Cobbold Gorge

I'm not sure what impressed me the most – Cobbold Gorge itself or the very impressive and obviously expensive infrastructure that the private owners, the Terry family, have recently put in place. I have been to quite a few cattle stations which have diversified to bring in the tourist dollar, but nothing quite like Cobbold. There was a range of accommodation options from individual rooms, huts and suites down to the more lowly unpowered campsites populated by yours truly. If the campsite itself was no more than very good, the facilities were amazing – excellent and brand new toilets and showers which have yet to suffer the ageing of wear and tear. And I have never, ever been to what was effectively a bush camping site where bathmats and towels have been provided – and all for $13 a night.

The bar and restaurant offered excellent meals with reasonably priced drink provided from a half outside, half inside decked area overlooking the dam, where at night the local wildlife came down to drink. But perhaps most impressive of all was the infinity swimming pool overlooking the dam with, believe it or not, a swim up bar – the only one in outback Queensland.

The bar / restaurant at Cobbold Gorge

The swimming pool with swim up bar

Another unbelievable fact was that Cobbold Gorge was only “discovered” in 1992. Having been privately owned for over a century none of the previous owners had ever gone beyond the swimming hole at the end of the gorge - a boat would have been needed as the gorge cannot be explored on foot. Aborigines avoided the gorge as it was seen as an evil place to be avoided at all cost.

Unfortunately there is no public access to the gorge and to visit you have to go as part of a tour group. So I paid my $79 and joined a party of geriatrics for the three hour guided tour. We set off on an enormous 4WD bus, crossing the sandy bottom of the dry Robertson River, for the short journey to the gorge.

The Robertson River

 

Parking the bus in an obviously new terminus building, we wended our way down a metal boardwalk to start the tour. Emphasis on the first part of the tour was on “bush tucker” and it was enlightening to know that, if we were Aborigines, our short walk would be akin to a trip round your local supermarket. I even tried some of the food – not particularly pleasant, although it paid to be careful, as to have eaten even one of the bright red “gidgee gidgee” berries would have led to death in three days. Aboriginal women used to take small doses of these berries as they acted as a contraceptive – how the hell they found this to be the case is beyond me. Trial and error?!

Then on to the gorge itself.

The very narrow gorge from above

A Cobbold Gorge Selfie

Cobbold Gorge is relatively young and, at only 10,000 years old, can be considered a mere infant as far as gorges go. Because it is so young it hasn't suffered the erosion of its elders and consequently is very narrow, so much so that it is particularly difficult to navigate by boat. We set forth in an aluminium punt powered by a silent electric motor, but with the gorge in some places being only about six feet wide it was a tight squeeze and Steve, our guide, on several occasions asked people at the front to help navigate by pushing us off the gorge sides. As with other gorge trips certain rock formations have been identified as looking like human personalities or perhaps animals, and Cobbold Gorge was no exception. However when Steve pointed out that we were coming up to “Duck” rock most people were having difficulty spotting the resemblance to a duck – although one or two managed to get their imagination into overdrive and could see the bird in question. However the reference to “duck” was not a bird but an instruction – to avoid being hit by an overhanging rock formation !

Cobbold Gorge

More of the gorge

Although several kilometres long the navigable section – in our punts – was only about 500m (it would have been great to have done it by canoe and gone even further) but with the gorge being so narrow there was no way to turn around, This problem was solved by having an engine at both ends so, instead of having to turn, Steve merely changed ends and started up the other motor.

And still more

The trip back, in almost complete silence, was magical with the dying rays of the sun casting amazing shadows and the light contrasts were quite staggering – so much so I wished that I hadn't let Sandra go off to Sydney with the good camera as my snaps don't really do justice to the scene. The other silent feature of the trip were the crocs which basked silently and statue-like in the dying sun. So motionless that Steven reckoned that he would have to come out before the next tour and change their batteries as tourists were disappointed by their lack of action!



One of the gorge inhabitants

 

A good trip.