I was up before daybreak, packed up the tent and headed off back to the main road. I was well on my way at daybreak. Kununarra to Katherine is 510 km.  I had heard of the beauty of the Katherine Gorge and was keen to do the day tour on offer. Katherine is a small town on the Alice to Darwin road only around 300 km from Darwin. I thought about going on to Darwin as I had never been there. However being short on time I dismissed the idea as you cannot go to Darwin only, but  HAVE to visit Litchfield and Kakadu National Parks as well. Then there is the Roper River. All of this would take another 2 weeks. So I have shelved this for another trip.

This trip was done in 2018.

Once the sun was up I could see that the landscape was sub-tropical scrub and trees, but very dry. I went cruising along until I reached the great Victoria River at Timber Creek. Earlier I passed the sign/ entrance to Bullo River Station of Sarah Henderson fame. The Victoria River is known to harbor many Salties. Would not want to swim in there for any money in the world.

Victoria River

I reached Katherine early in the afternoon and proceeded to The Caravan Park at the Katherine River resort. The resort is situated on the banks of the Katherine river has great facilities including a huge salt water pool.

The next morning I joined the Tour of the Katherine Gorge. The gorge is gorgeous (J) with steep rock walls rising on both sides of the river. In places there were sandbanks in coves that looked like secluded beaches. The tour is in three stages where rock banks terminate the cruise and passengers have to disembark and walk a few hundred yards to the next level of the river.

Change over to next level

Along the rock walls are many places where ancient aboriginal art is visible from small pictures to 4 meter high pictures of dream time beings.

I have failed to mention all along this trip that everywhere I went I had a supply of water bottles. So I had a sip of water often as the temperatures were well into the thirties every day. We returned home in the late afternoon. After a hot and sweaty day I decided to take advantage of the large swimming pool for a few hours before I had a drink and cooked something to eat. The next morning it was time to head back south in the direction of home.

If you were to draw a line from Rockhampton to Yeppoon and then to Emu Park (and Zielzie) and back to Rocky, you’d have put a border around some of the most scenic and interesting countryside in Queensland. There are a number of geological features called ‘plugs’ where rocky outcrops appear to have been forced out of the ground. They look almost like pimples on the landscape. These were created by volcanic activity millennia ago.

I am constantly amazed by the foliage. There are many spectacular species of old trees like the Fig tree below. The area is very easy on the eye. One bay follows the other as you head south from Yeppoon. There are at least 15 bays and headlands. One never tires of walking on the beach at any tide. As the bays are very shallow you can walk into the sea forever it seems. Every day we have 23 degrees C. Only a slight breeze…  Yeah I know, it is really tough to endure!!

  and another tree:

However, I am really surprised by the interesting history of the area as some of the links below might indicate:

The town of Rockhampton was created in 1853 by the Archer family. Soon gold was discovered and a 50 year gold boom endured. The largest mine was at Mount Morgan. Initially sheep were farmed and these were later replaced largely by cattle. This area still is a major cattle area. These industries attracted the populations in the early days. These days there is a substantial coal mining industry as well. In the process Rockhampton has become the capital of central Queensland.  The wealth from the gold boom resulted in riches that afforded the building of the many beautiful buildings that have been preserved and adorn the town and river frontage.

In the early days roads were constructed to Yeppoon and Emu Park. There was no road from Yeppon to Emu Park as the Causeway lake at Kinka beach presented an insurmountable barrier. A railroad was built to Emu Beach where the wellheeled had their coastal homes in this slice of paradise.

Some of the history at the link below:

http://library-resources.cqu.edu.au/cqcollection/manuscripts/short-manuscripts/rockhampton.pdf

This summarises some of the main industries of the early days like Beef, gold mining and natural wealth. Gold was found throughout the region and in places was very lucrative like at Mount Morgan.

Some old images showing early Rockhampton at:

http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/old-images-show-how-much-rockhampton-cbd-has-grown/1894214/

A summary of early development can be found at

http://ajthompson.com.au/capricorn-coast/history-rockhampton-environs-early-settlement.htm#.VcHpAfmqqkp

The history of Yeppoon is similarly interesting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeppoon

A quick summary can be found here:

http://queenslandplaces.com.au/yeppoon

Further info includes Emu Park where we have been a few times now:

http://www.cqhistory.com/places/yeppoon.html

I have just had a look at a list of shipwrecks to be found off the Qld coast. There are literally hundreds of them. In some cases Queensland towns derived their names from the name of a shipwreck in their vicinity, for example: Coolangatta at the Gold Coast

http://oceans1.customer.netspace.net.au/qld-wrecks.html

Needless to say the above is just the tip of the iceberg.

I spent some time on top of Mount Archer. The hill overlooks the city from about 9 km  away. It shows off the big Fitzroy river snaking through then landscape. There are some stunning views for 360 degrees.

We left Woodgate early-ish in the morning to go up north some 150km to a remote little place by the name of Baffle creek. There is a lovely caravan park amongst tropical trees and palms along the banks of the Baffle creek. The camp sites are green with grass and some of the power sites have cement slabs. The park is about 6 km from the river mouth.

Along the way from Woodgate were many areas that farmed sugar cane and Macadamia nuts. In places there was sugar cane as far as the eye can see.

Baffle creek is about fishing. There are a number of launching sites and they do catch fish from the boats. Fish are caught from the shores of the river or the jetties less frequently.

When you get to the beaches you can see the signs of the recent cyclone. The beaches are eroded and dead trees are littered above the high water mark. You can see where the waters had eaten away at the dunes. Driving on the beach is a bit difficult and suggestion is that tyre pressure is reduced to around 1.3 Bar.

The caravan park is one of the few parks that allow fires in designated areas. Wood is available for $12 a load or heaps more if you are prepared to cut it yourself; ask park management about details.

As I do not have a boat the fishing is going to be tough. So, instead we decided to do a bit of exploring.

Agnes Water and the town of Seventeen Seventy (1770)

The next day we went to explore the coastline just north of Baffle Creek

We drove north to a town called Agnes Waters that had a pleasant beach, newish shops and some recently developed residential estates. As one could not see the sea/beach from most of the town it lost the wow factor for me and we continued on to the town of 1770. Seventeen Seventy, also written as 1770, is a village in Queensland, Australia, built on the site of the second landing by Captain James Cook and the crew of HM Bark Endeavour in May 1770.

The place is stunning, interesting and of historical significance. It has a lot of old world charm and spectacular sites and sights. Links below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Seventy,_Queensland

As we got there the CFA were burning off which caused some interesting smoky outlooks. Burn-offs happen all around Australia to reduce the fuel load for the dry season and so reduce the likelihood of bush fires.

As you get to the town there are launching facilities and stunning views up and down the inlet / natural harbor. It is easy to see why Captain Cook chose this place to stop.

The topography is hilly so there are great lookouts and vantage points like Bustard point  . People have built homes on the hills that offer spectacular views of the surrounding sea.

Queenslanders love Letter Boxes

We all have letter boxes. Yep, we go to Bunnings and buy one of these metal monster in mission brown, black or caramel colors. Letter boxes are an iconic feature in our communities. The posty deposits the mail regularly and everybody is happy!  Right??…Wrong.

Queenslanders love letter boxes and here in rural Queensland they get very inventive and arty about their mail receptables. I sense that there is a sense of humor attached to the selection of the letter box. Have a look of some of these that I have come across so far.  I will keep posting these as I find more unique ones. Please post to me in return any that you have come across.