Wednesday 1 August – We had a little sleep in this morning and didn’t get up until about 8 o’clock.  And I suppose it would have been about mid morning before we went exploring.  Today we left the caravan park and turned left, deciding to visit the attractions in that direction.  Actually we are about mid-way between the main batches of things to see, so todays plan was to go to the furthest point slightly north east of here to the Bamboo Creek Tin Mine at a distance of about 16km.  Once there we read all the information boards and did the walk round the site.  The tin mine started here in 1906 and wound up in the 1950’s due to unreliable roads, heavy rains, etc.

There were some very big termite mounds in this area, too.

By the time we left there it was getting rather warm, and we travelled only a couple of km back to the Walker Creek.  He we parked in the carpark and got our backpacks in order, as this walk was supposedly 3.5km, and it was suggested that you allow 2 hrs for it.  Well, it was rather rough and difficult in parts, and by the time we got back it had been a good 2 hours and we felt we had walked much further than the signs said.  The walk followed the creek, though generally some distance from it, with the idea being that you walked into each of the eight camping areas which are signposted, and situated on a pretty part of the creek – generally with a small waterfall and swimming spot.  We did this walk as it was recommended by the rangers wife we talked to at Ormiston Gorge, as this had been their previous posting.  We went directly to the seventh camp site, then came back calling in at each camping area, and they were really pretty. 

By the time we got back from that walk we were very hot, and enjoyed a bit of lunch before then moving to todays third attraction – the Cascades – almost over the road from our camp.  Described in the brochure as ‘ a year round waterhole suitable for swimming.  Cascades features an all weather access road to a new carpark, grassland viewing platforms, and a walking trail from the parking area to the top of the Cascades’.  This trail was 1.7km long, and a shorter (1.3km) walk to the lower cascades and Curtain Falls.  So because of our earlier efforts we opted for the lower cascades.

As we had got so hot after the Walker Creek walk, we changed in the toilets near the carpark into our bathers and headed off for a swim.  Well this was a very difficult walk, and considerably further than 1.3 km.  There were lots of rocks, rock steps both up and down, several crossings of the creek on planks, which I found fairly challenging, and as we reached what we thought was the end of this part of the walk, I was unable to negotiate the last 150 metres as the rocks were so big to cross the creek on, I knew I wouldn’t be able to manage them.  So I found a rock in the shade to sit on, where I had a view of Curtain Falls, and Grant soldiered ahead to the waterhole and had a swim there.  From where I was sitting I couldn’t see him, but he said it wasn’t too cold and he was in for about ten minutes.  I was a bit peed off that I didn’t get to have a cool down in the pool, but so be it.

On the return walk we met several people struggling towards the pool, one French couple with the fellow carrying their baby on his back in a seat affair, and two couples who after talking to us decided that they’d had enough – so they returned with us.  It turns out one of the couples was from Traralgon, and they had done the first part of their trip (to Queensland) with friends, the female half of the friend couple being the former Erin Dobson, who I taught at Yallourn North back in the ‘60’s!  Talk about six degrees of separation.

So our efforts today were quite solid, and the heat made it more so.  Back at camp we had refreshing showers and cuppas, and sat around till teatime, having a bit of a chat to the fellow in the next-door camper trailer.  This camp has a tank for drinking water, whereas the taps at the sites are water direct from the river and can be drinkable so long as it is boiled.  So Grant has been filling our five litre container at the tank for our general purposes.

This is a very nice camp, real bush stuff, and the people in the camper trailer who I mentioned before are travelling with friends.  Our neighbours have with them their two huge Scottish deer hounds, and their friends have one.  So, like the two couples we met at Kings Canyon, yesterday one of the couples did the sightseeing while the others minded the dogs, and today they minded the dogs while the others did the looking!  I guess that’s one way of doing things, but it almost doubles your time away.