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Published: August 19th 2009
Day 113 - Lawn Hill National Park
Considering it was the first time in about ten years that we’d slept in the back of a car, it wasn’t too bad at all! In fact we both agree that once you’d found a position where you could stretch out it was pretty darn good!! Don’t get us wrong, we’re not going to abandon the caravan or anything silly!
Barry and Kath kindly offered Dar some hot water for a coffee to start the day and then we went for a shower. Surprisingly we didn’t wake up until five to eight so it was already too late for any of the big walks as we wanted to be able to do a bit of canoeing this morning too. The trick is to avoid doing strenuous things during the hottest part of the day as that section is best left to swimming!
We headed up to the Island Stack walk which starts with a steep climb up the side of the red rock. The views from the table top are spectacular, absolutely gorgeous and the sun glistening on the water makes the whole place look very magical. We meet a group
of four as we’re just about to leave the lookout so instead of walking alone we trot round with them chatting all the way and admiring the panoramic views. We leave them further round to enjoy their mid morning snack and we carry on with the remainder of the walk and then head back down the rocky path along to the Cascades.
Not too far along the route we can see a couple watching a bird in the tree above us. It’s another Bowerbird but this time we can easily see his magnificent nest right next to the track. The nest itself has been lovingly built with intertwined twigs and then the bottom luxuriously filled with what looks like wallaby poo! Outside the nest the bird has gathered lots of pieces of bright green glass, tissues, a piece of bright red twine, a blue bottle top and a can pull! You would think some horrible litter bug has left all of this but no, the Bowerbird is doing his best to impress the local females and the best dressed nest is the way they do it! We think he wins ‘feathers down’!
We walk on to the Cascades
where we can hear so many birds in the trees above us, it’s fantastic but we can’t see many of them to try to identify them! We know there are Cockatoos, Scarlett Finches, Bowerbirds and Purple-crowned Fairy Wrens, White Browed Robins and of course the Barking Owls. We wander back to camp and then go grab ourselves a canoe. It’s $20 per hour so we pay for two hours and start our journey at 11:22, the chap handing them out is very precise! We are carrying an extra passenger, Lynne this bit you need to skip over as our passenger is a bright green tree frog! There’s a pic of him too Lynne but it’s right at the end of the photos so just avoid the very last one.
Safely balanced in the canoe we paddle up through the gorge passing the beautiful over hanging trees and watching all the while for wildlife. We spot an Eagle diving into the water just in front of us. The scenery is magnificent with the sun high in the sky and a nice breeze is keeping us cool.
We make it to the Indarri Falls section of the gorge which is
where you can swim in the cooling waters or pull your canoe out and drag it 30 metres to the Upper Gorge section and paddle some more! We check out the route and drag the canoe, well, in fairness Darryl dragged it whilst I held on the rope at the back trying to keep up! The dragging out and re-launching operation is quite straight forward and we at least manage to stay dry! Back on the water we paddle onwards until we eventually reach the end of the section! There are freshwater crocodiles living in the creek have been well hidden this morning and we haven’t seen any during the paddle-fest! Darn! We head back down the gorge searching the banks for crocs, watching the birds, the fish and the turtles and generally enjoying the luscious surroundings. What a great canoe trip, we loved it and got back to base at 13:20 so managed to use all but 2 minutes of our 2 hour time slot!! That’s precision for you! We were asking the canoe man the name of the long necked bird swimming underwater just down stream, he replied he thought it was a 'Shag' to which Darryl replied
"What mate?" tj
We were baking hot so a swim was in order to cool us down ready for the next lot of walking! The water is divine so we swim, then eat a bit of lunch and swim again. Fabulous. We meet Kath and Barry who are returning from completing the Indarri Falls walk, they’ve enjoyed it and loved the views but the steep climb coming back down was tough. Oh great, we all know how fantastic I am at coming down steep climbs! Something to look forward too!
Four o’clock comes and the canoe man packs up for the day! He’s from Victoria and has been working at Adels Grove for two months but prior to that he was working on a cattle farm so you don’t have to be too bright to work out which he prefers - we all agree that sitting in the shade handing out canoes is definitely preferable!
As the day is starting to cool off we get ready for another walk but first of all say goodbye to Kath and Barry who are heading back to Gregory Downs to collect their caravan. They’ve been great fun and very kind
to us which we’re grateful for. Hope you have a safe trip guys and we’ll see you somewhere on the next trip along the way!
This afternoon we’re walking the Constance Range walk which is good to do at sunrise or sunset. There are a few hours to go before sunset but we figure its cool enough so off we go. The walk starts through the opposite side of the creek and rambles through the bush for quite a while. You get a good view of the creek before you start a fairly steep climb back in the open, there are small geckos on rocks every now and then which gives us a good excuse to stop, take a photo and get our breath back! The view from the top of the climb is excellent and you can see all across the range from walking the circuit track at the top. It probably takes us longer to come down than it did to go up but we make it safely to the bottom and meet other walkers along the way. As we walk back along the creek Darryl spots a movement down below and a freshwater crocodile slowly makes
his way off the banking and into the water! He’s not huge but a good few feet in length and he nestles himself across a log in the cooling water. We watch him for a while until Dar decides that he’s settled and unlikely to be disturbed by us walking down to the creek edge to get a better view of him. We have a good look around to make sure there aren’t any others in the vicinity and then Dar steps down to take some close ups! In the meantime a couple of the walkers are heading back in our direction so we point the croc out to them and they stop for a quick look. We get chatting and the couple, with English accents, ask where we’re from so we start the normal explanation that we’re originally from Bristol but now live in a small village in the National Forest. This usually prompts the reply ‘Where’s that’ but instead we get ‘Which village, we live in Osgathorpe! David and Penny Rogers are out here on a 3 month trip but they have been travelling around Australia for 30 years. Since retiring they keep a Landcruiser out here with
a roof top tent and travelled to Lawn Hill with friends because it was on their wish list! It was great to meet a couple that have a similar out look to us and even more interesting to find they live in the same part of the world back home! Amazing!
Back at camp we get dinner underway, another stew using the brilliant camp oven. We have man size portions tonight so we’re truly stuffed by the time we clamber into bed. The Barking Owls are woof woof woofing away in the back ground which is lovely to hear and the flying crickets are launching themselves in our direction at every given opportunity, the safety and security of the car is a welcome sight from those things!
Night everyone, sleep tight in your warm cosy beds won’t you!
Dar and Sar
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Jan Kettle
non-member comment
Alright, I'm a Twitcher!
After hours of checking, I think the unknown bird could be a white browed babbler but I stand to be corrected! If Lynne doesn't want the frog, we'll have it - it looks so sweet and would be a lovely addition to the pond! I'd fit snugly into the back of the car but Dad might struggle a bit - we'll look forward to trying it out! Impressive photos as always. xxx Mum