We were on a really tight timeline, to see some of this park, but also to get to the next one, Salvator Rosa, before dark. Al decided to stay and pack up their camp while John, Dell, Darryl and I drove off to try and choose the pick of the walks and sights. The furtherest I chose was Emmet Pocked Lookout and Walk, (which was supposedly difficult).
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| (Darryl's photo) |
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| Trapdoor spider burrow entrance |
The lookout was quite good, but the 2km walk through the bush ended in disappointment. None of us could actually believe what it was and wasn't. I eventually worked out that the brochure writeup for this walk had been mixed up with a different one, (which happened to be the one we had decided not to do).
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| (John's photo) |
Murphy's Rockhole was another disappointment but, thankfully, Rainbow Gorge made up for it. The colours in the rocks were amazing.
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| (John's photo) |
Back at camp we collected Al, had morning tea then it was off to Blackall again, for hot showers and lunch.
Heading east again we passed through Tambo, past weaners on the road, and people on horses mustering cattle.
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| (Dell's photo) |
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| (Dell's photo) |
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| (Dell's photo) |
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| (Dell's photo) |
Flat country soon revealed incredible rock formations and escarpments as we entered the Central Highlands.
We 'had' been leading the convoy, but stopped to get some firewood, and ushered the others past us. Although they should not have been too far ahead, and we were in 2-way communication, they missed the turn to take to Salvator Rosa. It was extremely poorly marked, (as in not at all), and was only about 300m in that there was a tiny sign saying that eCamping tickets had to be booked (which I recognised as being important).
For some reason the others were out of 2-way range, and the last call I heard I 'thought' Dell said it was "ok" they took the road, so I assumed they 'were' ahead of us. Within about 10 mins the sky turned from light fluffy clouds to ominous black thunderclouds, and soon we could see showers in the distance.
There was a little heavy rain before we were treated to a double rainbow, and all of that was behind us.
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| (Dell's photo) |
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| (Dell's photo) |
The property we were traversing, was growing grain to feed the cattle. Down on the worryingly black soil creek flats, a wallaby darted across the road in front of us, and as we reached Salvator Rosa campground it was nearly dark. We were disappointed to see that the others were not already there.
They had seen the "Wilderness Way" sign, and wondered about it, as it was the right distance that I had told them from from the previous turnoff. When there wasn't any signs relating to Carnarvon or Salvator Rosa, and they couldn't get a 2-way response from us, they continued east on the highway about another 10km before realising their mistake, turned around, and they came into camp just as we were finishing setting up. We were delighted to see them, as we had supposed they might stop the night elsewhere and make the trip in daylight. There were a surprising number of other campers at the grounds, and we had to set up in the middle.
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| Al's enjoying 'finally' being at the campsite and having happy hour. |
The scenery between Tambo and especially close to Salvator Rosa along the Dawson Development Road is stunning and worth the drive. The track closer to Salvator Rosa is over black soil and as it was raining on the way in, front parts of the the trailer was covered in thick mud that had to be scraped off before setting up. One couple told us it had rained heavily during the three days they were there and only stopped at night. As they were the only couple camping there at the time, they were so worried about the river rising quickly they had not crossed it to see the rest of the park.
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