The entrance to Boowinda Gorge only gives a hint of what lies past the first bend. Boowinda is the indigenous name for ‘thunder’. When it’s wet season, the sound of thunder coming from here means flash flooding is close behind. The bed of uneven lucky stones means picking your own pathway into this stunning diversion. I spent more time looking down than looking up. Many an ankle twist and turn would be the price if not careful. It was still late morning when I ventured in. After just a hundred metres, the gorge narrowed dramatically and the sandstone roof closed in above me.
Another 100 metres and it opened up slightly again and then wound it’s way further and further away from the main track. I went another 300 metres, and then could see the sides start to decrease in height disappearing around yet another bend. Eventually, you can walk out of Boowinda Gorge which becomes the start of the Great Walk Circuit, a six day expedition of 87kilometres. It’s when I turned back, that I realized that you would need some perspective on how ‘ken huge this is.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the other attractions on the way back, but this was going to be a hard act to follow. Just as a small group of us emerged back into the sunlight, a cacophony of school kids on holidays swarmed in and we were happy to leave the raucous echoes behind us.
So, despite all that gulumphing (look it up people) through Boowinda Gorge, it didn’t take long to regain the hiking rhythm as I headed to Cathedral Cave. Cathedral Cave is one of two major Aboriginal art sites dating back some 13,500 years, the other called (no surprises) Art Gallery. The cave was a burial site where people were sometimes wrapped in bark(pictured) and secreted into holes in the sandstone. The overhang runs for about 60 metres and their are both stencils and petroglyphs.
It was about a 2klm walk to the Art Gallery. The sun had well and truly hit the gorge floor by now and I could appreciate how tropical a place this is. The Art Gallery is, well, different from Cathedral Cave. With the number of vaginas carved into the sandstone, it seemed to be less of an art gallery and more a paleolithic porn site. But this fertility symbol would appear somewhere unexpected, a little further down the track and inspire some research of my own. Both sites are stunning, in no small part to the white sandstone canvas that provides the maximum contrast and impact of the art work.
Apart from the crossings, there are only two places on the trail where the stream pools into swimming holes. The first one is at Big Bend. The second, just past the Art Gallery is signposted but ‘No Swimming Allowed’. The immediate attraction was the reflection of the water on the overhang. Even though the water was perfectly still, the light was dancing above.
To capture ‘the shot’, I scrambled across the creek and leaned into the sandstone wall.
I thought to myself “mission accomplished”, and started looking for a way back across. Now, I’m sure it was just my recent visit to the Art Gallery, but as I perched on a rock mid-stream and looked left, there, surrounded and concealed by Bladey Grass, was a pond shaped like no other I had ever seen.
My immediate thought was “She could do with a wax.” Seriously though, my REAL immediate thought was, “Is this just a natural thing or was it man-made? Was the large rock at the other end a clue? Is this a fertility symbol writ large? Is this culturally significant, a sacred site seemingly un-noticed?” A couple of days later, I got a return call from someone in National Parks. She knew exactly where I was talking about, but apparently hadn’t made the connection, although she seemed vaguely displeased that I had. I’m going to chase this down over next few weeks. If I’m right, even though it’s not visible to the trail or visitors to the nearby pool, it’s going to need recognition and protection.
I had been seven hours on the trail and still so much to see and such a long way from ‘home’. My feet had started scuffing the trail without my input. Un-beknown to me, my body had converted all of my vegemite sandwich and banana into now used energy. Were two choc-chip cookies going to get me there?
