2015/11 Australia trip - Wilkawinnina Gorge |
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Friday November 13th
It was still sunny but cool and breezy as we set off. We were going to explore Wilkawinnina gorge on the far northeast corner of the park. And we’
d check out some more campgrounds along the way. We wanted to shorten the next day’s travel if possible as we had a long way to go.
We found the quiet gravel road that led to Wilkawinnina. We stopped for this large goanna but it was faster than we were with the cameras. Nearby though this lizard was trying to get away but settled for assuming a Nureyev position in the hope he’d be 
invisible.
We also woke up a mob of kangaroos asleep in the road: yes it was that quiet! Note the difference in the colour of their coats.
The road ends above Wilkawinnina and there’s a hiking trail that runs along the gorge and out to another road. However, the gorge had little
water so we walked along the creek bed, a mixture of mud and sand and rocks and gravel. It was difficult going in places but the gorge walls were magnificent, bent and twisted layers and colours.
The whole way we were serenaded by those ghostly goat voices, sounding just like humans in distress, wailing and pleas for help, not a good place to spend the night!
It was very hot in the gorge so we only did about half of the hike. We had lunch along this gorge wall with its gorgeous folded layers and then 
turned around. We didn’t think we’d find anything better than this.
On our way back we met a group of emus clearly checking us out. They looked very relaxed while we felt like trespassers.
After we’d returned to the camper we drove around to the other end of the gorge and concluded that we’d hiked the best end.
We’d been looking for a campsite closer to the main road for a fast getaway in the morning, but our check had shown that Youngoona had no toilets and Dingley Dell was too close to the road, so we went back to Trezona for another night, still by ourselves on another surprisingly cool evening.
I wondered when would be the ideal time to visit? The guide books recommend winter and early spring, as much of the park closes down in summer because of the extreme heat. But if the nights are cool now in late spring, what are they like in winter?