Adventures at Budj Bim

The approach to the Natural Bridge

I was woken about 6:30 by the birds and my bladder. I resisted the latter for a short time but then extracted myself from my sleeping bag and put on some warm clothes. Lots of warm clothes because it was a cool start to the morning. 



I did enjoy the incomparable delight of morning ablutions under hot running water in an enclosed bathroom (vs a mandi bath in the open air)
The sun is shining. The sky is blue. The magpies are singing and the occasional curawong is screeching and my neighbouring campers are packed up. Obviously not spending another night.
This park campsite really is a rather delightful location. 
The start of the rim walk

After a gentle start to the day, I decided on the crater rim walk and certainly the beginning of it was fabulous with a couple of lookouts with really lovely views and interpretation signs.  I am assuming that the red-brown colour of the water in Lake Surprise is due to the heavy rains washing the red volcanic soil into the lake
Cave formed by lava

I did choose not to go into the lava cave information at The visitor centre had suggested that it was slippery and a slippery was my undoing not that long ago . 
From the second lookout
The prospect of sitting at the second lookout didn't appeal to me since there was a tree in the process of falling down across the bench. I did however pause to enjoy the view. And listen to the flock of sulphur crested cockatoos disporting themselves very loudly.
From the third lookout
As I got to the further end of the crater the wind picked up and as I was on a very exposed ridge and an option to drop down and walk to the Natural bridge presented itself, I took that option. 

The rim became a narrow steep ridge

Following the signs required a little scramble down a rocky patch. Certainly not meeting the description of mainly flat, but then a relatively easy walk along a grassy track.
Easy walking along a grassy track

After a slight navigation failure due to turning left at the road rather than spotting the cryptic and unmarked track opposite, I walked the final part through quite an amazing little gorge, I suppose that is how one might describe it, to find the Natural Bridge. 
Plenty of raw material for walls

The 'gorge'

The descent to the natural bridge

I was happy to descend the very well-built steps but certainly wasn't going any further once I got to the bottom. It's quite a remarkable feature and I did think it's nice to enjoy our natural features without competing with busloads of tourists though. If I think parts of yesterday were a problem, I'm probably lucky it's not the height of summer.
looking through the natural bridge

I was delighted to spot a koala, which was posing nicely.

I returned to the point at which I had descended from the rim walk and the gusts of wind were still very strong so I chose not to return to the rim but to walk back to the campsite via the road. 

After a cup of tea I wandered again up to the lookout and around the campground and spotted a koala. Possibly the same one as yesterday but in a different tree. 

A rather delightful day and a very quiet campground. 




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