Tuesday 22nd August 2023
Well, we stayed at another lovely campsite last night on the Lake Proserpine Dam. Once again, our type of camp, large, spacious and quiet.

We set off around 10am and headed to another free swimming pool at Proserpine. It was a 50m Olympic Pool heated to 28°C. Perfect! After our swimming session, we enjoyed lunch in the park and then headed on our way south. Within a short time we were turning around as David thought he saw a jabiru beside a waterhole on the side of the highway. I am not sure how much he watches the road as he is always spotting wildlife along the way.

Our next destination was Finch Hatton and the Eungella National Park. We were here overnight in 2010 but I don’t remember much except it was very wet and we spent hours looking for platypus in the rain. We arrived at Finch Hatton at about 3.15pm, checked in to our campsite and then headed to Finch Hatton Gorge for a walk. First of all we went to the Araluen Cascades which was quite pretty with a lovely waterhole to swim in. Unfortunately it was a little late in the day and we didn’t really have time for a swim. Then we headed further along the end of the gorge. We did this walk in 2010 as well, David remembered it all but it wasn’t until we got to the Callistemon Crossing that I recalled it. Last time there was too much water flowing across the crossing for us to get across safely, so we didn’t. Today it was okay so we managed to get all the way to the Wheel of Fire – which is the end of the gorge. This was an amazing and very big waterfall, it was also a very dangerous one and two sections were out of bounds. We sat for a while and enjoyed its beauty. We then headed back through the gorge to the car. It was a very well managed trail and except for the rocky cross it was very easy. We were surprised at how quickly you lose your skill on the rocks. It is only a couple of weeks but we both felt a little uneasy on the crossing. Just out of practice.

We had another lovely day. We have stopped trying to fit too much in to each day and are enjoying a little slower pace.