs that were periodically mating and laying eggs for incubation. The young crocs are used for their skin and their meat. There they told us the intriging story about the warning signs that were placed to warn for crocodiles. The signs showed a warning not to swim because of the presence of crocodiles. Unfortunately the red paint with the warning disappeared by the sun and rain leaving only a person swimming (suggesting that you could go for a swim here). Frightened by this dangerous situation, the government tried to remove all the signs but they didn’t remember all locations where they had put them up. Enjoy your swim.

After the tour Nicole and Jorick could hold  a baby croc to show the public. Going to the toilet was another fascinating experience. In the toilet several green tree frogs showed up. You may guess if it was in the women’s or man’s toilet. Yes !  Nicole preferred to go to another toilet, but Jorick could do it standing still 🙂 .

The same day we went to the Dreamtime museum showing and explaining about Aboriginal art. The aboriginal history and art is fascinating and we have seen a lot of it in many cities and it is still interesting. In the museum we had an interesting tour about aboriginal art being a mix of reality, moral based stories, education and some sort of Fairy Tales. We also got a presentations on the Torres Straight Islands, a demonstration in playing the didgeridoo and some lessons in throwing a boomerang. A the end of the day Nicole read a story for Jorick that brought them both in a deep sleep.

The next the day we went early to Yeppoon from where the boat would leave to Keppel Island in the Great Barrier Reef. Before that we arranged some snorkel equipment to see more of the Reef under the water. After arriving on the island we took a tour with a glass bottom boat. This gave us the opportunity to see parts of the reef and the fishes living there. After that we walked to a quiet part called “Monkey beach”. As in a dream we had nearly the whole bay for ourselves. Jan and Anita went for some snorkeling here. The first two times Jan went looking for the Coral Reef he was bitten by some sort of jelly fish (?) causing red strings and irritation on his leg and body. Anita was more lucky and succeeded already the first time. Jan didn’t give up and tried a third time which was successful. It was a special experience to see the coral and the colored fishes swimming around you. When suddenly all fishes got nervous and moved away Jan got suspicious and went back to the beach. There he heard form others that they saw a shark (probably not dangerous, but you never know), got frightened and also went asap to the beach.

After a good night sleep we left Rockhampton after visiting the “Tropic of Capricorn” which is the extreme southern position of he sun in its apparent annual journey (its northern most position is the Tropic of Cancer). Capricornus was , in roman mythology the sea goat into which Pan was changed to escape from the terrible giant Typhon. It is also the name given to the constellation resembling it and when the December solstice was first observed the sun was situated in this constellation, hence this tropic was named Capricorn.

After the Tropic of Capricorn we set our direction to Blackdown Tableland National Park.

Kind regards from us all.