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| Fitzroy Falls |
Tuesday 11th June
I made it to Fitzroy Falls! Third time lucky
I was on the road by ten o'clock after checking out and accepting a gift of Lindor balls (my favourite chocolates!) from my hostess - and having help with carrying my luggage from my apartment and getting it up the very steep driveway. I got a good run with little traffic (well, considering it's Sydney) and onto the toll roads and only one little diversion when I lost GPS signal in a tunnel and left the tunnel a little early - that was all resolved quickly. I ended up back on a series of motorways and finally onto the Hume Highway and it's all quite stressless driving to be honest, especially in the dry without trucks throwing up dirty road water as they pass me.
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| Twin falls # 1 |
I pulled into a rest area for a brief stop and looked at a particularly lovely fruit and veg stall. The vendor had his fruit and vegetables pre-packed into boxes which looked most delicious. There were a small number of (I think) rainbow lorikeets hanging around and to discourage them from the larger stall, there was a small box with a few grapes and berries for them.
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Twin falls # 2
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I proceeded down the Hume Highway and followed the instructions from Google maps and by about 12:30 I was at Fitzroy Falls visitor centre. I followed their instructions for the West Rim track as being the most scenic of the walks; it was billed as a 45 minute walk but that didn't allow for all the time stopping to say wow! that's amazing! about 57 squillion times.
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| Some rather gorgeous wattle |
Fitzroy Falls really surpassed expectations!!! In case my previous sentence didn't already convey that!
I had noticed, even as I approached the falls, the first cascade was almost deafening and when I got my first view of the falls they were very loud, there was so much water going over, so much power in all that water as it plummeted down. It really was most incredible so it was very worthwhile persevering and getting to this beautiful spot.
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| Yet another waterfall |
There was, as to be expected, a lot of water coming over the waterfall and it wasn't just one waterfall.
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Fitzroy falls: but wait, there's more
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Further around the escapement there were other falls - Twin Falls was on the route - and they were very beautiful as well. I continued to the end of the west rim track via a delightful spot The Grotto and the last two lookouts look back at Fitzroy Falls plus further downstream where there is another waterfall and another waterfall... and it really was quite a remarkable scene.
I managed a little orchid spotting, albeit only leaves: Chiloglottis, Acianthus, Corybus and Dockrillia striolata. The Dockrillia was growing on sandstone - I have only seen it on granite in Tasmania.
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The Grotto
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I also saw lots of a lovely orange flower that was close to finished in the Wildflower Garden on Sunday, but plentiful in the higher altitudes of Fitzroy Falls. It is, according to a fellow visitor, Lambertia formosa - mountain devil.
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| Some very large club moss |
From there I headed to Barwon Falls but I got to about 200 meters from the parking place and decided I didn't want to cross the ford. There was reasonable amount of water flowing across it and I was aware that I was on my own with no phone reception, although there was another visitor there in a hire car. She said I don't think I should go across and I agreed with her - I'm fairly confident taking a hire car through water is a no-no.
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The road to Barwon Falls - maybe not!
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I know the Subaru would probably have handled it but I do heed the warnings about not entering flood water and knowing that there is a dam somewhere in the vicinity which might feed this river (and extra water be released with no notice) and given that it was getting late in the day (about four o'clock) it seemed to me a good risk assessment to turn around and head for Carrington Falls.
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Carrington Falls
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Carrington Falls is stunning and there was a lot of water coming over but I didn't linger as it was starting to get dark and I needed to get to the campsite and set up camp. I found the campsite and set up; the campsite was clearly intended for people to park and put their tent up adjacent to their cars so it didn't really suits my style as the car is an integral part of my camping. However, I parked carefully and set up my awning, ensuring there was enough space beside me for another car to pass, and had my dinner. The wind was getting stronger and I looked at BOM. A severe wind warning for that area, potentially with gusts up to 130 kilometers an hour. Discretion being the better part of valour, I started to put my awning away. There was every sign of that being difficult with just one person so I approached my neighbouring camper, Nicholas, and begged help. He kindly came over to assist. That left me very compact - just my car with my bed set up in it.
I looked at the trees around me and all of those in the direction the wind was coming from were quite small so if they fell they wouldn't do too much damage. I looked for other possible spots to move the car to, but apart from that being a bit tedious and anywhere I could move it in the vicinity of the campsite I had booked would put it potentially at risk from bigger trees falling so I kept my fingers crossed and retired for the night
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