Kroombit Tops and Beautiful Betsy

After being told that Kroombit Tops had received 750mm of rain over the past three days, I must admit to feeling that we would not be able to visit the tableland on this trip.  That said, it did seem like an unbelievable figure - after all it is more than our annual average rainfall at home, and there was no evidence of widespread flooding.

Our camp hosts suggested we drop in on the National Parks base nearby and ask them directly.  We did, and were told that a crew had been up in the park the previous day, and all tracks were definitely open!  There was no mention of biblical downpours, and I believe that our information source may have made a error involving the placement of a decimal point.

So we went.

If you haven't heard of Kroombit Tops, we hadn't either until we were talking with a couple from Gladstone a two of weeks earlier.  Of similar geological formation to Blackdown Tableland, it too was opened up for logging from the 1960's until 1995. Its cool tableland provides the northernmost range for many southern dwelling plants and animals, as well as the southernmost range for many northern dwelling plants and animals.  It really is a unique place to visit, and we were looking forward to heading up there ourselves.

Getting there was half the fun.  We wound north from Cania Gorge, on a dirt road that at times resembled a farm track.  There were numerous creek crossings, farm gates and cattle as we traversed this isolated part of the country. 

The drive in had plenty of gates

Agnes Waters, Deepwater National Park and Cania Gorge

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!

Our dash to the coast...

We left Carnarvon Gorge with a couple of options open to us.  The first entailed heading west to the mountains above the gorge, around 300km, or the alternative was to head towards the coast.  The votes were cast, and with the temperatures due to soar into the 40s in the central districts, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.  The coast it was.

We diverted past Lake Nuga Nuga.  We had considered camping here, so were curious to see what was here.  This is the largest natural lake in Queensland yet the lake was full of dead timber which puzzled us.  That said, it was a haven of birdlife and it would have been stunning at sunset or sunrise.  Unfortunately we were enjoying our morning tea and the temperature was well above 30 degrees, so we retreated to the comfort of Rocky's airconditioning and continued up the Arcadia Valley.

Lake Nuga Nuga

Lake Nuga Nuga and Mount Warrinilla

We continued driving east and seriously considered camping near the Krombit Tops National Park.  Unfortunately the tracks in the park are not trailer friendly (very steep and windy), so we continued east through towns such as Banana and Biloela.

Carnarvon Gorge - Or There and Back Again

We arrived late in the afternoon at Carnarvon Gorge, and checked in to the nearby private Takarakka Campground.  We found ourselves nestled in a beautiful bush campground with local wallabies, bettongs and kangaroos to keep us amused.  That said, a particular small furry animal captured Jo's heart - a delightful platypus who lived in the creek near the camp kitchen.  Each evening and morning he came out and foraged up and down the creek, enthralling the handful of campers who were willing to wander down and stand still for a few moments.

A typical photo of a shy platypus

The following morning we had planned on doing the big trek into Carnarvon Gorge, but everyone was a bit weary, so we decided to book in an extra night and walk a couple of the shorter tracks that are nearby.  We figured we would save ourselves for the big hike the next day.  

Unexpected Treasure - Blackdown Tableland

We departed Sapphire bright and early with the hope we would find somewhere cooler to stay the next night.  We thought that Fairbairn Dam near Emerald would be the perfect place to cool off and spend a night or two.

After a quick shop at Emerald, we made our way to the dam.  We found the camping area - and decided to have a bit of morning tea before we checked in.  As we sat sweltering in the shade, we realised that this was not the place we were looking for.  The water was well down, meaning any swimming or fishing would be without shade, and the caravan park was exactly that, a regular caravan park, set well back from the waters edge.  It was decision time.  

Rocky at Fairbairn Dam

A family conference was held and based on all the information we had at hand, the unanimous call was to head somewhere cooler - and that meant the coast (or so we thought).  We wrapped up our morning tea smartly, and jumped back in the car ready for another 350 kilometres on the road.