Finch Hatton and Eungella
June 13-17, 2013

Before you read, I'll
give you a warning that this is a long post, as we did, and saw so
many things in this area.

The beaches on the coast
of North QLD were starting to taste a bit stale (the sight of a never
ending low tide was not impressing us), so from Mackay we began to
head west towards Eungella National Park. The drive was amazing, and
the closer we got, the bigger the gigantic green mountains grew.
Fields of sugar cane gave a low clearance for some amazing views!
We decided our first
destination would be a camp site called Platypus Bush Camp, situated
on the Finch Hatton side of the Eungella NP. I had picked up a
brochure describing this place and the photos were nice. It claimed
fame for the best viewing spot to see a platypus! This excited us, as
we knew they are very shy creatures, and not easily spotted. We have
seen many native wildlife over the years including echidnas, many a
kangaroo, wallaby, and birds, but not the humble platy. For those who
don't know, the platypus is an unusual animal which people say it was
created by God as a joke. The reason being that it has a beak like a
duck, tail like a beaver, it is nocturnal, and it is a mammal that
lays eggs! The male also has a poison spur on its hind legs.


The Bush Camp was rustic
to say the least. There were three little huts that people could stay
at, or do the usual camping with either tent, camper trailer, or
Troopy. The Huts were wooden, with a bed inside. No windows, but
there was a mozzie net above the bed. Very cute. The Honeymoon Hut
was right by the river, and on the website claims that you can wake
up, look out the window and see a platy. Even though it is called the
Platypus Bush Camp, the place still has a few luxuries, such as
FLUSHING TOILETS, (but in reality, even a drop toilet like we had in
Stanage Bay is good, as there are some places where you have to dig a
hole), and even more of a luxury is a HOT SHOWER! The showers were
heated by wood fire, which is an experience to say the least, but
they were beautiful. The water stayed hot for a few days, but when it
gets cold, the fire is once again stoked up to heat the water. It did
take some getting used to using an outside shower. Not fully
enclosed, and the other side open, looking out into the bush. I
believe some bush turkeys were watching me the first time.


It was a beautiful site.
We stayed 2 nights. Three times we attempted to spot a Platy. We were
told the best time to see them is at 5.30. The first evening we set
up our chairs about 4pm. We waited, read, waited, read, and waited
some more. At 6pm we called it a night since we could no longer see
without the head torch and decided to try again in the early morning.
After awakening early during a beautiful Finch Hatton sunrise, we
again attempted to spot the illusive platypus. As great as the
morning was, no platypus was spotted. However waking up in 'Rocky'
to hear the river running is definitely a nice sound to wake up to.
Much better than somebody's generator, or even worse, a crying baby. We
tried again that evening, still no luck.

It doesn't often happen
that we have finished breakfast by 8.30. Everything takes a long time
in the mornings. Boiling water on the gas for the morning cuppa takes
much longer than the electric kettle, and the bed has to be put away
so there is room to stand. On the first morning however since we were
up so early eagerly awaiting a view of a platypus, we were in fact
ready to embrace the day! We headed off for a lovely walk, up to the
waterfalls. 100m up the road however, we were stopped by the sight of
water flowing over the road. Cameron didn't want to get his feet wet
so we headed back to camp to change our approach, to get a towel so
we could take our shoes off and dry our feet on the other side or
decide if we wanted to drive the 2km to get to the start of the
walking track. Back at the camp site, 2 backpacker guys told us they
had gone up the previous day in thongs, and had also worn boardies so
when they reached the waterfalls they could go swimming. We changed
our total approach, got changed into cozzies, and ditched our hiking shoes for
thongs! Our usual approach when go walking is to walk to the furthest
distance first. This was the 'Wall of Fire'! The walk was lovely, and
as usual we took our time, making sure we took lots of photos along
the way.
Eungella is a Rainforest.
It is very green, with many large, very wide trees. On the way, we
came across a large tree that had fallen across the path. Not sure
when but a section had been cut out of it so it did not block the
path. Sitting in a little crevice was a lizard. Most lizards we see
run at the sight, sound or tremble of a human, but not this little
guy. It just sat there, relaxed, as it watched people walk past.
Funnily enough, it was still there later when we returned. Initial
thoughts were it may be dead, but it wasn't, as I saw it blink.


Once at the 'Wall of
Fire' we saw the beautiful swimming hole. The one problem being that
the mountain is over 1000m above sea level, is that the water is very
cold! The area was also shaded but we looked to the sky and noticed
that the sun was not far from coming above the top of the mountain.
We guessed it would be about 30 minutes until it would be sunny. Even
though it would not make the slightest difference to the temperature,
at least there would be a sunny patch to sit at when we got out. We
decided to have lunch while we waited.
While we procrastinated,
the two backpackers who were telling us about it, arrived, went for a
quick swim, and left. Once we finally went in, we didn't stay in long
that is for sure, but you can see the waterfall best from in the
water! Another 2 backpackers, S and J arrived so we started
talking. We found out they were Aussies as well. They were following
the show trail, and working for a kebab/ slushy stall. We had heard
about the Pioneer Valley show, and since we were in the area, decided
to go to it.

After seeing the 'Wall of
Fire' we headed back down to see the 'Araluen Cascades'. Another
beautiful spot. This time we didn't have to get in the water to see
it. There was a lookout. People were swimming, but we decided against
it as we had already experienced the cold so decided to just
appreciate the beauty of the place without getting cold and wet
again. After the 'Araluen Cascades' we started to head back. As we
were walking back to the camp site instead of driving like most of
the other people, we were able to take our time and explore a little.
We were even lucky enough to find some bush passionfruit! Instead of
being the usual purple colour, they were yellow. We did a little bit
of a look around and found 6 that were ripe and hadn't been broken
into by animals. Arriving back at 'Rocky' we had lunch then cut open
the yummy, full fruit. And Yummy they were! Cameron had a hard time
keeping up with me. At one point he suggested we save them and have
the rest another time, to which I looked at him, reached for the next
one and cut it in half.
The Second night we were there was Friday 14th June, 2013, two days before the show! That afternoon, Cameron, myself, and two other campers; M and T, decided we wanted a camp fire. As it happened, 'Toot the Magician' who was going to be at the show, (not sure her actual name), was staying at 'The Platypus Bushcamp'. There were some families staying at the camp, so Toot decided she would put on a show. It was a lovely thing for her to do. There was also a family related to the owner of the camp who lived nearby, and too came and watched the show. It was a nice evening sitting around the campfire, talking to everybody, and watching Toot. I even had the opportunity to reheat some leftovers for dinner on the fire as there was a shelf that could spin. To be put over the fire. It took a while, but we got there in the end. However, we learnt a lesson that night. Wet wood takes a very long time to light!




On Saturday we left the
Finch Hatton side of Eungella National Park, and head to the south
side to a place called Broken River. We had heard that you can see a
Platy from there too. We eventually did see one. There were so many
turtles at Broken River, and there was also a giant Eel. I think at
times we were slightly distracted by watching these that we didn't
always watch for the Platy, but we did see one none the less. The
view from this side of the mountain was spectacular! You could see
across the whole valley, and at night you could even catch a glimpse
of Mackay city lights way in the distance. We spent the day
sightseeing, and being very cold, as there had been a cold front come
through when the weather decided to change. Some people were saying
that the dry season had finally arrived in QLD! We went for a few
walks in the area – The Sky Window Lookout, and the Rainforest
Discovery Circuit. Not as many as we would have liked, but enough.



Sunday was show day! The
Pioneer Valley Show (or as the locals say the Finch Hatton Show), was
having its 50
th Anniversary! It is also the biggest one
day, Country show in Queensland and Australia. It was a fantastic
show. Many of the official people (yes we sat an listened to speeches
in the afternoon) even went as far as saying it is the best single
day show. The usual attendance is 14000 people. This year there were
18000 people. Somebody told us that many people enjoy going to this
show more than the Mackay show which happens a couple of days after.
Most of the day was spent watching the wood choppers. There was a
comedian act called the 'Crackup Sisters' which was good value
Australian slap stick comedy. They appealed to both young and old.
At the show there used to be the “Roly Poly” cars. These had been
in retirement for 11 years but they were brought back this year for
the 50
th. They would drive these at speed into two big
areas of sand and potentially roll through, however most of the time
they would end up on there sides, or completely flipped. We walked
around the show grounds as well. Here we saw some blacksmiths,
bashing their metal to create little sculptures, wood turners, hand
in wax, where you would dip you hand in wax, a few times, then they
would take your hand out and put it into coloured wax of your choice
creating patterns. During our stroll about, we found the stall J and S were working at. S made us both a slushy, and their boss
said to come back later and grab a free Kebab each! AWESOME! In total
for the day our spendings were only $35 which was 15 each for entry,
and 5 for a hot chocolate towards the end of the night as it was
getting cold. That's pretty good value considering we were there from
9:30am to 8:30pm.

Sorry for such a long
post, but there was so much to say.
Thanks for reading.
- Jeni.
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