TOD Tour, Day 61 - Moss Gardens & The Amphitheatre

There are very few things that will get Sue out of bed before 7:00am. In fact, until this morning, I can think of none. However, when I dared to try and break through her dazed, half-sleep this morning with the suggestion we go down to the creek and see if there was a platypus about, she was up and dressed faster than a George Bailey innings.

The talk we attended in the late of yesterday afternoon, offered by the management of our accommodation, indicated that the best place to be guaranteed a siting of the elusive little monotreme, was in the creek below the camp kitchen. In fact, at least two mating pairs were said to be there.

So, in the early morning light, we made our way to the bank or at least that part of the bank we could secure, as many others had been erstwhile in following the advice. After fifteen minutes, the crowd was thinning and after twenty five there were just a few of us. It was then that I could sight of a little furry submarine sliding across the surface of the creek about thirty metres away. Even that could hold Sue for any longer, her back telling her it was time to go. That just left me and a deaf bloke chatting about the chance of further sighting. I'm not being facetious. He was profoundly deaf, declaring it to me when he arrived but we managed.

A few minutes later, when the platypus returned on the far bank, he let out a yell to alert me. After a few minutes, he went to get his wife - also profoundly deaf - and his bright little daughter who gently warned me about her parents disability. She hadn't inherited their disability. I never cease to learn things in life and it took a while to concentrate on the little fellow overturning rocks on the far bank as they signed their excitement.

The next bad day I'll try and remember these three and their joy, expressed in silent amazement.

The platypus continued on, working the far bank and oblivious to a growing audience gathering on the bank. Once the jungle drums get the beat going, a campground can empty for such things. It worked over the interface between the water and the bank, covering about twenty metres in the space of fifteen minutes, constantly shucking rocks and digging in the soft bank for tasty crustaceans.

When it finished there, it started working the bottom of the pool, surfacing for air and then diving to mud to shovel for food. Whereas capturing its image along the bank had been relatively easy, trying to snap a photo in between dives was almost impossible.

Over the space of forty minutes, I managed to get a few shots and some decent video footage ... which I took back to the van to show a very disappointed wife! Perhaps tomorrow she'll have more luck.

Our aim today was to walk the main track up the centre of the Carnarvon Gorge and visit the Moss Gardens. Like all of the main attractions in this park, the Moss Gardens lies up a side gorge which has been cut into the sandstone cliffs by small streams which come down to meet Carnarvon Creek. We have walked to all of the side gorges on previous visits (1996 & 2006) but these day, long days walking can be difficult for Sue. In fact, before beating forth from Tamworth in February, it was unlikely we would do more than three kilometres flat walking in any one attempt. Dorrigo put paid to that.

We started walking at about 8:30am, moving into the gorge at a steady pace, despite the undulations at the start of the walk they we didn't remember. After about 800m we came upon the Boolimbah Bluff track and then about an hour in, we arrived at the turn for Moss Gardens. More climbing, a long creek crossing and before long, we were sitting in a delightful, cool place, with a waterfall gently falling in front of us and moss growing abundantly on the sandstone walls. A remarkable place.

Looking at the map and charged with the fact that in two visits she had never seen the Amphitheatre, Sue insisted we walk on.

The Amphitheater is a large chamber behind a crack in the main gorge wall. It's a small space, perhaps twenty metres across and thirty metres long in a flattened oval. The walls rise vertically - and I mean that literally - and end sixty metres above you. It's an impossible place to shoot photos and evidence what your eyes see. There is no way to do it justice.

The acoustics are said to be fantastic in this place. On Sue's insistence, once other punters had left, I sang for her: "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha and "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserable.

We met a nice couple, Rob and Sue, chatted with them for a while and made a date for drinks later in the day.

The walk back to the car was quiet, particularly after the Sue stopped interrogating a lady from Rockhampton for local information. She has become the equivalent of the tourist face hugger, never letting go until she has sucked the essence out of locals.

Back at our digs, Sue made grandma noises and complained of aches and pains until I took her out to a coffee shop at a nearby bush resort and we struck up a conversation with Beth, a young tourist on a working visa from Suffolk in England. She shared with us the places they had seen in Australia and we filled in the places she had missed. Lovely young lass.

Drinks to round out the evening and then I faced the local wifi, convinced after an hour or so trying to do what I can accomplish in ten minutes at home that it might have been quicker to drive to all parts of Australia and deliver blogs personally.

   

AUC 1995 - Moss Gardens (Carnarvon Gorge)

Our first day of walking for the trip saw us heading off along the main track that runs the length of the park. Essentially, there is one track which acts like a spine along the length of the gorge and
side tracks - or spurs - radiate from it and pick up the more spectacular side gorges which have been
created by the influx of tributaries to the main creek.

It was decided, by collective wisdom, we should walk to the closest of these side gorges, Hell Hole Gorge. A further side gorge runs off this and is called Violet Gorge. It was a special feature in Violet Gorge we were seeking through our pedestrian endeavours - the aptly named, Moss Gardens.

The weather was overcast, with occasional spits of rain, which made walking very pleasant. The track meanders up the gorge, crossing the creek at numerous places. Each crossing is numbered and Rangers refer to these in giving their directions. The floor of the gorge is marked by the proliferation of Bladey Grass. According to our erstwhile, but verbally challenged ranger of the previous evening, this may well be promoted by the controlled burning which is carried out as part of management practices.

As We walked along, the white sandstone cliffs towered above us - silent Jurassic sentinels keeping vigil for the tribes who have long since passed from the ownership of occupation. Carnawon Creek burbled it's way over collections of sandstone and basalt rocks that have been moved along the bed of the creek by floods of varying intensity. In 1990, a flood of such power hit the gorge, that the rangers had to replace or re position the majority of the stepping stones, strategically placed to provide the crossings for walkers. This involved days of work with crow bars, as they rolled and rocked the goolies back into their correct places.

Approximately 2 kms into our 3.6 km journey to Moss Garden, it came to light Sue had left her keys at the camp site. As this opened a window of opportunity to any potential thief - a window which may have opened wide enough to access the guitar, computer, video camera, money and other valuables. I decided - with an air of joy and understandable levity - to stow my pack and reverse direction to camp and close it!

My return trip completed, I met up again with the rest of the crew at the turn off to Moss Garden.

At this point, another item of note was the environmental toilet - the elevated type that composts the deposits left by humans and creates compos/fertiliser etc. The lattice around the base of the toilet was very Queensland !

The side track into Violet Gorge involved some climbing to attain the height of the Koolaroo Creek at the waterfall which feeds Moss Garden. After negotiating the increasingly narrow track - some of us with more difficulty than others - we arrived at the end point and were treated to a wonderful display of ferns, mosses, liverworts and hornworts. The soft sandstone cliffs rose above us, as we sat and consumed our morning tea of muesli bars, fruit, and biscuits. Gulps of refreshing water and one or two barley sugars completed our nourishment. As our bodies soaked up our snacks, our senses soaked up the offerings of nature.

Our return trip included a detour, for three of the party, upstream of the junction of Hell Hole and Violet Gorges. Pa, Chris and I, investigated this narrow gorge for about 200 metres, but decided to retrace our steps and rejoin the others at the main track.

With our noses turned for home, we walked at a reasonable clip back to the camp, to complete a
satisfying first outing. Late lunches were consumed with gusto and rests were taken in various forms.
Further rain and overcast conditions led to the erection of a large tarp over our living area - a decision which was to prove insightful as the evening wore on and constant showers swept in from the west.

Our evening was spent around the fire, playing Celebrity Heads and discussing family matters. A few ports and the increasing chill of the air, drove us to bed for a night of restful sleep.