Awake before the birds this morning - what !! they had a sleep in !! The suns not up until nearly 7am at the moment . There was a breeze blowing most of the night - when we heard it !!
We spent part of the evening beside someone’s fire that they left behind , gazing at the stars and satellites for a couple of hours before going to bed . It was nice to be sitting there , still in shorts & tee shirts .
Back to today , we headed in to Lawn Hill National Park , with the sole goal of paddling in the gorge !!! The road in was corrugated like most of the road around here , but the views were stunning with the morning sun hitting the Constance Range - it has some very hard sandstone rock that sticks out due to the softer sandstone rock layers around it eroding .
It was only 14 degrees when we arrived , so we unloaded and put on a spray jacket to paddle in . We negotiated some steps to get into the water , then jumped in the kayak , an awesome sight unfolded in front of us . The gorge was red rocks , the water green & crystal clear , the sky an awesome blue and the water temperature was warm !!
The gorge turned and twisted around , we saw turtles and dozens of fish , there was also another canoe following us , but they couldn’t keep up with us - so didn’t spoil our view . The gorge is lined with tall Cabbage Palms and Pandanus Palms along the edge at water level , there were lots of people out walking , we could hear them talking as we silently paddled past - too many palms to see us .
Before long we had reached a low waterfall - only about one & a half metres tall - but water was flowing in half a dozen different places . This is caused by Tufa - a limestone rock that blocks different layers in the creek , then there’s the effect of calcium rich water , it builds up layer upon layer - about 2.5cm per year .
There is an area to pull the kayak out and go up to the next layer and keep going - it was a 40m carry , before setting off again in the next section . More palm lined creek , quite wide in places and quite deep - the deepest section is 27m , but the average is 6m .
It’s hard to take it all in , you are in the middle of Savannah Grassland / nearly desert and here is this oasis of green , red & blue .
Finally reaching another set of rapids , we got out to see if you can go any further , but there weren’t too many tracks , so we hopped back in an paddled back . That was easy , due to the wind blowing behind us all the way back , we had a headwind on the way up , and the gorge concentrated that wind in places , making it harder to paddle . People in hire canoes were struggling as we headed back .
We saw our first freshwater crocodile today - only about 1m long - basking on a branch , till we got too close , then quietly slipping into the water .
Back to the carry spot , over the track and back in again paddling away - a girl said to her dad - Look how fast they go - he probably hates us now , he had one of the hire canoes and did all the paddling up .
Before long we were back at the start , and went down as far as we could go before turning back to the steps where we started . The exhilaration from this paddle will last quite a while - we were thinking about some of our other paddles , but this is up there with the best !!!!
We dried everything and loaded back up , before having some lunch and deciding our next move.
Back to Adels Grove , and a walk up lookout hill to check the rumour about mobile service - apparently , if you walk up the hill , at a certain point you will get Optus service , but if you want Telstra , you have to go to the top of the hill !!! Fancy that Optus finally beats Telstra !!! We got to the section where a lot of bored people decided to stack rocks , and lo and behold phone service !!!!! We checked emails & messages , before walking up to the lookout for a 360 degree view of the mountains surrounding us . Lawn Hill Creek stood out in the valley below - with the palms and paperbarks nice and green . The surrounding countryside is barren , and lookout hill is mainly rock .
We headed back down to the Grove and took the Nature Walk back , it tracks down beside the creek . You get some beautiful views of the creek & can see where the wet season washes a lot of debris down . Trees and logs were jammed up in several places , where we were walking would have been about 7m under water !!!
We made it back to the tent in time for a beer & some salsa . Lyn has been busy rekindling the fire from last night , so we can do it all again . All in all , an awesome day !!
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