From Porcupine Gorge to Platypus Rock (with pizza at Pinnarendi in between)

Porcupine Gorge (and awesome roadside camp spot at Poison Creek), QLD

Friday 17th June

After leaving Hughenden we spent the afternoon at the impressive Porcupine Gorge- a great choice for what I think is the hottest day we have had so far (28deg). Over millions of years the river running down the middle has eroded the layers of rock, leaving a deep gorge (which is very narrow in some parts - though these are not accessible and can only be viewed from the lookout). The different types of rock on the gorge wall were most visible on Pyramid Rock, which is a large pyramid shaped sandstone rock left in the middle of the gorge. At the base of Pyramid Rock is a deep swimming hole where we spent the warm afternoon enjoying the cool, silky water and basking in the sunshine. We stayed until about 4pm as it was a 1.2km walk back up the gorge and we were aiming not to get hot and sweaty again!

We were hoping to find a roadside spot to camp for the night, ideally not too far up the road. We were in luck, and we spent an enjoyable evening camped on the edge of Poison Creek. It has nearly dried up, so the kids entertained themselves by exploring the river bed and running up and down the dry banks.

The view from the Gorge lookout, this was the narrower part of the gorge.

You can see the river continuing to erode a narrow section, some of the sandstone was so close at the top, with the river flowing underneath. We desperately wanted to get down there to explore, but unfortunately there was no way to access the area down there.

Pyramid Rock

The sandstone we walked along to get to the swimming hole was covered in interesting patterns and textures caused by the flow of water over the years.

The water was crystal clear - perfect for spotting fish!

Jackson and Daniel swam over and climbed up the other side - at the base of Pyramid Rock

He couldn't resist!

And the kids followed suit.

Walking back through the gorge after a wonderful afternoon.

Pinnarendi Station, QLD https://www.thebrickoven.com.au/

Saturday 18th June

Thanks to WikiCamps we discovered a gem of place on our way north. Pinnarendi Station is a working cattle station that has added a caravan park to their property. Best of all they run a cafe 'The Brick Oven' and their speciality is sourdough and woodfire pizza (with the bases made from their famous sourdough). We were lucky enough to stop in on Saturday night when they do their 'Pizza Nights'. We ate like kings (they even did a GF pizza for me), with pizzas of a huge variety of flavours just continually cooked until all the guests had their fill. The property was also lovely, and we enjoyed the walks, the cows and the termite mounds. They have done an incredible job with place and I highly recommend staying here if you are ever up this way.

I forgot to take photos of the pizza (I was too busy eating!), but here are a couple of the property that Emilia took in the morning.

We had a great view of these old farm tractors from our van.

One of the many termite mounds dotted around the property.

Platypus Rock Camping Area, Danbulla National Park, Atherton Tablelands, QLD

Sunday 19th June - Wednesday 22nd June

Situated on the banks of Lake Tinaroo and surrounded by pine and eucalypt forests, Platypus Rock Camping Area, in Danbulla National Park, is an idyllic place. Although the weather wasn't as nice as it should be this time of year in the Atherton Tablelands, we still had a lovely 3 nights here.

Highlights of our days here included:

• Swimming in the lake (which was around 22deg and just delightful).
• Kayaking (Jackson did lots of kayaking back and forth to check his nets - he didn't catch any redclaw but got a few small fish).
• Walking/riding up to Platypus Rock (Jackson mastered the track downhill on his bike, which included a jump at the end)
• Trying to catch fish using the red handnet and breadcrumbs - the kid spent hours doing this
• Making the most of the slackline and the pogo stick (which hadn't been used much until now)- Emilia was pretty pleased when she nearly made it the whole way along the slack line.
• The start of the Jungaljungal walk through the Wet Tropics World Heritage Rainforest, just a short drive from camp. The start was great as we marvelled at the huge old trees, massive ferns and the vines that snaked through the forest. All was well until we stopped and noticed.........leeches!!!!! OMG. I am terrified of leeches and they were everywhere - slithering up our shoes in search of blood. Daniel did his best to kill as many as possible but the more we stood still- the more they attacked. We decided we'd seen enough of the rainforest and that is was imperative that we get out of there before I lost it. We all promptly marched back to the car, where we had to take our shoes and socks off and kill more before we (I) felt safe.
• Walking the Lake Tinaroo dam wall and getting up close to the gallons of water rushing out the spillway.
• Learning a new bird species - the bush stone curlew - and being freaked out by the way they shriek at night (hence they are colloquially known as murder birds).

The sunset over Lake Tinaroo was lovely on our first night (unfortunately it was cloudy and drizzling both other nights).

We made the most of a few hours of sunshine and enjoyed swimming in the warm waters of the lake

Emilia is actually under the water where all the ripples are - their new game involved Jackson throwing small stones on the water and Emilia bobbing under and enjoying the feeling of them landing on her back.

During the day the curlew's skulked around our camp and gave us the evil eye - by night they shrieked and gave us the creeps!

It was such a cold and misty morning one of the days, that even the birds were huddling near the fire!

The start of the rainforest walk - before we entered Leech Lane!

Marvelling at the huge vines that curl their way around all the trees

One of the many impressive trees in the rainforest (just before we noticed the leeches).

The spillway at Lake Tinaroo Dam- the water was gushing out so fast and it was incredibly loud (but very impressive- it's the closest any of us have ever been to an open spillway).