Day 39: Thu 3 Aug 23 - Finch Hatton

Thu 3 Aug 23 - Finch Hatton

Weather: After a peaceful night sleep, we woke to 17 Deg, cloudy with no wind. It started drizzling at about 10am then cleared again by 1.30pm, reaching 23 Deg and no wind by the evening.

I went for a 3km walk around the property then along the Mackay-Eungella Road to the Finch Hatton Gorge turnoff and back again before breakfast. After breakfast, Noel and I packed a few snacks and some water, then drove a little more than 10 km to the Finch Hatton Gorge carpark where we set off for a beautiful 1.6km walk to the Araluen waterfall. After enjoying the views, we continued another 1.4km to the challenging Callistemon Crossing to reach the Wheel of Fire cascades, another beautiful waterfall with a large rock pool at its base. It’s a stunning walk through scenic rainforest with amazing views along the creek and many rock pools. The tracks are well formed and, although a gentle climb, relatively easy until the Callistemon Crossing. From here to the Wheel of Fire is more challenging, mostly steep uphill segments with many stairs to climb. Noel surprised me and even took her shoes off and crossed the steady flowing water and slippery rocks to the other side of Callistemon Crossing with me. It was a slow climb to the final and largest rockpool - the Wheel of Fire, where I celebrated this long awaited walk with an invigorating dip. It was a tad fresh, (almost icy in parts of the pool), but it was sensational. By now the rain had begun to fall quite steadily, but as I was already wet, it didn’t matter. After a little while enjoying the scenery and (for me) the swim, we walked the 2.1km back down to the car. On the way, at Callistemon Crossing, I helped a couple of families to navigate their way over the crossing. My advice was don’t climb over the rocks, stay low, step cautiously and keep 3 points of contact at all times. We eventually continued our descent, arriving back at the car in steady rain, but totally satisfied with the walk. I was especially proud of Noeleene going all the way to the top - it was a great effort.

We arrived back at the van, a little after 1pm, to our shock, despite all the vacant space around the park we had a caravan and a motorhome parked almost under our awning. I asked old mate why he had to park so close with so many other options around. He said that he was told to park wherever he wanted, and despite being in one of the smallest vans in the park, said it wasn’t that easy finding a suitable spot. He was very dismissive and arrogant, so I didn’t want to make a scene and just waited until the caretaker returned to sort it out. Cutting to the outcome, the caretaker (PJ - a temporary caretaker who was in Mackay for the day) did eventually return , and was shocked to see where they parked. She apologised to us profusely and said she would ask the motorhome owner to move, which she did. They are travelling together and both leaving tomorrow thank goodness, so we will have our view of the hills back again.

After our afternoon brew outside with views of the campervan, I climbed on the bike for a ride back out to the Finch Hatton Gorge (Gorge Road) stopping along the way to watch the cane harvest, and a few kms further, a chance meeting with Felix the Bull. He is such an adorable bull, and he's a wonderful story if you can read it below - let me know if you can't. It was a very full and rewarding day today. Tomorrow, Lyndi is driving out from Mackay to join us for a drive up into Eungella National Park for the day, and hopefully we will spot some Platypus. We saw several there two years ago so hopefully we have the same luck tomorrow - preferably without rain.

Morning Walk - Cane crops affected by wind and rain well and truly ready for harvest.

Neem Hall Camp Kitchen - and chooks

Neem Hall - Back yard

Start of Finch Hatton Gorge walking trail

Start of the trail to Araluen Waterfalls

Lovely rainforest walk and scenery

Lovely rainforest walk

Lovely rainforest walk and scenery

Araluen waterfalls and rockpool

Araluen waterfall rockpool

Lovely Rainforest walk

Rockpools and waterways along the walk

Callistamon Crossing

Climbing the last 800m to the Wheel of Fire Cascades

Amazing scenery on the last section to the Wheel of Fire Cascades

Our destination - the final Wheel of Fire Cascade Rockpool

The descent from the Wheel of Fire Cascade Rockpool

Picturesque river crossings

Look at where this inconsiderate so and so parked while we were out. The campervan owner (travelling with the van owner on the left) was told to move to another site when they returned in the evening.