Dear Diary, I should learn to listen to Risa. I forgot that I was advised not to eat spicy foods by the nurse at Normanton. I cooked a packet of spicy mi goreng for dinner, which for any normal person it probably wouldn’t be a problem… but, for me, my stomach was rumbling all night long. Again. Dammit.
Anyway, today’s adventure is pretty much what the title says – we went canoeing in the Lawn Hill Gorge!
We hired a canoe from the bottom of the gorge ($25/hour for a two-person) and paddled upstream to the ‘waterfall’, pulled the canoe out of the water, dragged it around the waterfall, plonked it back in and paddled further up through the second gorge to the source of the water. Turned around and repeated the events in reverse.
I asked the kindly gentleman that was running the canoe hire if we could perhaps take the boat over the waterfalls instead (of removing the boat from the water and walking it to the other side). I think he failed to notice I wasn’t actually serious (though if we’re being honest, I’d be keen to give it a go if he said yes). Apparently a German tourist (see, always German tourists – I secretly think all European tourists say that they are German if they get into trouble here) did it a while back and infuriated the local indigenous park ranger. He was asked to leave the national park.
The trip took us just short of two-hours, but we took our time, cruising along enjoying the scenery and the serenity – and believe me, we had an absolute gluttony of both.
The gorges were pretty when we looked at them from the lookout last night, but to be floating up to them today… game changer. The sense of scale changed, so did the ‘mystery’ and ‘appeal’ of the rock walls lining the gorge.
When we stopped paddling and just allowed ourselves to float, we could hear all the birds going about their lives, the turtles splashing back into the water after sun bathing on the rocks, the Archer fish spitting water at insects. Sadly, no crocodiles sighted (but, as a consolation, we saw this swimming in the water – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrochordus_arafurae – hint, it’s a snake).
The remainder of the day? Well, we just rested and relaxed. Because we can!
３１日目 ６月１３日（木） カヌーで川下り！！
今日は、カヌーで川下り！ 昼間は激アツだけど、朝晩は冷えるので、１０時頃まで待っていざ出発！ キャンプサイト内にカヌーを借りれる場所があって２人で１時間＄２５ ２人で２時間（＄５０）が渓谷を往復するのにちょうど良い時間みたい。
ずっと欲しかったGoProというアドベンチャー用のカメラを持っていざ出発！ 日陰は涼しいけど、日向はあっという間にジリジリの暑さ。
でも美しい渓谷をのんびりパドルするのは、とても爽快で昨日陸から見た渓谷の景色とはまったく違う、下から崖を見上げるダイナミックな景色が楽しめました。
途中では、小鳥のさえずり、水鳥が川の倒木でひなたぼっこしていたり、亀が水中に顔を出したり、ひなたぼっこしていたり、魚がなぜかすいすい一緒に着いて来たり、へびさんも泳いでました。（へびが泳いでいる姿を見た後、カヌーの後泳ごうと思ってたけど辞めました笑）
途中で、昨日みた滝の一段上に広がっている渓谷第二弾に探検に行くため、カーヌーを一旦おりて、運びました。 何処までも果てしなく広がっている渓谷なのかと思いきや渓谷の始まり、小さな川に突き当たりました。全長は、３kmほどです。
往復６kmのカヌーは、ぜひぜひいつかここを訪れた際は挑戦してください。ほぼ流れがないので、ゆっくりパドルで大丈夫です。
カヌーの後は、のんびりリラックスタイムを楽しみました。（暑すぎてなにもできない笑）
ちなみにバードウォッチングの件ですが、１番沢山の種類の鳥さんたちが見れるのは、なんとトイレ＆ビジターセンターがある建物のすぐ横の木でした笑 ちょうどTea Treeの木に黄色い花が咲いていて、みなさんその蜜を召し上がっていました。（ロス曰く鳥の食堂 笑）
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