Exploring Carnarvon Gorge Section of Carnarvon National Park

3 July 2018 - Exploring Carnarvon Gorge Section of Carnarvon National Park

We all enjoyed a well-earned sleep in, followed by laundry to deal with yesterday’s muddy clothes.  Our first walk of the day was to Boolumba Bluff – this had 1012 steps to the top, so a very solid climb.  This gave amazing views towards Expedition National Park.  This walk is apparently best done at sunrise, however would not have been this morning due to the cloud cover.  The Rock Pool was our next stop and it was very picturesque.  On a hot day this would be lovely spot to cool off after a day’s hike. Next up was Baloon Cave for some more aboriginal rock art.  After a late lunch back at camp, we got dinner going in the slow cooker.  Then off to Mickey Creek Gorge.  This was nice, however the other gorge on this track (Warrumbah Gorge) was a treat!  This involved climbing up and over several large rock ledges, walking along fallen logs and spider climbing through the canyon.  At dusk we went to Carnarvon Creek inside the Takarakka campgrounds and were fortunate enough to be able to watch and platypus in its natural habitat for around twenty minutes.  Tranquility!

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge/

www.takarakka.com.au/

Seahorses, Platypi and Beer

Thursday 22 January 2015

Pregnant MALE

We started the day with Seahorse World at Beauty Point.  This is associated with a seahorse farm that exports live seahorses around the world.  Apparently, female seahorses drop their eggs directly into the male’s stomach pouch.  These are fertilized on entry and then the male is pregnant, with his stomach pouch swelling. The pregnancy lasts between 2 and 4 weeks depending on the breed, the male then goes into labour and gives live birth to around two hundred babies.  There were tanks with babies of varying ages for viewing.

https://seahorseworld.com.au/

Seahorses

Seahorse Nursery Tank

Seadragon

Next was Platypus House and Echidna Garden.  We were able to see several platypi feeding and then observe a breeding pair in a larger environment.  To date, Tasmanian platypus have not yet been successfully bred in captivity – however if it is up to “Jupiter” (and “Dawn”) and persistence pays off it may happen.  We were also able to observe three Tasmanian Echidnas at close quarters.  Due to the colder climate these look less spiky than mainland echidnas as they have a thick furry coat to keep them warm.  Platypus and Echidna may seem like an odd combination, but they are both “monotremes”, egg laying mammals.

https://www.platypushouse.com.au/

Lunch was enjoyed at “The River Café” in Beauty Point and all our meals were delicious and they were happy to cater to Hayden’s dietary needs.  I had a beautiful pizza, Drew had a crumbed calamari salad and Hayden had grilled chicken strips and chips.

https://www.therivercafe.com.au/

On the way back to Launceston we drove through Grindelwald. I was disappointed in this as it was really just a shopping centre and resort accommodation with a mild Swiss theme rather than a Swiss village.

This afternoon we did a Boag’s brewery tour.  I found this quite interesting as I had never been inside a brewery before.  Drew did the brewery tour at Cascade and said he preferred it as he felt he got a lot more detail in it. The beers we tasted were Boag’s Premium, Boag’s XXX Ale and Wizard Smith – which in my opinion went from nice to awful (these are also in order of increasing hops levels, so apparently it is the hops flavour I don’t like).

https://www.jamesboag.com.au/brewery/

We walked across to the Launceston Show Grounds – it is undergoing redevelopment and doesn’t really look like the place we met.

Back to our accommodation for a swim before bed.