It was a beautiful night in the campgrounds at Douglas hot springs last night with the weather well within acceptable parameters a day of about 30 overnight somewhere around 18-20 which a good portion was spent outside the camper talking , playing our newly acquired guitar and telling campfire yarns with the kids.
We awoke fairly early again and made the most of early ablutions and brekky before setting off for Butterfly gorge 17 km down the trk from camp on a 4wd only track .
Slowly we paced along ever mindful of my bike and kyak on the roof and arrived a few creek crossings later at the unmarked turnaround of the trail head to Butterfly gorge .
It became apparent fairly early on with some smoky embers and stumps on fire that not too many people had passed through here so soon after the wet season which had thrown some very large trees to great heights above us .
The track meandered along the billabong before the creek but the signs had fallen over in the fire and we took a few wrong turns before following the creek for a bit and rock scrambled to the beginning of the gorge but we were unwilling to cross the water at this stage.
Soon after a quick recycle we retraced our steps back to the signed track and found a previously unseen track sign and scrambled up to the top of the gorge then down in to the valley leading down to the gorge .
The water below was cool and refreshing and within minutes we were jumping from rocks from up high to the serene chilling waters below .
Three hours later we we had swam back down the gorge taking an easy path out avoiding any crocodiles (fresh ) If there was any still around !
Quite foolishly and unlike us we didn't take any refreshments , mainly owing to signs going walkabout at the start of the walk and surrounding area as to how long said walk may be ?
Two thirsty litres later we headed off past camp up the track and past the Douglas daly tourist park and on towards Oolloo crossing 40 Kms down the road .
We were all surprised at farming ventures in this part of the world such as grains ,sandalwood plantations and melons of a few varieties.
The very steep newly constructed track down to the Daly river at Oolloo crossing was quite ominous and recent failed attempts from others at cahills crossing came to mind , but we weren't to cross here bothe because of not having a permit for the native land ahead and the fact that the river was flowing hard and fast between 600mm to a metre high and looked like no one but a bulldozer had crossed since the end of the wet .
We retraced our deep bf Goodrich tyre tracks through the silty bull dust back up the incline and back toward the Douglas daly esplanade to further explore the river and campgrounds ahead .
I must have not been paying attention to overhanging branches after a look at a campsite on the river bend and soon was screaming a few choice words when my specialised camber 29er came back flipping of its Thule roof rack holder and down on to the track in two pieces .
Ahhhh shit.
All was good the track had come off its guide with the force of the branch and my wheel quick release had opened releasing my front wheel and hitting terra firma in a gut churning bouncing action .
A small buckle had appeared on the rear rim but it was still very much rideable .
Track relocated and camber mtb back on we were soon laughing ( well not really me !)about it .
A cold drink and some chips and gravy at the daly tourist park perked us up about out late lunch as we headed back to camp.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent in the thermal part of the Douglas river warming our weary bones .
Tuna pasta for tea seemed an easy fix and after a quick re org of the camper had the necessary items in hand and eating hot food soon after.
Reminder to self I think we need to have headlamp led lights like the kids to assist after dark.
