May 21, 2018 - Reading time: 3 minutes

Well the Pentecost River has been crossed, and it was nowhere near as bad as its reputation! The water level was 35 cms for most of the crossing and approximately 40cms at its deepest point- it got just over the front number plate ( made of cardboard but it seems to have recovered).

Home Valley station is approximately 10 kms past the crossing and opened for the tourist season today. Since we were the first customers of the 2018 season we made some jokes about free beer etc which went down like a lead balloon, but when I suggested 3 nights and the fourth free they agreed – shocked me but we will take it. We had a choice of two camp grounds – one at the homestead with bar, pool, green grass, nice showers and toilets or down on the river. We decided to check out the river as the ground has a great reputation. They were still slashing the long grass, moving fallen trees, etc and the dust was terrible, so back to the Homestead we went.

After setting up camp we set about the routine tasks that you need to undertake – in this case putting the washing machine on and a quick sojourn to both the bar and pool. Later we had a lovely time chatting to two new staff members around the fire, sharing travelling stories over a beer and wine. Also had to drive to a hill nearby which has Telstra reception to pay a few bills – interestingly Optus phone signal is good here and I was able to chat to my parents. Over the journey so far Optus has out performed Telstra on most occasions, which is contrary to the popular belief.

Had a nice walk to Mt Baldy the next morning. It was a simple walk about 3.5 kms along a few ridges and gave a great view over the Homestead, Cockburn Ranges and Pentecost River, though the smoke from a few fires made it hard to see.

Followed this up with a walk to Bindoola Gorge lookout. Originally we had intended to walk into the gorge but somehow managed to take a wrong turn and ended up here. It is a nice walk, great view of the gorge, but it is apparent that the walks here are predominantly savannah woodland walks and so get a little repetitious. This was confirmed on our last full day went we did the walk into Bindoola gorge which has a beautiful final aspect but much of the walk was again the savannah woodlands.

The first campfire for the trip Bindoola Gorge