2000/02 Australia trip - Grand Canyon |
|||
Friday January 21st
We wanted to see some wilder country, so we took the owners’ advice, headed out of town to the other side of the plateau, and took the hike from Evans Lookout (a clifftop overlook) down the cliff into what they call the Grand Canyon.
 |
 |
|---|
The forest is quite dry and open on the clifftops, but as we followed the steep steps down into the canyon, it turned into dense and damp jungle. Lots of animal and bird noise, but hard to see what was making it.
We took a side trip to Beauchamp Falls, a little stream rushing down the cliff into a perfect pool below the falls. From there it dropped from pool to pool in cascades leaving coloured rock formations amongst giant boulders 
and ferns. A difficult place to get around as the water made the rocks and cliffs very slick, but a beautiful spot for lunch and a swim. We also had a visitor, a big lizard, a mountain dragon, that looked to be eyeing Sandie as a potential meal, but it settled for a few cookies.
|
Water dragon (17.40) |  |
|---|
We saw lyrebirds on the walk along the canyon but never long enough for pictures. Their extravagant tails merge perfectly into the background of ferns. The hike back up was tough, very dark in places under the trees and cliffs. In places the river had undercut the cliffs, and we were walking in caves and tunnels. 
This was obviously a very bad place to be on a rainy day, as the trail would be submerged. It was a long, hot climb out of the valley.
After all this hiking, we needed refuelling, and we found a little teashop in Blackheath that served up massive Devon teas. We still had some daylight left so we took one of the few roads that goes down the cliff and into the Megalong 
Valley, a little farming area in the forest. We saw a mob of kangaroos, including a pair that were boxing. They had the neat trick of going into a neck hold, balancing on their tails, and delivering a big kick with their back feet. There was also a pair of trees full of white cockatoos. They’d scream at the birds in the other tree, then they’d all exchange trees, and then scream again.
|
Megalong Valley (6.55) |  |
|---|
We drove into Katoomba and found a better choice for dinner, a Thai restaurant with good chili’d meat dishes. By the time we got back, Sandie had stiffened up, and I had ‘orrible cramp from falling asleep in a very strange position.