Author: Nathan Tallack (Brisbane, Australia)
Website: Click here
Contact: nathan at tallack dot com dot au
Photo location: Sundown National Park, Queensland, Australia
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Categories: [beautiful]  [nature]  

This photo was taken mid October, 2006. It shows my friend atop a cliff at the edge of a gorge, sharing my awe at the setting sun complementing the red granite cliffs, being amazed at the untouched wilderness around us. How can this gorgeous place be hidden so well? How can it be that we never heard of it, and accidently stumbled across it while following challenging 4WD tracks to the top of a mountain?

This is the Red Rock Gorge on the Severn River running through the Sundown National Park. This park is deep within the granite belt along the Queensland/New South Wales border, and is a rugged wilderness park with spectacular steep-sided gorges, sharp ridges and peaks rising to more than 1000 meters.

My friend and I were spending the weekend camping, bushwalking, and four wheel driving around various national parks throughout the granite belt. After spending the previous day climbing granite monoliths hundreds of meters high, this day saw us having fantastic fun driving rugged 4WD tracks to a ridge top, and spending an endless time sitting atop this gorge, losing ourselves in the breathtaking views and captivating smells and sounds of the wilderness.

We were amazed to hear male deer making mating calls throughout the gorge, pleasantly surprised that an introduced wild animal could fit so well into the overall feeling of the site, making you feel that they were meant to be there all along.

Looking down into the gorge for an endless time, we were treated to views of wild animals going about their lives without awareness or fear of our presence. Big red kangaroos navigated the steep gorge with ease, birds of prey wheeled around the gorge like it was their own private playground, and everywhere we looked was choked with life and color. The only thing missing was the waterfall that is created when regular rainfall seeds the Severn River from the ridge top. Alas, the drought affecting much of our country starves all but the hardiest of waterfalls. But even without the water, it was all so perfect. Neither of us wanted to leave.

We pledged to revisit the national park sometime in the near future, and find time to hike through more of it. The granite creates landscapes that are absolutely breathtaking, compelling us to do whatever is necessary to see all of it.

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