July 18th

There was light rain overnight. This continued as we made our way toward the end of this ‘cross country’ track onto the Kennedy Developmental Road which, disappointingly,  was not as smooth as the track we had used during the last 24 hours. The bush was attractive as we travelled south toward Hughenden. The Narrow Leaved Iron Bark trees were quite prominent with their black trunks which were probably enhanced by the damp morning. Another small stand of the Silver Leaved Iron Bark trees enabled me to collect some more leaves which were much less eaten by bugs.

Large leaf from the Silver Leaved Iron Bark Tree

We were aiming for Porcupine National Park where we enjoyed our lunch in warm dry weather. The Gorge is really very deep with quite spectacular rock formations. John and Geoff walked all the way to the bottom of the gorge and up the very steep return. I set out with them but turned back about half way down. This took me about ¾ of an hour and was quite enough for my level of fitness. The guys were very glad to sit down after their return.

We had hoped to be able to camp in the Pyramid Camping Ground of the National Park but found there was no room when we rang the booking officer. This was rather disappointing but after travelling a few more km toward Hughenden we camped on the side of the road. This worked well as we were able to enjoy a great view 3 lightening storms in the distance. It is windy and storms are forecast. Hopefully the night wont prove to be too wet and stormy.

Pyramid Rock within Porcupine Gorge