Foley's Spring Camp to Cabbage Tree Camp, Carnarvon Great Walk, Carnarvon National Park - April 2014

Early morning at my Foley's Spring Camp.

I had a bit of a restless night at Foley's Spring, I kept having dreams of a brumby trampling me while I was trapped in the tent! I did wake at one point with one fairly close to the tent, however after asking it politely to vacate the area it seemed to go and I was left in peace. It seemed on paper that I had a reasonably easy day coming up, so I didn't bother getting out of the tent until 8:00am.

Foley's Spring.

After the usual porridge for brekky I went back down to the spring to have a poke around, playing with my camera to get the effect of moving water. Unfortunately my photography is like a lot of things in my life in that my talent doesn't match my ambition! So after getting a couple of mediocre photo's I packed up and headed off.

Leaving Foley's Spring I ambled past the salt lick.

Climbing back up to meet the great walk.

I'd got lucky with the weather again today.

My first stop today was the usual camping area, Consuelo Camping Zone, this was the perfect place for a second breakfast and to top up with water. After a little break I headed off across the Consuelo Tableland. The walking today was the easiest since I'd left Carnarvon Gorge as the route tended slightly downhill for most of the day. I was starting to get a bit peckish when I spied the perfect lunch spot in a small copse of cycads as one of them had grown parallel to the ground for a couple of metres before making its break for the sun. The trunk made a perfect bench to sit and prepare my lunch on, I even had a conveniently placed trunk from another tree next to it that I could use as a back rest, this was the best seat I'd had since day one - yes, I'd been walking for enough days now that I was appreciating small luxuries!

The Consuelo Camping Zone.

There is a big underground water tank here.

After a leisurely lunch break I headed off towards Cabbage Tree Camping Zone arriving around 3 pm. I'd originally planned to camp here but the ranger suggested to push on for a while and camp where the ridge narrows and the views start, which sounded like a plan to me. Before heading off though I had a couple of chores to perform. The first was to get enough water to last for tonight's camp. The second was some emergency first aid on my shirt, it had worn through on my back and my pack was now rubbing on bare skin. This isn't the first time this has happened to me on a walk so I knew how to fix it - out came the 'gaffer' tape - definitely one of the most versatile items in my pack. After a bit of bush sewing the shirt was as good as new (well it would last another day).

Heading towards the Cabbage Tree Camping Zone along the great walk.

Double barrel cycads.

My lunch stop was sorted.

So after eating the last of my scroggin I headed off to my alternative campsite. I was now walking out onto the edge of the Consuelo Tableland and the country was dropping away very quickly to the north and the south. When I found a flattish patch of dirt I called stumps for the day and the view from my tent was extensive. I was looking to the south with North Arch Creek  200 metres directly below me, in the middle distance there was Carnarvon Gorge and stretching into the distance there were sandstone cliffs receding into the distance. Not a bad spot to watch the sun go down whilst I tried to digest another meal of freeze dried.

Before...

... and after😀

The ground around my camp had been badly rooted up by pigs, so I figured that it may get a bit noisy latter on... time would tell. Climbing into my tent I got my phone out and to my surprise I had good coverage and I was not only able to call my wife and tell her everything was OK, but I had a strong enough signal to get onto the net and check the bom to see what the weather was doing. After that I was settling down for the night doing a bit of reading when I felt something brush against my balls. Now while normally that would signify good times ahead I had a feeling that since I was alone in the tent there weren't any good times in the offering. Looking down between my legs with my head torch I saw a bull ant of about an inch long about to have a nip at a very sensitive part of my anatomy, F#*K!! I flicked it away with my fingers which really pissed it off, but I couldn't kill it as everything I grabbed in my tent was too soft to finish it off! Being 6'3" and having my pack in the tent with me there wasn't a lot of room to get away from the enraged ant either, everytime I looked away from it to try and find something hard to finish it off with I'd lose it in the dark, oh what fun. Eventually I found a new use for my Iphone...  bull ant dispatcher! It took a bit longer to drift off that night!

Soon after leaving the Cabbage Tree Camping Zone the country started to drop away.

The views from the cliff line beside my camp was extensive. 

My actaul camp site wasn't the best I'd enjoyed on the walk, however the views made up for it. 

The Dirt.

According to my rough calcultions I walked around 19 kilometres and climbed about 220 metres on waht I'd call a medium grade days walking. I picked up water at Foley's Spring and then again when I passed through both the Consuelo and Cabbage Tree Camping Zones. My camp was a kilometre or so past the Cabbage Tree Camp and it was pretty rough - just a flat patch on the pig rooted ground. The views from the edge of the escarpment made the water carry and the rough camp worthwhile though. I was using the Qld Parks Carnarvon Great Walk topo on this walk.

Relevant Posts.

Previous day of this walk, 2014.

I'd be dropping down there tomorrow morning.

Time for bed...