With the sun rising, Amy and I headed to El Questro Gorge whilst Lynda stayed behind with Jess.  Amy and I planned to conquer the big boulder at the half way point and carry on to Mic Micking Pool at the end of the gorge.

Half the fun is the 4WD track in.  Whilst not challenging it contains a deep water crossing and winds its way through the Kimberley’s distinct vegetation to the beginning of the gorge.  Starting the walk from the carpark it is a rocky scramble along the river bed to the halfway pool.  The gorge on this section narrows as it closes in on the halfway pool with sheer cliff faces rising up from beneath you.  It is a beautiful gorge to travel through which get prettier the further you travel into it.

Safely at the halfway pool we sat and pondered how to get past the big boulder blocking our track…it is true that many people fail the challenge of scaling the big boulder due to having to wade through waist deep water to access the boulder.  What this means is that when you reach the boulder you begin climbing it with wet feet…which is exactly what you don’t want on a smooth slippery steep surface.

Well with shoes off and back pack held high we headed out to the big boulder.  Then the challenge of how firstly to get out of the water onto the BB and then how to climb it!  I pushed Amy out of the water to a safe perching point, handed her the back pack and balanced the hiking boots precariously on the BB.  After a few attempts I was out of the water perched on the boulder with a handhold and very small foot hold for one foot, Amy just above me holding on…what next.  I somehow managed to get one boot on my foot to give me a bit of traction and then at full stretch, with a lot of good faith in my rather bleak foot hold pushed myself up and across to another landing.  A slight slip and I was gone!  Yes…made it, hold onto Amy with one hand so she could collect the boots and then I dragged her to my ledge.  From there we both put our boots on and made the rest of the climb easily.

Back on the trail we quickly covered the remaining 2klm of the trip despite warning and notes on how difficult the track was.  Sure, it was challenging in parts but mostly just a whole lot of good fun as you tackled the big boulder and then the big series of boulder strewn across the gorge, the climb up the side of the waterfall and then finally the climb up and into Mic Micking Pool.

At the pool you are in awe of nature’s beauty.  The pool is small but enclosed by narrow sheer cliffs above you and the waterfall at the far end of the crystal pool is amazing as it freefalls onto rocks below.  We quickly undressed and took a surprisingly warmish swim (in comparison to other pools in gorges) swimming out to the waterfall and sitting underneath it on natures well crafter lounge chair.  We swam and played for half and hour enjoying ourselves and having some great fun together.  Several photos followed before heading back.

We descended the gorge quickly back to the big boulder (BB) and again pondered on a plan of attack.  I decided on throwing the walking boots 20m to dry ground.  Three out of four boots landed safely with one of my boots taking a bad bounce and a slight dip in the pool…minor casualty.  We then slid down the BB to the pool below, Amy taking an involuntary slide towards the bottom of the BB and an uncontrolled splash into the pool below.  I managed to stay in control and therefore kept the back pack dry.  A quick swim followed and then we walked out the remaining part of the gorge back to the car.

In the end the 3 to 5 hour return (without a swim) turned out to be about 4 hours with 1 hour of sightseeing and swimming.  In fact the walk out took less than an hour with a swim.

Heading back to camp we spotted J & T who had walked some of the Amelia Gorge and we talked about tackling Moonshine Gorge in the afternoon.

That is what we did, I did the loop walk trail and everyone else bugged out at the last minute and walked in the reverse direction just to the swimming hole.

My walk took me up over the range with fabulous scenery down onto the gorge and surrounding range.  Once up on top you descended down to the halfway pool where you could take a swim.  I decided not to and finally bumped into the rest of the group coming the other way some 500m past the waterhole.  We all retraced our steps so that those who wished could take a swim.  We lounged around at the water hole for some time before heading back to the cars around 4:30pm.  Halfway back to the car park I noticed that Jeff was struggling with Banjo on his back so I relieved him of Banjo and carried him back to camp for Jeff.

What was interesting about this walk and gorge were the layered rock formations which were balanced on a 45 degree angle and towered above you.  The gorge was wide and open and the walking difficult but the rock formations were the highlight.  The water hole I could give a miss and I really believe walking only 1 klm into this gorge will place you in the most interesting section of the gorge.

The other interesting part of the gorge is the long 4WD track to the car park at the start of the gorge.  The track follows the El Questro Gorge track until after the deep water crossing.  It then branches right and continues for several klms as it weaves its way to Moonshine Gorge.  You travel through a few rocky sections and a couple of creek crossings before arriving at the carpark.

Back at camp after nightfall it was time for a shower and for me an early night.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

Next stop Cania Gorge, approx 250 klm inland from Bundaberg.

We left Dawson Creek Rest Area and headed for Cania Gorge arriving there around lunch time.  There is no free camping and/or National Park camping here so you have to stay in one of two caravan parks.  Being Big 4 members we stayed at the park closest to the Cania Dam.

During the rest of the afternoon we let the kids have some downtime using the playground, jumping pillow and swimming pool whilst Bushman Bud and Lovely Lynda had some relaxation time.

At five pm that evening the caravan park feeds the lorakeets and cockatoos and we headed to watch and join in the fun.  You get a handful of bird seed and can enjoy the birds close up as they balance on your fingers munching away.

After that we took a late evening sunset drive up to Lake Cania, which is another dam stocked with fresh water fish and Red Claw.  We drove up onto the lookout and watched the sun go down over the Lake.  What a great place for the boat enthusiast.  The lookout took in the surrounding gorge and dam and is well worth a visit – late in the evening is especially nice as you get all the colours reflecting off the sandstone cliffs in the late sun.

Back to camp, dinner and bed.

The next day we were ready to head of and explore Cania Gorge.  We travelled back down the main access road to the Cania Gorge picnic where the majority of the walks begin.

We decided on the Dripping Rock and Overhang walk, a combined return distance of about 3.5 klm on easy walking trails.  Dripping rock was kind of a mini Moss Garden and compared to Carnarvon Gorge is a low scale attraction.  Continuing onto the Overhang you are presented with a nice location to sit back for a while.  The Gorge here overhangs a considerable way over a small creek bed and is worth a visit.  We enjoyed this area and the kids had a great time playing in the small cave created by the overhang.

After the Overhang we headed up to Dragon Cave which was somewhat uneventful.  After that it was back to the caravan and point our way towards Bundaberg.

I sum up our Cania Gorge visit like this…we were spoilt having just visiting the Canarvon Gorge which is just spectacular…after that unless you find a really special place then it probably is not going to stack up.  Cania Gorge is a pretty place in its own right but for me not spectacular.

Leaving Cania Gorge we travelled through Kalpower on the way to Bundaberg.  This was mostly on very steep grade and winding rough gravel roads…the Kedron getting a severe work out as we passed through the very hilly ranges around Kalpower Forest and Recreation Area.

Eventually we arrived in Bundaberg late evening camping at the Bundaberg Port (which although listed in the Camps 5 book is no longer a free camping location and attracts a $1,800 fine if you stay there.  A security guard (nice one at that) very nicely moved us on.  Well done for being so good instead of the usually bloke who’s authority seems to have gone to their heads.

We eventually camped at Sharon Nature Reserve, a nice rest area, although a little noisy.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

What an awesome experience we had at the Canarvon Gorge located 100 kms South West of Rolleston in Central QLD.  One could be excused for saying an oasis in the middle of…well…nowhere.

We camped on the access road into the park and in the morning had a further 22klms of rough unsealed dusty road to the park.  What an oasis!  The Carnarvon Gorge is massive and with recent rains was in its full glory.

There are many walk trails available to you in and around the park so you could easily spend a few days here exploring.  We had limited time and picked out a 11.7 klm return walk which took us to Ward Gorge, The Ampitheatre and Moss Gorge.  All three of these gorges were magnificent with Ward Gorge our favourite.

Ward Gorge is only 270m from the main walking track (4.6 klm along the main track) and is a narrow gorge with a beautiful stream cascading through its base.  The green moss glows a bright green in the sunlight and the air is cooled by the natural shade.  We had lunch here and enjoyed this spot thoroughly.

Next, as you back track from Ward’s Gorge is the Ampitheatre.  The Ampitheatre is like a natural round bucket with 150m sides.  The area is accessed up 4 steep flights of ladders and through a very narrow section in the gorge.  Walking through the narrow section for about 30m you are staggered with the hidden graceful ampitheatre as you walk into it.  Joey Jess and Orangatang Amy performed a beautiful singing concert for us here and the sound was truly amazing…your singing is surely coming along girls.

Next stop was Moss Gorge.  This ancient and timeless gorge ends with a boardwalk platform which shows off a very pretty little waterfall.  All around you are the ancient walls of the gorge basking in sun and walled with moss.  Water drops from the moss and apprently the water that drops from the moss has taken a thousand years to get from the top of the sandstone walls to the base where you stand.  That is what I call filtered water…and it tastes magnificent!

Back onto the main track and three klms back to the carpark.  The main track is a beautiful place to walk also as ot meanders through the main gorge and crosses the Carnarvon Creek several times along the way.

This was a glorious day out one place I would highly recommend for any traveller passing through Central QLD.  A place of breathtaking beauty and a timeless place we will visit again.

Back on the road we made tracks…240klm of them to Dawson Creek Rest Area (a pleasant camping spot) on our way through to Cania Gorge.  I must say travelling inland rather than being habitual coast dwellers has opened up some beautiful places and new an dunique experiences.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

After staying over on in a small bush camp siding close to Rubyvale, we were back on the road to make the 9:15am tour of the Heritage Mine just outside Rubyvale.  This mine captures the history of the gemfields area surrounding the Emerald region.

The tour takes you down and around the still operational sapphire mine and is wonderfully informative.  A family of four cost $35 and given what some tours cost, this was great value for money.  The tour lasted for about 45 minutes.

On they way out of the mine is a great room full of history and newspaper articles reporting various finds of gem around Rubyvale.  There are some amazing stories of people finding rare stones only to sell then off at a fraction of their real value.  This is a great room to stop for a read.  I read all the stories including one about a black crystal used as a door stop because the owner thought it was worthless.  Turns out (after he sold it for a fraction of its value in an uncut state some years later) that it was the one of the rarest stones ever found.  The gem was cut and contained 5 stars inside it.  It is now known as the Star of Queensland and was recently sold for over 90 million dollars…that’s right, 90 million dollars – wow.  I bet Lovely Lynda would like to get her hands on that one.

Upstairs and at the mine entrance is every womans desire, the jewellery shop.  Lynda picked out a beautiful blue sapphire ring with a diamond surround.  She still claims it is her 10th year wedding anniversary rock…we’ll see what Santa brings hey.

The Heritage Mine was a great tour, endorsed by our Governor General in fact Quentin Bryce, who visited there a few years ago.  I would certainly recommend having a look and perhaps doing some fossicking in the nearby gem fields.  Who knows you may strike it rich like the two unemployed people who ran out of money, spent 5 weeks searching the gem fields in the hope of finding a fortune.  They managed to find a rare sapphire valued at 1 million dollars…not bad for 5 weeks work out of sheer desperation hey.

Get out to Rubyvale and have a looksy hey.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia 

Lovely Lynda was in her element

Time for Joey Jess to summit this mountain.

Leaving Lake Tinnaroo at 5:30am we were caught out a little with the length of the drive to the walking track for the Bartle Frere summit.  This took us 1 hour and 15 mins meaning by the time we grabbed the back pack and sprayed ourselves with Bushman (for the plague like leaches) we hit the track about 6.50am.

Within the first 300m we realised that the climb was going to be torturous.  There had been heaps of rain the past couple of days and in places the track was water logged and extremely muddy.  This didn’t help the progress and it became a slow grind to the turn off to the waterfalls (about 1.5klm along the track…the name of the falls escapes me at the moment).  From here the track gets a little steeper in sections and the muddy overgrown track was becoming very difficult to negotiate.  You have to constantly watch where you are stepping whilst trying to follow the badly marked track which is in need of urgent attention…mark my words…someone will get lost on this track if it is not fixed.

The kilometres passed very slowley and Joey Jess was getting tired by the 4klm mark and we had a chat about continuing.  After thinking it through Joey Jess was happy to contine…the condition of the track and constant wiping off of many leaches were taking a toll.

We eventually arrived at Northwest Peak which seemed to take forever and stopped for a good break eating our sandwiches and realising that we had left some of our energy food behind…oops.  This seemed to refresh Joey Jess and we moved quickly from the Northwest Peak to the first of the two camps below the Bartle Frere Summit.  This was where the going got really tough and time was slipping away from us.  We had set a cut off time at 12:30pm for the summit and it was closing in on midday.  From the camp we had to negotiate about five massive boulders rising steeply up a small creek, all extremely slippery but not quite as dangerous as the Eastern side if you fell.  These were very difficult and took us a long time to climb over and Joey Jess was getting very tired by this stage and I started to question my decision to take Jess up the mountain…we were however, so close now that I wanted to give Jess every chance to succeed…so we pushed on.

After the boulders we then had to negotiate a running stream which after the rain was cascading down the mountain slope.  This was the last part of the mountain and completely unexpected as it was completely dry last time I came this way.  This was slippery and we both soaked our boots through.  We carried on though and came to the last 200m walk through rainforest…we had made it to the summit of Mt Bartle Frere…you beauty and good on ya Jess – what a climber and machine you are.  What great desire and determination you have in following your dreams and goals, I am so very proud of you for pushing through your limits and boundary conditions on such a tough climb and coming out the other side learning new lessons that will allow you to travel and accomplish even more in life.  You learnt many lessons on Mt Bartle Frere today, well done.  You gave it your best effort and succeeded by going the extra mile.  I love you and am so very proud of you!

We arrived at the top of the highest mountain in QLD at 12:40pm.  Unfortunately the peak was in cloud but we took the chance to take some photos at the peak next to the sign before having to get back down before nightfall.

I must say that I was a little worried.  It had taken us well over 5 1/2 hours to reach the summit and if we took the same amount of time to get back down we would be travelling on an overgrown track in dark…impossible, we would have to camp out and spend a very nasty night in a leach infested rain forest…that was all the motivation we needed.

We left the summit after about ten minutes and a phone call to Nanna & Gramps and Mum.  I pushed Jess hard to the Northwest Peak to try and make up some time.  We lost the track several times and I am thankful that I had the foresight to lay extra markers at places that were unclear.  We arrived at the Northwest Peak in good time and had a well deserved break.  I gave up my sandwich to Joey Jess and we continued on.  Down, down, down we went.  Time seemed to be slipping away when we heard the faint sound of Bobbin Bobbin Falls and realised we had come further than what we had thought…we were going to make it back to the car in daylight…you beauty.

On the track approaching the falls we came across a small snake sunning itself, trying to soak up the last rays of the day.  Try as hard as we could to scare it, we couldn’t get it to move.  We then started throwing sticks at the snake to give it a move on before realising that we would need to sneak past it.  It eventually moved just off the track and we squeezed past.

We arrived at the track to Bobbin Bobbin Falls and with new found motivation quickly knocked off the final 1 1/2 klm of track to the car.  Awesome and what a feeling of success.  We had climbed Mt Bartle Frere on a tough and very demanding day with the track in poor condition in 9 hours and 59 minutes…unbelievable effort by Joey Jess…I take my hat off to you my darling.  You did well today and achieved your goal.  You have now climbed some of the highest and challenging mountain peaks in Australia and are a long way to achieving your goal of climbing the highest mountain peak in every state…good on you…you go girl!!!

Check out the vids and photos…coming soon.

Bushman Bud & Joey Jess…Enjoying Australia

Check out the

We finally left lake Tinnaroo around 9:00am Monday morning heading towards Tolga and then onto Mareeba.  Just outside Tolga we got held up for a couple of hours waiting for the road to be cleared after a nasty accident and fatality.

We had planned to visit the Coffee Factory in Mareeba and then head out to Chillagoe arriving later in the day.  Due to the two hour delay we found ourselves behind schedule only arriving in Mareeba and the Coffee Factory just after lunch.

The Coffee Factory is an amazing place, firstly there is the coffee tasting and liquer tasting, all you can drink for an entry price of $14 per adult (after a $5 discount voucher which you can pick up at most touristy places around the area).  The there is the chocolate, about 12 varieties, again all you can eat and included in the entry price.  I must say that the chocolate is amazing.

Once you have tasted multiple samples of coffee, liquer and chocolate you can take all you hyped up energy for an exploration of the factory.  Firstly there is the gift shop and then the roaster plant.  This is cool for a look but the biggest surprise is the enornmous two story coffee museum.  This place has one of the biggest collections of coffee pots, perculators, roasters, crushers, etc from just about every country and dating back centuries.  The tour around the museum is self guided and you can find out about most pieces through a clever head phone unit.  You simply dial in the number of the item you are looking at and listen on your head piece for the description..awesome…and the kids had a fantastic time touring the factory before getting stuck back into the chocolate.

We left the Coffee Factory happy for the experience and headed to the Mango winery just north of town.  Lovely Lynda sampled some wines and bought a bottle for later.  Personally I found the wine overpriced and when you have to pay $1 for a taste I just switch off.

After the two excursions we fueled up and noticed time had got away from us and was now 4:15pm.

Quickly we found the turn off to Chillagoe and set off on the 150 klm trip.  After about 50 klms we noticed the big build up of clouds and were hit with a massive downpour.  This got some of the creek crossings running and one creek crossing inparticularly, very deep…

The rain slowed us down and eventually in fading light we pulled off teh road 35 klms from Chillagoe and slept for the night.  Waking up in the morning the weather was blue sky above and all around, so we hit the road arriving in Chillagoe around 8:30am.  We had been meeting up with Alex, Hamish, Jacob and Emma (Gray Family) and they had been a little concerned after travelling through very soggy and boggy conditions yesterday afternoon…we however had arrived safely and quickly booked into the Royal Arches Guided Cave tour at 1:30pm.  The tour cost $47 for the family.

This meant we had time to explore the area.  Firstly it was off to balancing rock and the aboriginal rock art.  The scenery around balancing rock was awesome with the massive black limestone pinnacles rising out of the ground in big towering spiers…the rock itself a little less spectacular but still worth a visit.

With time still on our hands we decided to have a look at two of the three self guided tours…make sure you have torches, a spare torch and batteries.  The two caves we explored were Bombari and Pompeii.  Bomabari cave was the pick of the two caves with several low tunnels and a few minor caverns.  Pompeii cave was simply a collapsed cavern and small tunnel…which you were prevented from exploring anyway…you didn’t even need your torch.

By the time we had seen balancing rock and explored the self guided caves it was time for a quick bite to eat and time for the guided tour of the Royal Arch Cave.  This tour is guided by the local ranger who equips you with your own battery pack and torch.  The tour takes about 1 3/4 hours and covers over 1klm of tracks inside the cave weaving in and out of various caverns with some amazing formations for you to view as you go.  The tour finally reaches the Fig Tree Cavern and then lastly the Royal Arch Cavern.  Both are amazing and are lit by natural daylight from way above you.  Both have large Fig trees and the Royal Arch cavern,,,obviously has quite an awe inspiring natural bridge/arch.

We all found this cave a great experience and the kids had a ball.  It is one of the better caves I have expored simply because of the variety of contrasting caverns and walkways…not to be outdone by the bats that occassional smack into you!!

The cave itself lies under another limestone monalith with the beautiful coloured jagges spiers.  This place is certainly an interesting and historic place to visit.

There is of course more to visit than the caves in Chillagoe, namely the historic town buildings, smelter and dinosaur bones.

We were all quite exhausted by the cave tripping and rising temperatures on the outside so we headed back to camp at the Rodeo Showgrounds where you can pick up a camping spot for $6 per family per night, water available but no power.

We had a bit of quiet time before building a warm fire when the evening finally cooled and the surrounding skies put on a fantastic light show full of fork and sheet lightning.

Another great day on the road…

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

Our time at Lake Tinnaroo has sadly come to an end.  The wet season is fast approaching and we have still heaps that we want to see.  This place has been fantastic and rates highly as one of the better places we have stayed since our adventure started over a year ago.  We have enjoyed setting crab nets each evening for Red Claw and checking our success next morning.  This has provided us with a fresh seafood delight each day.  The rest of the day has been spent scurfing, swimming, walking, mountain biking, jogging and climbing Bartle Frere.  How awesome life is on the road when you find a place which really soothes the soul.

Tommorrow we start another adventure.  Our plan is to head to Chillagoe to see the Limestone Caves before heading onwards on the dirt road to Mt Surprise.  From here we join the bitumen and follow it to Kurumba.  The plan here is to enjoy a couple of days of fishing before back on the dirt roads to Burketown and Lawn Hill National Park and its brilliant gorges.

Seems like an awesome couple of week s ahead of us so stay tuned as we leave one awesome adventure and head off on another.

Bushman  Bud…Enjoying Australia

The day finally arrived to tackle Queensland’s highest peak, Mt Bartle Frere at a respectable 1,622m. 

Bartle Frere is in cloud 8 out of every 10 days so to get a day with bright sunny skies takes some doing.  Today was the day.

The initial idea was to scout the track so that Joey Jess could give the summit an attempt.  Jess has been asking me to climb the mountain ever since we hit the surrounds around Cairns.  So Hamish and myself (Bushman Bud) arrived at the start of the Western climb at 10:40am.  We knew this was late in the day to start the climb but were pretty confident that we could get up and back if we backed ourselves.  We set a cut off point of 2:00pm for the summit and set off on the track.

The first 2klm or so leads slightly downhill to Bobbin Bobbin Falls, a very picturesque water fall with amazingly fresh water to drink…you have to check out the falls when climbing Bartle Frere.  The falls are about 30-40m high and cascade down through the small gorge.  We left the falls for the return trip so as not to use up valuable time on the way up.

It is at Bobbin Bobbin Falls that the track starts to climb and this continues steadily right up to the Western Peak at 1,450m.  The trail is mostly through rain forest with some scrambling over, around or through large boulders along the way.

We moved steadily with little to no rest arriving at the Western Peak at 1:00pm.  Here we climbed up onto the granite boulders where you are greeted with amazing 360 degree views of the surrounding coastline and Atherton Tablelands.  It is also here that you can get a glimpse of the BArtle Frere peak for the first time…that is if you can work out which peak it is!  The surrounding country is full of small peaks which look like any could be the summit!.

Leaving the Western Peak we had one hour to get to the summit, this was going to be tough going.  We set off with new enthusiasm thinking that the summit was not that far away.  However this section of the track crosses a few saddles so you drop down about 200m before climbing 100m, dropping another 100m and climbing the remaining few hundred metres to the summit.  This makes the last 2klm quite a challenge and energy sapping.  Made worse is the condition of the track which has not been cleared for two years due to lack of funding.  Many times we had to stop to find the track and it is amazing that more people have not got lost on this section of track.  There were times when we were pushing through head height grass hoping to come out the other side and find a track marker…be very careful on this section. 

The last section of the summit is steep with some sections exposed to the sun until you finally arrive at a tree topped summit.  Therefore there is very little view of the surrounding country side other than one rock platform which leads you to spectacular views of the coastline.  These views are simply breath taking and although minimal are well worth the climb.

We arrived at the summit bang on 2:00pm after a torturous hour of hard climbing.  The torture was our own doing simply because we hadn’t left ourselves much time.  A more leisurely climb would not have been so sapping.

A quick lunch, photo and we were back on the track heading down.  Once again we had to retrace our steps several times to pick up the track…QLD parks really need to address this issue.  Put into perspective, this walk is to an iconic QLD location (being its highest peak) and the track was in diabolical condition…this in my mind was simply not good enough.

You always make up time on the way down but on this mountain it is probably not as noticeable due to many exposed tree roots which make the track unsteadyand uneven under foot and therefore at times slow going.

We did make good progress though and were back down at Bobbin Bobbin Falls at 4:45pm.  We wondered down the track about 100m which is steep and probably the last thing you want to do after pushing yourself realy hard for 6 hours.  The legs were a bit wobbly on the way down, but this was made up for easily with the fresh cool water.

Back up to the main track after 20 mins at the falls we were back at the car around 5:30pm.  What a day full of hard climbing and pushing the body really hard.  Got to say I love to trash the body in this way and it always feels good food for the soul.

So all in all, we probably spent 10 mins at the Western Peak, 15 minutes at the summit and 20 mins looking at Bobbin Bobbin Falls.  Soooo, setting off at 10:45 and arriving back at 5:30pm, (less the above) the climb took us 6 hours to complete.

My closing thoughts, certainly not the toughest or steepest climb…that belongs to Mt Bogong (Victoria’s highest peak), so where would I rate the challenge…probably the same as Cradle Mountain.  The downsides, the leaches and the condition of the track, the upsides the amazing (although) limited view from the summit.  Make sure you pick the right day and you will enjoy QLD’s highest peak.

What else can I say…I’am at the top…and you’re not…get out and give it a go!!!!!!!!!!

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

We are at the end of a four day stay at the River & Rocks free camping area near Coles Bay and the Freycinet National Park.  If you have been following along you would know its a great base to explore the region surrounding and including the Freycinet National Park.  Also a good spot for some fishing and just plain relaxing.

The campsite is located 19 klm south of the turn off to Coles Bay from the Tasman Highway and is easily accessable for caravans, campers and those with cmper trailers or motor homes.  There is group camping available or nice secluded spots which have been well thought out and can easily accommodate a caravan or motorhome.  Onsite is a pit toilet and BBQ’s but you will need to bring your own water and firewood.

I looked at the camping spot in the national park (where fees apply) and for the sake of a 4 klm drive to the national park I would camp here anyday.  The national park costs you money, is boxed in and there still isn’t a view????

Use this one as a base if you are exploring the region around Coles Bay and the Freycinet National Park, it is free, open, easily accessable and secluded if that’s what you want.  Good spot as a base.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia

Today we did a small tour to Freycinet National Park near Coles Bay in Tassie’s Sout East Coast.

We decided to take the following route.  Cape Toureville to Whitewater Wall to Bluestone Bay and finally to Sleepy Bay. 

 

 

The first stop was Cape Toureville and the beautiful walk that follows the headland.  The walk is boarded along the cliff face and you get great views out over Lemon Rock, Sleepy Bay and Wineglass Bay, not to mention a couple of other granite peaks.  There is a lighthouse at Cape Toureville but it is rather less spectacular than the scenery and really not worth a visit.  The Freycinet National Park is full of granite peaks that meet the ocean in places and beautiful beaches in numerous bays along the coastline…a very pretty place to visit.

Next was the 4WD track through to Whitewater Wall and Bluestone Bay, which is accessed 500m from the Capre Toureville parking area.  The track itself was relatively easy other than a few washouts that needed care.  The track itself is only a few klms long so the trip to the landmarks will not take you long.  Whitewater Wall was ordinary and Bluestone Bay was pretty but not awesome.  On the return trip we followed the 4WD track out on a different path which comes out close to the Sleepy Bay parking area.  It is slightly longer but a good alternative.

Sleepy Bay was our next stop and is a must see spot.  Your follow a walk trail for about 750m before you drop down to a beautiful bay which overlooks many granite peaks in both directions.  You can have some fun here rock hopping or just sat on a rock admiring natures beauty at its best.  Along the walk you get to look over pristine coloured water and beautiful granite rock formations from up above.  The coastal vegetation which covers this walk is also an assortment of pretty ferns and trees and is part of the glowing experience you take from visiting here. 

Have a look at the photos and make sure that your visit to Freycinet National Park includes Sleepy Bay and with more time Cape Toureville.

Cape Toureville is only a short walk and will only take you 15 mins, Sleepy Bay…well you could spend hours here with the family.

Bushman Bud…Enjoying Australia