25 June 2010
JUTPURRA/GREGORY NATIONAL PARK – Limestone Gorge and Humbert Track
Today provided a great variety in driving. We had some easy sections and some very difficult sections.
We only went as far as the Calcite Flow car park into the Limestone Gorge. The camping area in this part of the park has now been permanently closed. Access by road finishes at Calcite Flow car park.
Se we had a look at the Tufa Dams.
They were really interesting. They were created by the build up over rocks and trees of calcium carbonate deposits from the Limestone Creek.
We did the Calcite Flow Walk that took us to the lookout. The boab stands out for miles.
I zoomed in on it and just how beautiful it was!
Hubby did a great panorama with the calcite fall but the files was too big. So I had to use a single shot of the view that doesn’t really provide the impact of what we saw.
The calcite flow looked just like a waterfall.
The rocks here were very different and is known as rillenkarren. They had sharpish ridges. The aborigines used these rocks for spear heads, axes.
The track was Limestone Gorge was generally speaking in good condition except at the causeway. The recent rains washed away the track at both ends of the gorge making it no longer fully accessable to 2WDs because of the clearance required.
The Humbert Track was fairly easy going except for the creek and river crossings that presented a bit of a challenge. No dodging of trees on this track. The driving was slow but straight forward.
The scenery was diverse and interesting and very different to the Bullita Stock Route.
You got the feel that you could keep going at a good pace in third but before you knew it another creek crossing brought you back to earth. The creek crossings kept you on your tows. They were all different. Between the fourth creek and Figtree valley there large stands of boabs.
They were the last boabs that we would see as the further south we went there were no boabs.
Fig Tree camping area was a nice clearing beside a water hole. As hubby’s foot was still swollen we did not do this walk or the one to Police Creek Waterhole. The jump up was a non event. We couldn’t tell when we were actually on top of it as there were no significant views to suggest it. We think it was in the vicinity where the cows were on the track.
We were following track notes by the Savages and at this point started to look for the every ten kilometre blue boab marker as we were crossing more creeks than in the notes. In the notes only marked creeks were noted but there were many more water channels that we were classifying as creek with steep ups and downs.
We knew we were on the track as we kept seeing the blue triangles. We had crossed what we thought was definitely a river crossing as it was wide. It had steps going in and out of it that had to be negotiated.
It then rocked from side to side a sit made its way out of the river bed.
We were relieved when we saw this marker.
We were closer to Humbert River crossing than we thought we were. It was the next crossing. We stopped just before the edge going down. This is the crossing that they advise you to “walk the crossing first to familiarise yourself with the slope and layout of rocks”. I was glad we were not doing the track south to north as you wouldn’t see the rocks until you were well into the crossing because of the bend in the river. Lucky for us there was no water where these rocks were. The water was just past them. We had asked the ranger about this crossing in regards to crocodile safety as all track notes we saw said walk the crossing. For some reason this area seems to be croc safe.
So hubby went down to check it out.
I went down to see what it was all about.
I decided I was not going to be in the car whilst it negotiated the rocks. Hubby said the left side will be in the water and the right had side wheels will be driving along the path he was walking.
Just passed these rocks the river turns and you have a water crossing the rest of the way.
So here is the Oka making the crossing.
I got into the car with some difficulty because of the angle before the water part of the crossing.
It was only another 600 metres to the campsite – Top Humbert Yards. Whilst not far it was a creek crossing followed by a drive along a dry rocky water channel with an exceptionally tight bend. We had to do a three point turn on the bend.
The campsite had some ruins of the stock yards.
It was next to the Gunbunbu Waterhole. We had a wash at tis edge but did not venture into it.
There was another family camping here. Not so remote a place as it seemed.
It was a lovely spot to enjoy the surrounds and relax with a nearly full moon, except for those sticky little flies.
At night fell we heard a pack of dingoes howling and the bray of donkeys. A very eerie sound.
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