Alice Springs & Lawn Hill Trip - Day 23

Day 23 - 24/6/2016 - Cobbold Tour Day

Today we were doing a gorge tour.  The tour didn’t start until 10am so it was good not to have to get up early and rush.  The tour comprised of a few different stages.  The group was split into two groups of 14 people, one group for each bus.  The first stage was a short 15 minute bus ride to the start of the walking track.  We arrived in a massive purpose build shed where we disembarked.

Our first part of the tour was a short bush walk around the grounds to the historical grave site of an early pioneer John Corbett.  I can’t remember the exact details of the story, but essentially he was travelling through the region with a significant amount of gold on him, and he was mugged.  The Police blamed it on the local aboriginals but his brother didn’t believe them and did his own investigation.  There was only one other person who knew how much gold he had at the time and and where he was travelling too.  The gold was never recovered and the suspect was never charged.

From the grave site it was off to the top of the gorge.  On the way we made our way up through some sandstone over hangs to the top of the gorge.

We weren’t allowed to get too close to the edges as it was a long way down!

From the top of the gorge it was then time to head back to the creek that runs out of the gorge to board the custom made tinnies.  They were flat bottom electric boats that could seat 14 people.  With all 14 people on board it was pretty cramped.  We then silently glided up the creek into the gorge.

Some areas the gorge was so close it was only the width of the boat.

After the boat ride it was time to head back to the buses.

At the end of every tourist season all of the infrastructure is dismantled and hauled back to the shed for the summer months.  That includes the boats, the pontoons, and a significant amount of the metal walkway gantry from the shed to the creek.  This is so that the infrastructure doesn’t get washed away from flooding through the summer months.

Once loaded back up in the busses, we headed back to the Gobbold Gorge Village.

Robertson River

We ended up having a late lunch by the time we returned to camp.  It was still just as hot back at camp as it was on the tour gliding up the gorge.  So we decided to make use of the infinity pool.  It was a nice welcome way to cool down.

Later that afternoon I had another wander around the grounds.

That evening we splashed out and had dinner at the restaurant overlooking the infinity pool and dam.  It was a magic location with the stars that night.