Crossing the creek at Carnarvon Gorge

I’ll start this entry out by telling you that we lasted exactly one night in the tent that Andy mentioned in his last post. The second day at Carnavon the rain kept coming down, so we decided to upgrade to a self-contained cabin with an en suite bathroom and actual walls, windows and a door! The guilt we felt for spending the extra money quickly subsided as we settled into our warm and mold-free accommodation.

We woke up on our third day to sunshine and perfect hiking weather and were out the door by 7:30 am, with lunches packed, for our day hike on the main trail up the gorge. The hike up Carnarvon consists of a main trail that follows Carnarvon Creek upstream with several branching trails that lead to smaller hikes up some of the side canyons. As we left the visitor center we were told that, due to the recent rain, all of the creek crossings were washed away, and that we might “get our feet wet.” As we approached the trailhead we noticed that a 30-foot wide, 12-inch deep creek stood between us and the trail on the far bank. I guess that’s what the ranger meant by getting our feet wet. The crossings were actually pretty fun, and by the time we reached the "Art Gallery," 8 crossings later, we were pros.

The Art Gallery is a massive sandstone cliff off the main trail that contains a large number of Aboriginal rock paintings and has been a special spot for Indigenous people for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Andy and I both felt that we were in a very special place as we sat and absorbed the history and imagined the people who created these images so long ago. Almost all of the paintings were actually stencils, made by placing objects (hands, boomerangs, stone axes, etc.) on the rock and then blowing ochre around them. We both felt lucky to have had the lectures and stories from the Aboriginal people we’ve met here in Australia so that we had at least a very simple understanding of some of the images. We stayed for about 45 minutes just soaking it all in and enjoying the fact that we were the only two people there, which made the experience all the more special.

On our way back down the trail we stopped for lunch (and a swim for me) at a deep pool in the creek, and then took some of the side trips that we’d passed along the way. The first was Ward’s Canyon, a beautiful narrow canyon that’s home to the last mainland community of the King Fern, a living fossil left over from prehistoric times, with fronds measuring up to 15 feet long. We also took a trail up a series of ladders and through a narrow crack in the canyon wall that opened into the Amphitheater, an enormous space surrounded by high canyon walls and open to the sky about 10 stories above our heads. On our way out, we startled some bats and gave the one person behind us on the trail a good laugh as we ducked and ran for the exit.

On our last night at the gorge we were treated to night-spotting by Simon, one of the rangers at the park. He picked us up around dusk, and once it was dark, took us back on to the trail to see what kind of wildlife we could spot. Our main goal was to spot some of the species of gliders that live in the park, and thanks to Simon’s spotting skills, we were successful! We ended up seeing a greater glider, the largest species in the park, in mid-glide, and then later spotted a smaller yellow-bellied glider. The gliders are similar to flying squirrels, except marsupial, with skin flaps that allow them to jump from a tree, spread their limbs, and glide across the forest. It’s an amazing sight. We were also able to check another animal off our must-see list: the echidna! Echidnas are unique to Australia and have quills like porcupines as well as a long snout and tongue for feeding on ants. They are also "monotremes," which means they are mammals that lay eggs (like the platypus.) We were able to sit inches away and watch one thanks to the red filter on Simon’s light.

All in all, Carnarvon was a fantastic experience even though it started out a little rough with the rain and worries about getting the rental car into the park. Just like everything else we’ve done in Australia, it was full of fantastic memories.

We’re now sitting in our dorm room at the Univ. of Queensland Research Center on Heron Island at the Great Barrier Reef. We’ve had a fantastic couple of days here so far, but I’ll leave that for Andy to tell you about in his next post. Hope everyone back home is well!

~Philip

It looks nice, but add a downpour and some
mold and it loses its charm quickly!

Much better . . .

Andy next to a huge ghost gum. This type of eucalypt
is my favorite. It's beautiful!

One of the 9 creek crossings. Good job Andy!

Andy at the entrance to the
Art Gallery

The Art Gallery

Boomerangs and handprints at the
Art Gallery

More Art Gallery . . .

A view of the sandstone walls of the gorge
taken from the trail

This beautiful creek carved out Ward's Canyon.

Entrance to the Amphitheater . . . watch out for
the bats!

A king parrot in front of a ghost gum

Mama kangaroo with her joey in her pouch

Up to Noosa and into the "Deep North"

The sound of rain patters—no, pounds—on the tarp that stretches over our canvas tent at “Takarakka Bush Resort,” located in the Carnarvon Gorge. The drive here was harrowing. Philip had to navigate our rental car down a rutted dirt road and through three swollen creek crossings. We made it just fine, but needless to say, we were on edge, especially since the deductible for any damage done to the vehicle is 3,000 dollars. Yikes! When I made our reservation at Takarakka, I mentioned we’d be driving a sedan, and the woman who spoke with me said that would be no problem. Clearly she has a greater tolerance for the potential of being swept away by rushing water than we do . . .

So, let me catch you up on what else has happened since our last post. During our last few days in Brisbane the students took two exams and gave their research project presentations. All of the projects dealt with relations between humans and the environment in one form or another. For example, one student spoke to us about the late-20th century transformation of whale hunting into whale watching, a second about the role of Aboriginals in bush fire management, and a third about the collective response of workers at a wholesalers’ market in Brisbane to the recent Queensland floods. Other topics ranged from the depiction of nature in contemporary Aboriginal art to (largely unsuccessful) campaigns to exterminate invasive species. All in all, the students did a great job. I was proud of them.

Before leaving Brisbane, Philip and I also found time to take a tour boat up the river to the Lone Pine koala sanctuary. For the entire ride we were treated to canned commentary over the boat’s loudspeakers, which included such knee-slapping jokes as the following: “Sharks can be found in this stretch of the river. We have fishermen who try to catch them. We call them water skiers, and they use live bait. Nah, just kidding . . . (guffaw).” Along the way we saw some beautiful homes—as well as the remains of destroyed docks that had been ripped from their moorings by the floods and deposited onshore.

At the sanctuary we couldn’t get enough of the koalas. These impossibly cute creatures spend four hours a day eating eucalyptus leaves and twenty hours sleeping. Philip told me he was jealous.

Last week we also managed to make two visits to Brisbane’s Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA), which has a truly outstanding collection. We were impressed not only by the world-class quality of the works on display but also by the museum’s efforts to make its exhibits accessible to children as well as adults. GOMA, we salute you!

On Saturday we left Brisbane for our second week of independent travel. We were a little sad to leave behind our comfy apartment and say goodbye to our wonderful apartment managers Tracey and Robert, who had taken good care of us throughout our stay (for example, they lent us their barbie and installed an outdoor light in our garden so we could use it after dark). Little did we know we were about to experience even greater hospitality—thanks to B&B owners Ron and Warren, who hosted us in their beautiful home in Noosa (called “Homestay at Noosa”). Noosa is an upscale surfing town (think Malibu) about a two-hours’ drive north of Brisbane on Queensland’s so-called “Sunshine Coast.” I say “so-called” because it was overcast on our first day at Noosa and rainy on the second. Fortunately our B&B was so nice (see pictures below) and our hosts and their friends such good company that we didn’t mind lounging around.

We didn’t stick around the house the entire time, however. On our first afternoon we managed to stroll down the beach and take a hike through the nearby national park. Ron was sweet enough to pick us up at the end of the trail, allowing us to hike its entire length instead of having to double back before dark. When we returned to the house Warren served a gourmet meal, complete with champagne (or “bubbles,” as Warren calls it) and fine wine. Two of their friends, Brenda and Jo, were visiting from Melbourne, and they were loads of fun. They reminded us of Edina and Patsy from the show Absolutely Fabulous, except they were nice instead of nasty. Decked out in designer clothes and jewels, they downed one glass of wine after another as Jo regaled us with stories of her travels around the world—including one that involved dancing with her mother on a tabletop in Paris. All of us drank too much and stayed up too late, but it was no big deal because we spent the following day lazing about the house. After a second fun evening and fantastic breakfast, we reluctantly hit the road. I’d say that Ron and Warren made us feel right at home except for the fact that their place was soooooo much better than home. Sigh . . .

From Noosa we drove north and west for six hours. Two of our favorite things along the road: a small sign reading “Horse poo 2 dollars” and a giant orange welcoming us to the town of Gayndah (see photo below). At the end of our journey into Queensland’s “deep north,” we arrived at Koombit Station in Biloela. The station is part working cattle ranch and part tourist attraction. Over the years Lewis and Clark groups have stayed there, but we’d left it off our group itinerary this time around in order to accommodate our trip to Broken Hill and the Murray-Darling river basin. Curious to see what this year’s group had missed, Philip and I decided to spend the night. The no-nonsense station owner showed little interest in chitchat (what a contrast to Ron and Warren!), but he did take me on a short tour of the property and explained what students had learned there in the past. We then had dinner on an enormous wood-planked table along with a tour group of 20-somethings from England and Denmark. That was followed by a lesson from the station owner on how to crack a whip. Apparently cowboys used to crack whips during cattle drives to get herds moving. Philip got the hang of it pretty fast—dominatrix in the making?—but I didn’t manage to make much noise. Turns out I’m only good at cracking the whip figuratively, not literally.

After our night at the station, we spent another long day driving, this time to the Carnarvon Gorge.  As I mentioned earlier, the last stretch was pretty nerve-wracking. On the plus side, a bunch of kangaroos were hanging out by the side of the road, and for the first time since we arrived in Australia, we got to see one with a baby (called a “joey”) in its pouch. Awww . . .

On that note, I’ll sign off. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll see better weather!

~Andy

Entrance to our Brisbane apartment

One of the beautiful homes along the Brisbane River

At Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Hanging out at the sanctuary

The sanctuary has emus too.

And kangaroos . . . 

Entrance to our B&B in Noosa

B&B living room

Not minding the rain outside

Still not minding the rain outside

The B&B pool

Beach at Noosa before the rain arrived

Surfer at Noosa

Drive-thru liquor store: doesn't get more Australian than that!

No caption necessary, right?

Who said there's no culture in the deep north?

Wallabies welcome us to Carnarvon Gorge

Getting around Brisbane

Well, we've reached our last few days here in Brisbane, and before we leave I thought I'd share a little bit about the city and post some photos of the area.

If you don't know, Brisbane is a river city, similar to Portland, and even though the populations of their metropolitan areas are about the same, Brisbane feels much bigger (and has a little more going on). In fact, I have to admit that Australian cities have spoiled me. There's an energy and a liveliness about them that Portland is somehow lacking. Even Brisbane, which is the third largest city in Australia, after Sydney and Melbourne, has a much busier and energetic downtown core than Portland. I'm not sure if it's the usually sunny weather (there are heaps of outdoor restaurants and cafes) or the fact that they've just done a really good job attracting people into the CBD, but it's going to take some time to adjust when I get back to Portland, which at the moment sounds dreary and boring. Okay, enough about that. (Have I mentioned I'm in love with Australia?)

Andy wrote a little bit about it in an earlier post, but back in January, Brisbane's river flooded and covered much of the CBD and many of the residential neighborhoods along its banks with several meters of water, leaving behind massive damage and a big mess. By the time we arrived it looked like most of that mess had been cleaned up, though we saw repair work happening on a few pieces of parkland along the Southbank and on some of the underground parking garages. In fact, the city recovered so quickly that, at least at first glance, it's hard to tell there ever was a flood. Without looking closely at some parts of the river bank where wharfs are broken apart and thrust up on shore and ferry stops have been completely washed away, you really wouldn't notice the damage that occurred. One thing that hasn't recovered is the color of the river, which is still a muddy brown from all of the debris and silt that washed down from upstream. (We did learn today, however, that the river is often brown because of its tidal qualities: it changes direction up to four times a day, stirring up mud and silt as it goes.)

Something that Brisbane has done (and that Portland could do) is utilize the river for public transportation. They have a great fleet of 17 catamarans called "CityCats" that serve as ferries between the CBD and the many suburbs along the river. The CityCats, along with 9 smaller ferries that travel back and forth across the river at several points, provide a fun and efficient way to get around the city. An interesting fact about the CityCats is that each one has the Aboriginal name of one of Brisbane's suburbs.

Brisbane has a lot of great suburbs close in to the CBD, including the West End, which has a rich Indigenous history, Fortitude Valley, now home to Brisbane's club scene, and New Farm, which is where Andy and I are staying. We're in a great spot within walking distance of Fortitude Valley, lots of good restaurants and shops, and New Farm Park, home of the Powerhouse, Brisbane's very cool venue for music that is currently running the month-long Brisbane Comedy Festival. (We've seen one performance so far, and it was great!) We're also close to public transport, including the New Farm CityCat stop, which means we can get to our lectures in South Brisbane either by boat or bus. There's something really nice about starting and ending your day with a boat ride on the river.

Tomorrow we'll be going to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary to see more of Australia's cute endemic species, including kangaroos, wombats, echidnas and, of course, koalas. I'll let Andy tell you about that and post some pictures in the next blog.

~Philip

Brisbane from Mt. Coot-tha

The Story Bridge from the CityCat

The CBD from Southbank

New Farm Park . . . just a couple of blocks
from our place and great for boomerang
practice!

Our local bowls club

Our CityCat stop

One of the CityCats picking us up for class

Mangrove swamp on the riverbank next to
the Botanic Gardens

Our apartment at the Allender

A few shots from the Botanic Gardens:

Those are tiny, orchid-like flowers blooming
from within each opening of the stalk.

The Japanese garden

Look closely and you'll see massive golden orb spider
webs stretched above the walkway. Hopefully you can
see that their webs really are golden!

And here's one up close. Believe it or not, they actually
catch finches in their webs and eat them. I
decided not to post that picture for the sensitive
viewers . . .

The elephant apple that almost took Andy out as we
stood under the apple tree saying, "what if one of those
fell on you?"

These guys are everywhere in the parks. In fact,
we have one that lives in our garden at the apartment . . .
he's startled me more than once as I've stepped off of
our veranda.

A bottle tree, which stores water in its trunk
in order to survive the drought conditions.