VanDijkTrack

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.

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.