Herbert River Camping

We have just arrived home from five glorious days camping on the Herbert River.  They say camping is good for the soul and I would agree.  There is nothing like waking up to the sound of the birds chirping in the trees above you or the smell of timber burning on a campfire or sitting around that same fire at night just shooting the breeze.

We read about the Kirrama Range Road in one of the four wheel drive magazines and knew that we wanted to travel this road.  The drive, for us, started at Mount Garnet and ended at Kennedy (just north of Cardwell).  The road was badly damaged by Cyclone Larry in 2006 and completely destroyed by Cyclone Yasi in 2011.  The Kirrima Range Road was reopened on 6 December 2014 after nearly a decade of being closed to the public. The road winds its way through stunning World Heritage rainforest and eucalypt woodland leading to the the impressive Blencoe Falls and Herbert River Gorge.
Day 1 - Julatten to Goshen Station
Nine of us set off on Day 1, but not all together.  We met Joan at Mount Garnet and travelled with her.  Joan led the way down the Gunnawarra Road that would take us to the junction of the Cashmere-Kirrama Road.  We stopped many times along the way to photograph the flowering black orchids (that are not really black but a very dark orange/yellow) and marvelled at their beauty.

The road we drove on was very good gravel that was well maintained by the Tablelands Regional Council.

We passed some strange things along the road like this hanging rock.  Joan said we should have set up our tables and chairs beside it and we could have said that we had a "Picnic at Hanging Rock"........

We decided to stop at Cashmere Crossing for lunch and very pleased that we did. This is the site of the Atkinson families "Wairuna" homestead and cemetery.  The homestead was badly damaged by Cyclone Yasi and then burnt to the ground a few years ago.  It was a magnificent homestead in its day.  The cemetery is heritage listed.

Cashmere Crossing

The only remains of the homestead

While we were walking around the old homestead site we came across this bower bird nest.  It was a "walk-through" and decorated with snail shells.  They are remarkable birds.

At Cashmere Crossing we ran into one of the other couples that we were to be camping with so all three vehicles then made the journey on to Goshen Station.  The Herbert River runs through Goshen and the owners have set up a number of private campsites along the riverbank.  Access can only be made through a locked gate after you have paid your camping fees.....$50 per vehicle and $10 per night.  To us it was worth every cent as it was a truly lovely spot. 

After a bit of map reading to find our campsite we finally reached our day one destination.  The other two couples had arrived earlier and had already set up their campsite but it wasn't long before we were all set up.  I was a bit surprised to find this freshie sunning himself on the opposite bank.  Was not expecting that at all but he/she never worried us.

The embers of a fire were still smouldering from the campers who had vacated this particular campsite so it didn't take long for us to get a fire going.  Nothing like sitting around a campfire at the end of a lovely day.