No luck for Wazza!!

Van at Finch Hatton Gorge
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We drove all day along the Bruce Highway, before turning off towards Finch Hatton Gorge about 1500 hours. We drove down a side road to the gorge for about half an hour before coming across a 'No Through Road' sign. We stopped and I(Joe) got out to investigate further up the road, as we were very close to the Platypus Bush Camp, our final destination. I came across a truck and asked the driver if we could get through to the camp, and she said we could, but no further.

We drove on, and crossed a Creek that was quite big and running fast, and drove on very uneven road to the camp. When we got there it looked like a mess, with the shower walls knocked in, and the surface uneven.

The 'gurgling' creek rushing
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It turns out that the previous week they had had massive storms and the rain had come flooding down into the camp almost three metres high, and washed everything away. We were told this by the campsite owner, Wazza, a true Oz bloke about 60 years old, but looked quite thin, and tired. He didn't know what he was going to do about the camp, it had taken him 15 years to build up, and most of it had been washed away, even the flooring throughout the site. And there was masses of silt and sand deposited all over it.

A true Ozzie-Wazza
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Another couple was already there, Alex and Debbie, and they were washing the kitchen out trying to get it back to normal. We asked if we could help, but Wazza said he didn't know where he was going to start. We then walked about 100 metres up river to a swimming hole, and had a cool dip in the creek, which is normally too shallow. We thought we would have a ggod chance of seeing Platypus here, but the storms had washed them away, and they had not come back as yet.

We then cooked dinner, and sat and had a few beers with Wazza, Alex and debbie. Wazza was a great host, despite the floods, and had loads of stories about growing up in the bush, running away to surf when he was 14 and other such tales. If anyone out there knows people travelling in OZ, tell them to look Wazza up, and his Platypus bush Camp, turn off from Mackay towards Finch Hatton, the Gorge is signposted further up. Wazza will definately appreciate it, he definately wants to get the camp up and running again.

We woke early, and had breakfast before saying goodbye to Wazza, and heading off towards Mon Repos Beach, but not for the sand and surf......