09 July 2011 - Cobbald Gorge, QLD Australia



Entering the Gorge





The Gorge

 En route to Georgetown & again on single lane highway,  & many dry riverbeds where signs state 'subject to flooding' - hard to imagine seeing their present state.  Georgetown is a very tidy little town, very quiet as it is the weekend.  Apart from pub & 'servos' nothing else is open.  We find the cheapest camp & settle in, basic but OK for a couple of nights & enables me to catch up on blog, laundry etc., & Stu gets permission to change the oil in the landcruiser which he has been worrying about.   Next day we head for the Cobbald Gorge on a rather rough road, glad we have been able to leave the van behind.  We call into the tiny 'township' of Forsayth, even smaller than Paparoa, & ate our picnic lunch.   It's only reason for being is that the Savannahlander train comes out from Cairns with tourists & finishes here.  There is the tiniest little railway station & a beautiful old Stationmasters house set in lovely gardens which is a B&B & tearooms, though I suspect it only operates when the train comes in.  Naturally there is also a small tavern, a few residences, a police station (can't imagine why)  & that's it.  In the past it was a gold mining town.  If we thought the first half of the road was rough, the second half was terrible, with deep ruts, corrugations & dust, dust, dust.  Thank goodness for a sturdy vehicle & no van on the back. 



Freshwater Croc


Cobbald Gorge is on a privately owned cattle station of a mere 335,000 acres!  Owned by 3 brothers, each running his own acreage, the gorge was only discovered about 20 years ago by the youngest.  No one seemed to know it was there, not unlikely in an area of that size & hidden by bush.  However it's potential as a tourist venture attracted the youngest, &  since then he has slowly been developing it.  It now has  motel rooms, camping & caravan parking, swimming pool, a  visitor information  building & very friendly staff.  There a two tours available, one  is an 'Outback Adventure' on the cattle station,  & our choice  the boat cruise through the gorge.  Initially we are taken by a humungous 4WD vehicle through rugged tracks into the bush for an informative walk/talk on flora & fauna,  history of the area etc by a very colourful, & likeable grass roots character who also becomes our boatman.  The gorge is hidden away with rugged sandstone formation, is extremely narrow, closing to a mere two metres wide in places, with spectacular 30 metre high cliffs on either side.  The overall lenght is about 6 kms consisting of a series of water-holes & rock falls.  Unfortunately only  the last 500 mtrs is accessible by flat bottom boat with a very small electric motor which avoids disturbing the tranquility.  It is fed by several springs which keep the water level constant allowing boat access all year round.  The water is clear & enables us to watch the little native fish darting here & there, & we spot a turtle sunning itself on a rock plus two freshwater crocs at very close quarters.  They are so much nicer & less threatening than those horrible 'salties'.  The whole experience is tranquil, the rock formations different from the other gorges we have seen, but unfortunately because of the narrowness, it is not easy to photograph & gain the real essence of the place.  On our return to the little boarding pontoon, I manage to photograh a beautiful Azure kingfisher, very bright blue head & wings, & apricot breast.  There was  a flock of black, redtailed cockatoos around,  quite magnificent in flight with their red undertail feathers, but exceptionally hard to photograph so sadly I missed out again.  Will continue to stalk them as we continue our journey.  The other animal which has fascinated me is the Brahman cattle with their big ears which hang down making them look quite miserable.  I did manage to snap those but they always seem to lift their ears when you get near.  They remind me a bit of donkeys - there are feral ones of those here too beside the feral camels (we've not seen latter yet).


Brahman Cutie