Going on our own back on the road felt a little abnormal as we had spent the better part of 2 months with Stu. Nevertheless, for the first time on our trip we went west. Making some ground from Atherton we arrived at the Innot Hot Springs around 6pm. After our big adventure up the Cape we quickly found that the Grey Nomad season was wrapping up and the Springs were deserted!
We quickly set up and had a feed, then retired to the warm therapeutic pools which were naturally heated from the local springs. Each pool had a spa feature with temperatures varying from 23-25, 28 – 30, 32-24, 36-40, 41-45 degrees. Having to try them all, we started in the cooler ones until reaching the unbearable 41-45 degrees, where we couldn’t even submerge an entire leg as it was that scolding! We spent the following morning relaxing back in the spas until we dragged ourselves away to check out the local river and it’s springs. To our suprise, the water here felt hotter than the warmest pool we’d just experienced! Reading a sign we learnt that in 1991 the temperature in the river was 71 degrees with a flow of 3L/sec!
Once again the climate changed as we went from a cold Atherton to a much warmer and dry path along the Savannah Way. Stopping at the 40 Mile Scrub National Park we stumbled into a dry rainforest. Not knowing such a thing existed, we quickly discovered it still had all the characteristics of a standard rainforest (different levels of foilage and heavy rainfall during the wet) but during the dry most of the plants shed their leaves to save water in order to survive.
Burning through some more kilometres of straight never ending road, we made it to the eerie town of Einesly. Going along the main drag we discovered there was a population of 15 people which included the publican and his mate who seemed to just play with remote control cars all day – what a life! Entering the pub we checked out an award winning miniature doll house collection that his (publicans) father had crafted as a hobby. Around the corner from the pub was Copperfield Gorge. This was the definition of hot and dry. Black, rugged rocks in an isolated environment surprisingly housing very welcoming water between its cliff edges. Luckily for us we had an even better swimming hole in mind. That evening we camped at Cobbold Gorge (100km west) where an infinity pool and cold beverages awaited us!
With not a soul around it felt a little strange to have the entire camping area to ourselves! We booked on a tour the next day to see further into the Gorge (as it is on private property). To our amazement, there was only 7 of us out of a possible 42. We were taken by an interesting guide who at times seemed to be on auto pilot but still had a great repertoire of information. The cattle property had been split between 5 siblings and the youngest son inherited the section containing the Gorge. He didn’t come to realisation of what he owned until he was in his late 20’s during a camping trip with some mates. The guide then introduced us to many native trees and how they were used by the Aboriginals. Ones that spiked our interest in particular were; a tree used for soap, as well as asphyxiating fish as a hunting tool, another in which you smoulder the leaves as an insect repellent and one that if you inhale it’s fumes from a fire, you will feel like you have the flu for 2 weeks!
After a trek around the top of the Gorge we went down to a jetty where an electric motor boat (being a Nature Reserve) awaited us for a 400m cruise. It was spectacular to go along between the narrow sandstone walls and be able to feel the smooth surfaces of where torrents of water would gush during the wet. Our guide explained how they have the use a pulley system to remove the jetty and boats during the off season as the water level can rise 8m when the Gorge floods! Seeing a few small fish along the way and a baby freshwater croc, we were disappointed to miss Claude (the big 3.5m croc) who was said to be patrolling under the surface. The Gorge was a stunning slice of paradise and worth visiting even if it was just for the infinity pool with its swim up bar!
Returning to the laborious straight highway hugged by savannah bushland, we went through the small establishment of Georgetown. If we blinked, we would have missed it as we continued 20kms west to The Cumberland Chimney. Being able to camp near a dam here, Nay was craving roti bread with her famous peanut sauce. We quickly googled a recipe and before we knew it we were relaxing by a fire demolishing the home made bread.
The next morning we learnt how the gold rush around the area had a huge impact on the neighbouring small towns. Only the Chimney remained from this township but you could see how they flourished for the 30-40 year period until the gold was depleted and the town was abandoned. Having a suss of the birdlife at the dam we found there were free binoculars! We honed in on all varieties of birds from far away and were amazed at what we could see – maybe we needed to buy a pair of our own.
Back in the car, looking at the map, we had only just started our long journey along the dry Savannah Way. We wondered what other small pockets of history we could discover…
05/10/2016 – 08/10/2016