Vikings in Australia - Víkingar í Ástralíu

31 August - Surveyos Pool and Walsh Point

We woke up and headed for the toilet first thing, as human nature dictates. On the way we encountered pigeons. They were just fantastic. They are called Partridge Pigeon (Yellow Faced Form). I even managed to grab a photo without them flying away! So I'm attaching it here.

We headed out of the campsite around 9am and drove the 13km to the intersection where one goes to Surveyors Pool and Walsh Point in Port Warrender bay. We headed down the road, which is a bit rough, but not much corrugated. However, driving faster than 40-50km is not advisable, especially if you want to keep your spare tire on!

We hit the turn off to Surveyors Pool and drove quickly the 7km leg to the visitor carpark. On the way we stopped at a lookout. This is a typical Australian lookout, whereby most of the view is blocked by trees. I think these should be called "Glimpseouts" as you only get a glimpse at best! From the visitor carpark it was about 1,3km return walk to the Surveyors Pool. This is a typical creek that has cut out a pool and a small waterfall trickles into it. One is allowed to swim up-stream, but not down-stream in the pool. This is due to the wishes of the Aborigines, plus the fact that the pool can be a host to salt water crocodile’s! It's an incentive not to swim!!

Although their primary area for salties are the sea, they are known to travel several kilometres inland in fresh water. We had a look at the pool, but could not see any salties, but we had decided not to swim anyway.

Then it was back on track to Port Warrender bay. There is an 8km track that goes off the Mitchell Plateau down to Walsh Point, where one can camp. The track is quite rough as it descends from about 300m above sea level down to the coast. We drove all the way to the end of the track and parked the car in one of the campsite near the beach. The ocean looked very inviting and azure blue, so was tempting to go for a swim. However, that is not recommended as we quickly realised. A large salt water crock lay in waiting, just a few meters off shore. Waiting for a stupid tourist to jump in and take their last swim!

We met some young people that were there camping and had been fishing for a few days and they told us there were lots more crocks around and I'm sure they haven't been fed recently! We walked down to the beach, which was quite rocky and not the typical sandy beach one gets used to here in Australia. It reminded us more of the beaches in Iceland, which have this coarse grey gravel and scattered big rocks. As we walked on the beach, we kept an eye out for any crocks that were brave enough to try to grab us. However, none of them made a show. Probably saw my hat that is embedded with crock teeth!

It was nice again to fill our lungs with salty sea air and recharge our batteries with the sound of braking ocean waves!

After having had lunch, we drove back the same way and arrived at camp around half past three. On the way we saw the ranger on his way heading out of the camp. He drives one of these small open 4wd vehicles. We were wondering what he was up to, when we heard him on the UHF radio, talking to one of the helicopter pilots. Apparently , a group of cattle had entered the national park and with the help of the chopper pilot, he was locating them in order to drive them out again. We should have offered a helping hand and perhaps managed to get ourselves a T-bone on the barbie!!

We had our cup of tea and then went to the Mertens creek that runs next to the campsite. It has a few pools one can dip into if one lies flat! It was nice to lie in the creek and let the stream carry away the day’s sweat and feel fresh again!