Porcupine Gorge

Day 1

Porcupine Gorge is located 65km from Hughenden. Although now the road is fully sealed, one must be watchful of various hazards: road trains, cattle and wildlife on the road. I met several road trains roaring past in a cloud of dust, saw some emus and several kangaroos unfortunately in the form of roadkill.

Along the way are various points of interest which add value to the journey: several lone graves, the Bottletree Ridge lookout, a whistling bore, the dingo fence that used to stretch 2,500km, a hill that used to be so steep that it was a bullock team's nightmare either way, up or down, and a creek where a wagonette of matches exploded close by.


This is packhorse mailman Corbett's grave (the only means of communication in the old days) ambushed and speared by a group of hostile Aborigines from the top of the hill in 1886.

The Bottletree Ridge lookout is strewn with basalt formations attributed to Mount Desolation, an extinct volcano nearby. This basalt tableland has both red and black volcanic soils.


On the edge of the canyon is a beautiful remote bush camp, Pyramid campground. Self-sufficiency is in order: water, fuel, food and everything else. The lack of phone coverage was a welcome detox to Internet addiction.

Later, the camp proved equally as good for watching moonrise from the same spot.

After setting up camp, I decided to go on the first walk: a steep descent into the gorge. The winding track was peppered with tricky rocks. At last I reached the bottom. A flat rock shelf provides a natural pathway along the creek. Wind and water have coloured and sculpted the sandstone to form fluted channels, boulders, potholes and shallow caves. They were a joy to photograph.

 

In a bend stood the 'Pyramid', an isolated monolith of multicoloured sandstone rising from the floor of the gorge, shaped as its name suggests.

The way back up was a lot more arduous. I managed to find a heavy walking stick to help my arthritic knees which were complaining loudly. Boy! That cool glass of white wine was well deserved back at camp!

Day 2

Awake before dawn, I lingered in bed watching the sky turn red through the window. I got out in the crispy air and set up the tripod just before the sun rose above the horizon.  Nature was at a standstill.

Although unsure whether the canyon would be totally in the shade, I decided to do the Rim Walk now to catch the golden light over grassland. I followed a narrow red dirt trail through the savannah. I noticed that it was criss-crossed with animal tracks.

The slanted rays of the sun picked up spiderwebs otherwise unseen, along with mysterious egg size white cocoons I planned to poke later on. As I went along, I kept a watchful eye for snakes.

When I reached the canyon, the gorge was partially in the shade but the light was good enough to see its deep carving through strata of sedimentary rocks spanning hundred of millions of years.

I noticed birds of prey warming themselves up in the weak sunshine. They gracefully flew away at my approach. A magpie-lark emitted its melodious fluted alarm call. Two kangaroos poked their head above the tall Mitchell grass and madly hopped away from me. I sat still, taking it all in, witnessing yet another day being born.

G'day! A booming voice behind snapped me out of my reverie. I wasn't alone any more. Time to trek back home.

Now in broad daylight, back at camp, something attracted my attention. While at another campsite, I was visited by a chicken. I appreciated the gift of an egg laid on my chair and had it for lunch. 

This time, I was a lot less enthusiastic about last night's present...



Gen