We thoroughly enjoyed our four nights at Agnes Waters. It was supposed to be a quiet rest time savouring the cool of the coast. After the weekend passed, we had the campsite in Deepwater National Park to ourselves and things were becoming really peaceful.
Of course the beach was glorious, but we decided to spend a couple of mornings in town visiting the library and getting our tyre repaired.
In-between catching up on school at the library, we manged to try out a few new moves down at the beach. We have lugged these boards since home, but they hadn't been used for a long time. After taking about a hundred photos on the GoPro camera, I settled on these couple as the best shots of a couple of glorious days in the sun and the surf.
Surfs up!
Just waiting for the perfect wave
The boys both on the same wave!!!
On the way back to camp we came across a stranded couple bogged in the soft sand. Before I could offer assistance, the little helpers were agog with excitement and on the roof of the car removing the straps holding the MaxTrax.
As the other car was stuck on a slope, and bellied out on some harder ground, we elected that a gentle tug with the snatch strap would be the safest and easiest course of action. Their tyres were still pumped up hard as 'a local said I wouldn't need to let them down'. You'd have thought that after two hours of digging, he might have had the sense to give it a try and lower his pressures. Regardless, a gentle tug and Rocky had completed his first 'rescue' of the trip. We didn't want to embarrass our new friends too much but it was nice to return a favour to a Nissan driver!
Rocky's first rescue
And being so close to the beach, we had to check out a couple more beaches. Nothing like being the only people on a beach!
Oh what a feeling...
How good is this!
We left Agnes Waters and returned inland to Cania Gorge and Dam. We had wanted to check out this National Park earlier, and use it as a base to explore Kroombit Tops National Park, however the hot dry weather had driven us to the coast. With the forecast being more favourable, we decided to try again.
Life's tough on a school day
After an enjoyable picnic lunch at Cania Dam, we returned down the valley and set up camp - just in time. No sooner had I finished putting in the last guy rope, the heavans opened and down it came.
The rain overnight was glorious and it gave both Rocky and Matilda a long overdue rinse off. The next morning was decidedly muggy, so we decided to poke about camp and relax by the pool. It was all going well until I caught a bread thief red handed.
We found out that the King Parrots and Rainbow Lorikeets are regulars at the daily feeding - hence our bread thief's disregard for my protestations at his actions. The squarking, bickering and squabbling among these beautiful birds at feeding time has to be seen (and heard) to be believed. It was a most amusing time watching them - and the cheeky crows, currawongs and magpies all trying to sneak in for a piece of the action.
Bird feeding time was a spectacle of colour and noise!
We elected for an early morning walk the next day, and rose eager to explore some of the highlights of Cania Gorge. We enjoyed the 3.2km return walk to the Overhang and Dripping Rock. With the air still being humid, we were glad we took our full supplies of fresh water with us. Whilst not as large or impressive as some of the formations in Carnarvon Gorge, it was certinally very pretty.
There is a number of Aboriginal rock art sites in the park, however these are not open to the public. The sandstone here is very crumbly, but people have been living in this gorge for at least 19 000 years. Interestingly the art style differs from Carnarvon Gorge with the art here being freehand drawings rather than stensils.
The Overhang was indeed just that
Some of the 200 million year old sandstone cliffs
After the cool of walking in the gorge, we drive up the valley to explore the ruins of the Shamrock Gold Mine. Another 1.5km walk was ahead of us, but this time the walk was all uphill and in dry Brigalow forest. It was hot hard work, and the enthusiasm for seeing the ruins had well and truly passed for the little helpers by the time we reached them.
We enjoyed after another lazy picnic by the waters of Cania Dam, making the most of phone reception to book our next exciting camping destination. We also wanted to check on the status of a fire that had been burning in the Kroombit Tops area a week ago. Calls to the Ranger's Office were answered, but we were told the Ranger would call us back. The website hadn't been updated since last week, but it indicated the park was still open. All plans were coming together. It was time to head back to camp and jump in the pool.
When we got back to camp, we thought we would check with the Caravan Park managers, and found out some startling news, Kroombit Tops, our planned destination for the next day, had received 750mm of rain over the past three days. This sounded an unbelievably large figure, but if true, it would have a major impact on our planned drive. It would seem bushfires would be the least of our concerns, for now at least.
We needed more information - that unfortuantely we weren't going to receive in our commincation black hole. We also could not rely on the National Park's website for upto date information, and if indeed the Ranger had returned our call, we wouldn't receive it. It was time to take chance in our hand and see how we fared.
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