Additional Notes on Porcupine Gorge 1977

Easter 1977 - April 8th to 11th

PARTICIPANTS: Ron Ninnis, Liz MacLeod, Darryl Wright, Andy Plunkett, Lynn Murray, Lily Marcellos, Grahame Wells, Peter Allenby, Marion Cox, Robert Cutler, David Thomsen, Elizabeth Wright, Debbie Edwards, John Ede, Louisa

MAP: Hughenden 1:250,000 - also mud map drawn for us in a letter by Mr. Morton, owner of Strathway Station - This man owns part of the White Mountains area which we had also intended to visit but did not as the last 15 miles, i.e. the track to Clyde Park, was too rough for conventional vehicles. Anyone hoping to get into this area in future is advised to take 4-wheel drive vehicles or any other with high clearance. Also note that this is black soil country, which doesn't need much rain to become boggy.
Mr. Morton's map was excellent & is recommended for future trips.

VEHICLES: 2 station wagons; 1 Ford Cortina; 1 Landrover. (diesel)

In contrast to the previous trip, the party left at night, the Thursday night, & broke the journey by camping at Warrigal Creek, on the other side of Pentland. While we were eventually no quicker in getting to the Gorge due to the new Landrover's running-in speed of about 40mph, the camp at least rested the drivers.

Once in the Gorge, by about 2pm on Friday, we made base camp at the Pyramid, on a sand bank by a beautiful pool full of fish & with a jumping rock shelf for jumping into the water.

On Saturday we spent the morning going upstream from here, as on the last trip we hadn't gone very far up here. As with the downstream section, the upstream end has spectacular cliffs, with the basalt capping obvious, alternating with less deep areas. The stream is partly long deep pools full of fish, & partly areas of shallow rapids.

with Leptospermum (ti-tree) scrub growing in the middle you walk on sandy banks, or rock-hops or walks along sandstone or conglomerate terraces, & all the time marvel at the shapes of the cliffs & caves & boulders & the colours whites, pale yellows to oranges, pinks & reds.

Map Notes:
northern extent of 1976 walk
another small gorge here
a formation up here which Pam likened to a toilet seat!
a fabulous long swimming pool with scores of large fish
a good sandy bank
excellent camp-site
another deep good swimming
x grassy area with some shade where we lunched - 2½ hrs from car not fast walking.

Some kangaroos were seen both on the way up, & back.
Wedge-tailed eagles. The fish are mostly sooty grunter, or black bream, as they are commonly called (Kephaestus sp.), & a species of perch, & cod (Murray cod). A common smaller fish is the Archer fish, or rifle fish. 4 members went further upstream while the rest headed back to base. The gorge continues similarly as far as they went. The banana patch mentioned by a local last trip was not found.

On Sunday morning, we attempted to reach the Clyde Park Outstation in order to go down into the Flinders River Gorge, up to & along Coolibah Creek & into the White Mountains area, but as mentioned, the last 15 miles was too rough. We ended up leaving the cars on the Hughenden side of Porcupine Creek on the Mt. Emu Plains Road, & walking across a speargrass plain to the Creek, & walking down for about half an hour till we found a wide sandy beach on a bend. It looked a good place to camp, so we did (it was 4.30pm by then). Lo & behold, growing on the steep bank opposite were some banana trees! Only green bananas, unfortunately, but was this the patch mentioned, or was it too far up? We were not in the Gorge here.

Next morning, we returned to the cars & began the long drive back to Townsville each car travelling on its own, although we did all meet in Hughenden, as it happened.

It is advised that if drivers wish to avoid driving at night they leave the Gorge area between 9 & 10 am. Most cars would then arrive back in Townsville at about 6pm, allowing for brief stops in Hughenden, Charters Towers & any in between. The Porcupine Gorge itself is well worth a four-day visit. Perhaps a through walk could be organized from the point where the Mt. Emu Plains Rd. crosses the Creek, down to the Pyramid.