Finch Hatton Gorge, Eungalla and Broken River

Today I got up early and walked down to a nearby lagoon to see if I could see the resident platypuses. I couldn't. So I decided to go up to Eungella to find some.

The lagoon. 

The ride up followed the Pioneer River. I took a couple of photos on the way.

On the way I saw a sign for Finch Hatton Gorge. I turned off and rode in through a rainforest. The rain has filled the creeks and several of them flowed over the road. 

In an ideal world the car park would be a few metres from the gorge. Unfortunately it was a 5km round trip. Because I hadn't intended to go bush walking I hadn't had breakfast, nor brought water, or a bag apart from my tank bag (it is a bag that sits on the petrol tank and has all my electrical stuff in it so I can charge things while riding). 

So I set off on a bush walk in full motorcycle riding gear, including wet weather gear, with no water and a bag that is basically a purse filled with thousands of dollars worth of electrical stuff (to be fair, I'm including the phone in that calculation).

After about 500 metres I stopped to strip off my rain and riding jackets and another walker laughed at me. I continued on and after a km and a half I got to the track to the main waterfall, which was closed. Having come that far I decided to keep going to the next site which was mysteriously named the wheel of fire. 

Not far along that track I had to cross a creek by hopping from rock to rock. I struggled and stumbled across the rocks with my arms full of clothing and a glorified handbag until I got to the big rock in the middle. Surprisingly my riding boots make for fairly decent hiking boots. I stayed perched in the middle of the creek for a few minutes trying to figure out my next course of action. A couple came along and I mentioned to them that I was definitely going to fall in. The bloke said he fell in last time, which didn't reassure me as I bet he didn't have a gps, bose noise cancelling headphones, vape, battery pack, MP3 player, Bluetooth receiver, headlamp and helmet camera wrapped up in a bundle of clothes in his arms when he fell. 

Anyway, I decided to just splash my way through. The main difficulty was the slippery rocks I had to jump to. By including the submerged rocks in the possibilities it was much easier as I didn't have to do as much jumping. I didn't submerge my boots enough to fill them with water so it wasn't so bad. The rest of the walk got steeper but at the end I discovered the Wheel of Fire is actually a nice swimming hole. 

Wheel. Of. Fiiiiiiire! 

The water was the coldest I've ever been in. It was so cold it wasn't even bad. It was like a novelty. After the swim I walked back down and the trip back across the creek was far less precarious. I was pretty knackered by the time I got back, mainly from carrying all the crap. Riding gear is heavy. 

I stopped in the nearby town of Finch Hatton for lunch. A man at the store reading a paper chatted with me for a bit about the bike but I couldn't make much sense of what he was saying. When he packed up to leave he showed me that he was only wearing one thong as it was "all I could find this morning". I admire that he embraced his lack of left thong enough to share it with me. 

"Lose a thong mate"?
"Na, I found one". 

After that encounter I did notice that he was wearing exactly one thong more than everyone who came into that shop while I was having lunch, except for one girl who was even more bizarrely wearing high heels.

I continued on to Eungella and the last 4km was the steepest, windiest road up a mountain. At the top was a lovely little town overlooking the valley on the edge of a national park. The views though. Amazing. 

The valley, looking back towards Mackay. 

The top part of the road up the hill. I wish I had recorded the ride up. 

I went to Broken River and walked along a creek and finally saw some platypuses and a few turtles. I took a terrible photo of a platypus way off in the distance but also noticed a turtle that had climbed up a branch of a log sitting in the creek and was perched on the top like a bird. But I just looked at the photo and a bit of tree obscures the turtle. I am so disappointed. Here is the photo anyway. 

To be honest I didn't really get a much better photo of a platypus, although I did take a video. I'm running low on data so can't share it.

I made my way back towards Mackay and stopped at woolies to buy myself a can opener and some thongs after I left mine in Rockhampton. As I pulled up the one thonged man from lunch a few hours and about 50km earlier came up to me and asked if I was the same guy he'd been talking to. He had found his other thong! Lucky for him, because neither woolies or the reject shop sold them so I am myself, thongless. 

I am back at the petting zoo again tonight. There seems to be an unquantifiable number (3) of backpackers here doing their farm work so they can extend their visa. Pretty cushy farm for them. So they essentially live here. I met 2 of them earlier when they came to pass a message on from the owner. Which leads to this...

The toilet and shower are two separate rooms inside a larger bathroom area. It is very nice. I went to the toilet before and when I came out one of the backpacker girls had, I think, locked the entire bathroom instead of just the shower, not realising I was in the toilet. I came out and she'd just taken her jeans off. I froze and said "err, hello". She replied "no problem". I don't even know what that means in that context. I turned to wash my hands and she took off. It was so awkward. I was only doing a wee. I can't help but wonder how that would've went down if I'd been pooing.

Tomorrow I intend on moving on. Airlie Beach isn't too far but camping options are limited and I'm not that keen on paying to stay in a hostel. I'm not sure what to do. Packing up has been a major pain and takes ages. Those that have lived with me know I like to keep my space in order and it is no different in my tent...