Sept 29 ... Eungulla

On our last day at Cape Hillsborough, I spent some hours watching the butterflies. To my great delight I saw more than 50 of the Ulysses but it was impossible to photograph them. Some other species were much more obliging though and I enjoyed the morning very much.

 

We got an early start the next morning as we wanted to stop by Ball Bay and Seaforth to see what they were like. Both were lovely small settlements on nice tropical beaches, but nothing to tempt us back.

Retracing our route from a few days before, we went back to Kuttabul and then turned off for Marian, in the Pioneer Valley. It was a lovely drive through the canefields up to Finch Hatton and the Gorge. To “refuel” we stopped at the River Rock Cafe and enjoyed the most expensive cup of coffee in Australia ... at least for us, on this trip! And it was a very small cup for $6, but fortunately it tasted good. We also ordered pancakes and for $9 we got 3 small, thin pikelets. We were the only people there and at those prices we were not surprised. But the setting was lovely as it was beside a creek and amongst the trees.

River Rock Cafe

The Gorge walk looked easy enough and at 4.5 kms we thought it would be no problem. Little did we know it was a steady, often steep, incline the whole way with the last 500ms all steps... and it was hot and humid. We were dripping by the time we got to the top waterfall, the Wheel of Fire. Of course the forest was beautiful with big trees and vines and ferns, but again, it was silent and still. I am always disappointed by the lack of birds and insects. 

However, there were a number of really lovely waterfalls and there were places to swim if you wanted to brave the freezing water. When we got right up to the top we sat and watched the forest for a while to be rewarded with lots of butterflies including many of my favourite blue ones. 

Falls in Finch Hatton Gorge

Wheel of Fire Falls

Araluen Cascades

My "Ulysses" ... at least he got the colours right!

Not a butterfly, but same colours

On our return to the car, we were surprised how long the walk / climb had taken but we felt we had certainly done our exercise for the day. Our drive further along the valley took us over a number of river and creek crossings and some were very picturesque. 

The road up the range is impressive. It is a 12% gradient for 4.5 kms and it twists and turns all the way, but once on top the views are amazing. We had a little drive around Eungulla before checking in to the park. We had been given a site which had a view right down the valley so we were quite happy until we started to notice a definite pong in the air. The park was obviously having problems with their septic system, which was okay as long as the wind was blowing in the right direction. 

The road up the mountain

The Pioneer Valley

We also think it is an expensive park as it is really old with just minimal facilities (one shower and two toilets) and there would be about 50 people staying here. At $30 / night we have come to expect a much higher standard. 

Our site at Explorers Haven

After getting set up we went for a drive to Broken River to see if there were any platypuses about. Thankfully the advertising did deliver this time and we were entertained for well over an hour by three little animals. I was very surprised at how small they actually are ... definitely not more than 30cms. And they are quick, you only get a few seconds to see them each time they surface. The viewing platform was right over the stretch of the river where they have their burrows and feed so there was constant action.

Not being content with our Finch Hatton Gorge trek, we thought it would be “fun” to do a bush walk along the ridge south from Eungulla through the rainforest. We had a map with a clearly marked trail so off we went, assuming it would be well trodden as was yesterday’s walk. At first we admired the beautiful rainforest, a remnant of the sub-tropical forest that covered this whole area in the recent past. 

 "Black Snake" track

Then we came to a small valley that was full of screeching bats. For animals that were supposed to be sleeping they were making a hell of a noise and I did not enjoy walking beneath them. On the other side of the colony I was having some idle thoughts about photographing a snake when I looked down just as I placed my foot RIGHT BESIDE a 5 foot black snake. It and I got quite a shock. I responded by standing still and it responded by obligingly not biting me and slithering away. Thank God! It may have been a different story if I had actually trodden on it ... what luck!

Smelly, noisy bats

For the rest of the walk I was concentrating quite hard on what was on the track and not too worried at all about the views, which Garry tells me were quite good. Along the route we came to the Tree Arch which is a strangler fig that has killed its host and we walked through huge groves of cedar trees. Compared to other cedars I have seen, these were only small ones but they were still impressive. The track became quite overgrown in places and not as easy to negotiate as we had thought.

At the end of the walk we came to The Sky Window which had wonderful views all down the valley. At the moment there is a lot of smoke about, mostly from the cane mills which are in full production, and also from some cane fires which we see burning at night. We are told that on a clear day, the ocean is quite visible from up here ... I guess that will be another trip.

I was a bit reluctant to walk back through the forest so we came via the road, on which we found a delightful cafe. Run by a very strange German lady, the Hideaway Cafe was an interesting place. “Susanne” was obviously very creative and she had made huge numbers of sculptures out of metal and coloured glass buttons. These were positioned throughout the garden and they looked very pretty in the sunshine. She also had home-made apple strudel which was very tasty with our coffees. 

From here we walked back into town and just enjoyed our pong-free view until lunch time, when we walked up to the Chalet for lunch. This building has been here since 1934 and it was where my parents came on their honeymoon in 1950. I don’t think it has changed much in all that time but we had a nice hamburger with chips for lunch served by a man who had to be an ex bikie. He was big and VERY tattooed, with earrings, rings and the whole works, and it seemed strangely out of character when he politely brought our meals out. 

Eungulla Chalet

The Pioneer Valley

Unfortunately there was a wind change when we got back to the van so it was with some relief that we headed off to watch the platypuses again. This time we were really spoilt for excitement. As well as the three platypuses to observe, we also had lots of turtles, bush turkeys, kookaburras fishing, a huge eel attack a turtle AND a snake swim across the river right in front of us. It was all GO. 

We have both commented on how glad we are that we chose to come up here for a short period of time. It has been really special in many ways and I hope that on our next visit, the air is clear, the platypuses have multiplied, the park has fixed its septic system and the nice bikie still works at the pub!