Saturday, 7th June, 2014.
A friendly kookaburra watched over us as we set off from the caravan park at Cania Gorge for Kroombit Tops National Park, north of the Cania Gorge National Park.
We drove through cattle country, with many gates.
There were occasional limestone cliffs and watercourses …..
….. and 21 creek crossings. (We counted them on the way back.)
Once we were in Kroombit Tops National Park, the road became generally rougher. Much rougher than this picture. In fact, it was often steep and rocky, and I didn’t believe it would be possible for a vehicle to navigate some of the sections without tipping over, becoming stuck or severely damaged or tumbling down the mountainside. Our drivers Doug and Chris did a wonderful job, I felt, to bring us and the vehicles out unscathed.
This was the kind of track surface at one of the smoother, flatter places where we stopped. I didn’t get to take any pictures of the rockier, steeper sections as (a) we did not stop on them, (b) the camera would have been shaking too much and (c) I was too busy hanging on, making sure my head didn’t get bashed against the door during one of the more sickening sideways lurches.
Another smoother, flatter section of the track.
Look at this cliff, on the other side of the water. Imagine driving up the rocky bit, and that gives you some idea of how the drive felt.
This is a picture of Chris driving his vehicle up a steep bit, which I took through the windscreen of Doug’s vehicle, from where I was sitting in the back. This hill only has a few roots to negotiate. Some parts of the track had large rocks.
Kroombit Tops Lookout.
The escarpment of Kroombit Tops marks the edge of an ancient volcanic caldera that now rises up to 900 metres above the Boyne Valley. On a clear day, you can see the ships in Gladstone harbour, about 200km away.
In the foreground are some grass tree spikes.
From the Kroombit Tops Lookout you can see the 100 metre sandstone cliffs that have formed on top of the older volcanic rocks.
Grass trees near the Kroombit Tops Lookout.
Flora …..
….. and camouflaged fauna.
It was a two-hour bone-shaking trip across Kroombit Tops National Park to the crash site of the American WWII B-24D Liberator bomber Beautiful Betsy . The bomber crashed here in 1945, but was not discovered until nearly 50 years later. Six American and two British servicemen were killed. One of the British airmen was due to be married four days after the crash, and the the other was to have been his best man. The site has been preserved as a memorial and visiting it was a very sobering experience.
The geological feature behind our two vehicles is called The Wall for obvious reasons.
Another shot of The Wall , where we had lunch.
Then we rattled, lurched and splashed our way back again, after a very exhilarating and memorable day.
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