We left Winton after the quickest pack up ever, keen to
depart the flies and what had been a mostly trying stop on our trip, but not
before we popped into the bakery to have a quick finger bun and coffee with the
local inbreds. Nice.
The drive up to Hughenden along the Kennedy Developmental Rd was pleasant, travelling
through sparse grazing land interspersed with the odd driveway apparently
promising the homestead of a cattle station at its end. You feel the isolation
of these far flung areas very acutely and like real ‘townies’, felt ourselves wondering
when we would catch sight of another car or even a roadtrain: we saw five
vehicles in just over 200kms. Driving under the vast open blue sky, through
light green countryside with just a straight road unfolding in front of us, we
couldn’t help feeling that better days were ahead.
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| "Brolox" Fiela and Marguerite's pet globe spider. Many a happy (and disturbing) hour was spent catching grasshoppers to chuck in his web and watch as he spun them into his next meal. |
And they were. We stepped out of the car in Hughenden and
our faces lit up- no flies! Then went to the FJ Holden Café for what Lonely
Planet described as ‘excellent’ food. They weren’t far wrong, though the
waitress could have warned us when we ordered the ‘FJ Super Burger’ that it
involved everything a normal good hamburger would have (like pineapple and
beetroot) but with bacon, egg and a steak. It was outrageous and delicious.
We picked up a few supplies and headed out for Porcupine
Gorge for 4 nights of communing with nature. And commune we did, on the road,
with some cows. Lots of cattle were grazing, and I’d been trying to conjure up
some brakes on the passenger side along with a white knuckle grip on the door every
time we came near any close to the road. Fiela on the other hand was taking a
fairly nonchalant attitude to the stupid beasts until two came running toward
us in a narrow gully while we were doing 60kmh. Those cows almost ended up as FJ
Super Burgers themselves and I pumped out enough adrenaline to jumpstart an
overdose victim.
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| The top of Porcupine Gorge. |
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| Marguerite "the leader" on the way down. Not to be repeated on the way back up! |
We arrived at the gorge, pleased to see there were only a
few flies and even fewer people. After a frustrating set up involving chocks,
the spirit level and a huge meat ant nest, we settled in for a beer with one of
the other people camping there. Unfortunately he was a disgruntled Hughenden
Council worker, so while he had some great information about the area, he also
liberally sprinkled it with some vitriol directed at his fellow employees. Then
we met the one other person camping, who we realised within a few minutes was
drinking his way around Australia
with a dog called Slushie.
We got rid of those two thanks to the kids and bath and bed
time, and sat out watching some unbelievable stars.
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| Fiela with The Pyramid in the background. |
The campground is at the top, and we didn’t realise how high
up we were until the next morning when (after watching a flock of around 30
black cockatoos screech their way over us) we made our way to the beginning of the
walk down into the gorge. It is a beautifully crafted landscape, all gumtree
coated top, red hued cliffs and the beckoning murmur of water over rock
bouncing up the walls toward us. The Uys Huis was in love with this part of the
Outback already.
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| Rock hopping and creek swimming fun. |
It was pretty hot and the 1.2km descent into the gorge steep
so by the time we made it to the creek running at the bottom, it was swim time.
Marguerite had a fantastic time exploring little rock pools and hopping between
big boulders, and Fiela managed to find one of those magical rapids which is
just like a spa. The water was lovely and while it was fairly murky, it was
also a beautiful temperature. The hike back up to the campsite was a little
harrowing thanks to Miss M’s version of the Crying Games (quote of the day “I
don’t want to be the leader I just want a red
drink and my moviiiieeeee!!!!!”), while Caesar fell asleep
in his carrier, blissfully tuning out to the drama screaming its way up the
stairs.
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| Marguerite, ready to tackle the walk she "never want(ed) to do ... again" yesterday. |
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| The Pyramid. |
We went back down every day for the rest of our time at
Porcupine Gorge, having found an awesome swimming hole directly below the
Pyramid, a huge rock formation in the shape of its namesake. Happy days were
spent exploring, swimming, marvelling and thanking those beautiful stars that
we had the entire place to ourselves.
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| Swimming hole fun... |
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| This waterhole was a few metres deep and directly below The Pyramid. |
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| Exploring the other side. Clearly we had been to too many museums of late, as Marguerite proceeded to give us a "tour" of this "very very old rock place- now don't touch ANYTHING or you'll have to get off the tour. See this rock hole? It's very very old..." |
Apart from the slow down when cows are grazing by the side
of the road thing, there were a few other lessons learnt over the four nights
spent here:
·
Meat ants swarm
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| Fiela and his mini-me. |
Or so Marguerite found out when
told repeatedly to leave one of the nests alone but of course, couldn’t help
herself: she poured some water in and the meat ants swarmed up her legs, giving
her a few little bites along the way. This lesson also proved to be quite the
disciplinary tool, with Fiela threatening a few times to put her back on the
nest.
·
BBQ tools are not fireproof
Or so Fiela learned when he
heated up the Baby Weber for a roast, inconveniently forgetting the cleaning
wire brush and BBQ tool were inside. Our roast also had a faint plasticky
taste, but we all seem fine so clearly no real heavy toxins were consumed. On
the plus side he did manage to pick up a brand new set in Georgetown a few days later for $1.
·
Sometimes it’s better to give up and try again
tomorrow.
In one day I forgot to bring the
computer along to a café we specifically went to so we could use the wifi, put
chocks under the wrong wheels and therefore made the camper even less level,
made dinner for the kids but forgot about Fiela and I (potato chips for dinner
again) and generally had a complete shocker. I managed to get my shit together
the next day, clearly proving this last point.
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| The road on the way out of Porcupine Gorge up to the Undara Lava Tubes.... |
Porcupine Gorge did more than give us a few simple lessons though. It allowed us to reset ourselves after the Winton debacle and spend time together in the most constructive way possible: in a campertrailer, just us, the bush and a beautiful little gorge.
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