Up with the birds again , blue sky for our day out . We didn’t have to be there till 1pm for our tour at 1:30pm , but we had nothing else to do so headed off at 9:15 . Lyn was driving this morning , and had the joy of driving on dirt roads , for about 65klms of the 95 klms we had to go .
We drove through Georgetown and south to Forsayth , about 40 klms away . The country was getting drier & drier , the most prominent things were termite mounds - we are probably outnumbered by termite mounds - there would be more of them than people in Australia !!! They were in all colours from light grey to dark brown , and sometimes they were all those colours within the space of 100 metres . As you can imagine the soil colours varied as much as the termite mounds .
It is puzzling trying to figure out what the cattle eat out here , as there is not a great deal of grass to be seen !!
The gravel road was interesting to say the least , with corrugations that will rattle the fillings out of your teeth , floodways that dip sharply at the bottom , and loose rocks the size of oranges , then there were cattle that stood and watched you drive past , whilst they decide whether to move or not!!
We reached Forsayth , it consists of a hotel , police station , railway station ( that still operates ) , caravan park and some houses - not too many !!!! Not the largest place we have been to .
We stopped for a quick break , before heading on to Cobbold Gorge - another 45 klms of which about 42 were dirt & corrugations & floodways !!
The ute handled it well and threw out quite a large amount of dust behind us - I would not like to have been following us - seems the extra set of back wheels throws out plenty of dust.
We arrived at Cobbold Gorge - which is a working cattle station - that also has a resort with caravan & camping & cabin accommodation , with a bar & restaurant and the gorge tours - helicopter tours are done here as well .
We checked in for the tour and then went for a swim in the pool while we waited - it was refreshing, but not too cold . We sat in the sun for a while before heading back to the ute for lunch and to get changed .
The tour started with a 4wd bus trip down to the gorge area where we went for a walk around learning about bush tucker and visiting the grave site of John Corbett , who was an early owner of the property , who was murdered at this site aged 32 . We went up on top of the sandstone escarpment , and viewed the gorge area from above , before going back to the gorge entry and going for a cruise up through the gorge . The water is a green colour , not particularly clear at the moment . They usually have 700 mm of rain in the wet season , they have only received less than half that amount over the last 3 years !!
They have specially made flat bottom boats , that are driven by battery motors , and have been designed to fit between the the walls of the gorge - less than 2 metres wide .
There was an area of rock used by aborigines to grind food or ochre , the stones and the base were heavily used .
Native Hibiscus
The gorge is sandstone and you can see many different layers in the rock . The walls seem to be polished and are quite smooth to touch - apparently from the action of the sand being swept down & through in floods during the wet season .
Many different shapes and colours are revealed as you silently cruise through to the end , then turn and come back through again . The reflections in the water are near perfect . There are some fresh water crocodiles that live here , but weren’t on show this afternoon .
We were back at the start of the gorge and our 3 hour tour was just about over , back to the bus , and up to the resort - that was it - what a day !!!
Oops , reality hit back , we still had to go back over that wonderful piece of road . We dodged cattle , kangaroos & potholes , only meeting 4 cars along the way . This is a place that wont be seeing our RV anytime soon . Having said that , there were a lot of caravans , some motorhomes and camper trailers that made the trip out there - I’m tipping a lot of them will be cursing that they’ve still got to come back out of there !!
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