Entries about finhc hatton gorge

Eungella National Park is the main wilderness area on the central Queensland coast and encompasses some 50,000ha (125,000 acres) of the rugged Clarke Ranges.

Volcanic rock covered with rainforest and subtropical flora is cut by steep gorges, crystal clear pools and impressive waterfalls tumbling down the mountainside.

For hundreds of years people have been lured to this place of great richness and beauty.

Long before the spread of roads and towns, people from the Birri Gubba language group walked along creeks and rivers to access the riches if their traditional homeland descendants keep their heritage alive today.

Rising 1260m, Mt Dalrymple is a towering feature of this park among the highest peaks in Queensland. On their first attempt to climb Mt Dalrymple in July 1877, Henry S Finch-Hatton and his party found themselves on the wrong spur with insufficient provisions to continue.
Less than one year later, their failure was forgotten - Finch-Hatton, Frank Boyle and C.C.Rawson reached the summit. they wrote "Clouds lifted at 5pm and we saw about the finest sight it was ever my lot to witness. Magnificent panorama for about an hour, when clouds settled down and rain came again."

At a time when the area was being developed for farming, John Henry Williams and his sin Jack worked with Senator Ian Wood to secure 40,000ha of this area as Eungella National Park in 1941.

Araluen Cascades

After driving through fords,

just a few strides into the rainforest you feel a million miles from your car.

Cool, moist air will fill your lungs as the trees and smooth boulders close in around you. Lewin’s honey eaters call from high in the canopy and eastern yellow robins flit from low branches to the leaf litter.

You hear Araluen Cascades before you see them.

Continuing on from Araluen Falls, with creek views and crossings at every turn. we came to Callistemon Crossing where there used to be a bridge among the palms,

but now it's a challenge to rock hop across the river

past this large tree

and on up over 350 steps weaving through tall tulip oaks and red cedars.

to reach Wheel of Fire

In summer showy red flowers scatter along the track which have fallen from the firewheel trees above, giving the place it's name. however, in August we saw these beautiful fungus

and this heart shaped one

With the challenge of the stairs over, it’s great to enjoy the calm rock pools listening to whipbirds calling and noisy pitas rustling through the leaf litters.

The granite outcrops and boulders were once well below the surface.

The granite formed as a great molton body about 280 million years ago, when parts of the continental crust melted during a period of heating.

The heat arose as the great crustal plates beneath were compressed and then relaxed.

After cooling and solidifying some kilometres underground, the granite has been exposed over time as the older rock above has been weathered away.

The gorge is a result of a fracture in the rock, with the creek carving its way through this area of weakness.

Tucked away in creek-line crevices, the Eungella tinkerfrog and Eungella dayfrog live exclusively here. Both species are a rare sight, but we heard a tinkerfrog calling from the creek a s aseries of high-pitched metallic ‘tinks’

A great walk with a great person, Ning