Rivers hot springs and gorges – heading west on the Savannah Way

It was good to get off the beaten track, away from the hot tarmac and lines of caravans.

Out on the lonely backroads.

But there is comforts to found off the beaten track!

Tallaroo Hot Springs https://www.talaroo.com.au/ where I took a soak in a private hot pool. The new Talaroo Hot Springs Complex is being being newly renovated.

My next stop was the little town of Einasleigh site of the beautiful Copperfield Gorge.

With the Einasleigh Pub a welcoming place to visit at the top of the gorge.

The Savannah Way is dotted with beautiful springs, rivers and waterholes

Like Jacobs Lagoon

And the Einasleigh River

Which I had to cross.

The sun is getting higher in the sky. Time to go for a swim in the gorge !!!

Followed the river over the rocks and little rapids to a beautiful beach at the northern end of the gorge. The perfect spot to strip off for a swim!

Time to Say Goodbye to the Pacific Ocean and head West, back to the Outback

Wongalinga Beach on Queensland’s north coast is a beautiful place to rest and regenerate before heading inland again.

The clear water is warm and being inside the Great Barrier Reef the waves are gentle.

Perfect for daily swims to ease the muscles tight from three and a half months on the road.

Scotties Hostel, which is only a few hundred metres to the beach was a perfect place to find a bed and give the tent a rest.

But I wanted to see the Reef again before I needed inland.

Kings Reef is the closest part of the Great Barrier Reef to the mainland.

So I found myself a camp site right beside the sand at Kurrimine Beach.

A good travelling friend had recommended it.

Here, when the moon is coming onto full and the very low tides fall during the day

One is able to walk out to Kings Reef

I walked past the yacht sitting at rest on the sand

And out to the reef

Being exposed so much the coral is sparse but there are beautiful patches

So it was goodbye to the Pacific Ocean.

The next Ocean I will swim in will be the Indian Ocean on the other side of the continent

It was a beautiful ride up onto the Atherton Tableland past the waterfalls and rainforest to historic Herberton, just off the Savannah Way and the route to the west.

And the Outback

In Queensland it’s coal vs nature on the FrontLine Action on Coal (FLAC)

In North Queensland only a few hundred kilometres inland from the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef is some of the most intensive coal mining in the world.

The Stop Adani Campaign has been the headline battle to try and stop the coal behemoth swallow up the fragile land water and wildlife churn it and just spit it out as tailing and pollution

And the fight still goes on at FLAC https://frontlineaction.org/

The west of Queensland is dry and outside the wet season the riverbeds are dry sand

And farmers, animals, birdlife and native flora rely on water stored underground.

It bubbles up in springs across inland Australia. The springs I swam in on the Oodnadatta Track, thousands of kilometres away are linked and fed water by the Queensland springs.

Springs like Doongmabulla Spings https://www.defendourwater.org/springs#:~:text=The%20Doongmabulla%20Springs%20complex%20is,very%20dry%20landscape%5B1%5D.&text=These%20springs%20are%20like%20oases,They%20also%20support%20remarkable%20ecosystems.

Source https://news.flinders.edu.au/blog/2019/06/12/groundwater-plan-flawed-experts-warn/

An oasis in the harsh outback of Queensland which could likely be drained to wash the coal extracted from The Adani Mine.

Water is essential to preserving the beautiful things of nature.

Beautiful birds

None of the birds above are threatened but at the Adani site, there are endangered species of birds that could be wiped out.

In outback Australia, water is life. For people, for food production, for Australia’s unique fauna and flora.

We don’t need to use it to waste it on a new coal mine when the future is in renewable energy not coal or gas.

If you can support FLAC. Visit https://frontlineaction.org/

Camped at Camp Binbee Under the Milky Way at Night

Central Australia Adventure 12 – Uluru and Kata Tjuta

The Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park in many ways the centre of Australia

Uluru the largest monolith in the world.

Constantly changing colour and tone as the light hits it.

To see it shine red during sunset it amazing

To see it at sunset with the March full moon rising on the equinox truly spiritual.

The walk around the base of Uluru is approximately 10.5 km.

Uluru is a sacred place for Aboriginal Australians and being close to it one feels the sacred power of the rock that is ever changing in colour and mood.

Each crevice, crack, cave and stain tell part of an Aboriginal dreamtime story.

Stories often told in drawing in the rock caves.

Kata Tjuta is approximately 40 km from Uluru. A series of sandstone rocks through which valleys wind.

The Valley of the Winds walk is an approximately 7km walk through the rock outcrops

As I sit in a hotel room in Longreach, Queensland, reflecting on the two weeks spent immersed in the Red Centre a shiver still goes down my spine.

It took me almost a lifetime to get here but I may yet be back.

Central Australia Adventure 11 – Watarrka or Kings Canyon

There are two ways to travel between Alice Springs and Kings Canyon. The long way down the Stuart Highway or the short rough way on the dirt Mereenie loop road.

Road both but only the loop road was worth a picture!

Mereenie Sandstone formed in Central Australia about 400 million years ago.

By the size of the corrugations on the loop road that was the last time the road was graded!