We arrive and pay our admission - $12 each - to be able to access the walk and feed the wallabies , and possibly go for a swim after the walk . After signing indemnity forms and getting the information about the walk , we head off . The area just below the reception area is the feeding area , the wallabies are very used to it , and will come out to greet you , looking for some food . The food is also included in the price - you get a little paper bag of pellets to feed them with - they eat out of your hand !
After feeding about 6 or 7 of them , we were out of food - the wallabies weren't worried , they stayed around till someone else arrived . They are that used to people that you can pat them !
Down the track further is a creek and a bridge , it then goes up to the swimming area where we sat and looked around .
We sat up on one of the granite boulders while trying to get the drone sorted out - it's a pain in the backside when you can't remember the password required for the wifi connection !! Needless to say , the drone didn't fly today !!
The time had slipped away and it was nearly lunchtime , we had an appointment for lunch with Chris & Tony - who we'd met at Burrill Lake in February this year - it turned out to be a pleasant couple of hours .
Back to the gorge walk , we started back to the track , starting to rock hop and manoeuvre our way down the rocks . I spotted a damsel fly and dragonfly , then a butterfly and a lizard .
As we went down the gorge , we noticed shiny patches on the rocks , interesting , we thought it was mica to start with , then we got up close and found it was some sort of insects web or sheeting .
There's plenty of rocks here all in various conditions .
The granite on the track is a little dangerous in places , being very slippery , yet other spots it is the complete opposite - very grippy . Some spots you go down on your backside and slide down , the track is a grade 3 track , then there's the red track which is a grade 4 track - lot's more rock hopping , climbing over rocks & tree trunks . Then there's the creek that runs through a lot of the rocks .
After crossing the creek you arrive at the lookout and whale rock .
Making our way back up the track , I spotted a spider - similar size to the Golden Orb spider from Mossman Gorge - this one is a Huntsman Spider - it also is about 5 " or 125mm across !!
An interesting sight was the dinosaur footprints in the rock .
The track could be a little bit better marked , so we ended up going off track a little , but our little friend , Skip , arrived to guide us in the right direction - showing us the way and following to make sure we were back on track . Here he/she is .
There's also some cycads growing around the gorge .
Another creek crossing was up ahead , so we stopped and dangled some hot feet in the water - not for long mind you , it was cool . The water was flowing down into cracks in the granite then turning 90degrees and flowing along the crack down into other spots , forming little waterfalls along the way.
The sun was in the right spot to create an interesting effect with the rocks & water .
AS we left this area , there was a lonely little flower with a couple of leaves poking out of a crack in the rock .
And that was the end of our walk , we signed out and headed back to the van - a good day has been had . Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1g596uVZ1hiF6KSbBcsF_W-QoO7o&usp=sharing
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