When the water dries up, change is coming. — David Taylor - Master Jeweller

2nd October 2024

Thelast of the water coming down the hillside in Barron Gorge.

When the water dries up in Barron Gorge it means we are nearing the end of winter and heading into our summer wet season. Hopefully this year will be less eventful than last year with Jasper!

Much of the damage left by Jasper is still visible. The platform at Lake Placid for example was torn from its mounts and dumped at the base of a nearby tree during the raging flood. The footpath to the platform is still on an angle after all the soil below it was washed away. The eatery and toilets at the picnic area remain closed and covered in debris left by the rising water.

Getting the camera out again.

A rocky island in the middle of Barron River exposed by the low water level.

The last year or so I have not been out using the camera much but it is time for me to get back to it. For the last couple of weeks I have been returning into Barron Gorge preparing my photo skills for the adventures that will start at the end of this year….I so want to visit some new places. The low water level in Barron Gorge at the moment has allowed me to rock hop out into the middle.

An area usually covered in water in Barron River.

The point of these outings into the Gorge are not to get great photos but to discover how much I have forgotten about the process of taking photos……and it seems quite a lot.

Waiting for the sun to set in Barron Gorge.

I am enjoying being out with my camera again so the break has been good. As is usual for me, I hang around to watch the changing light as the sun drops where ever I am.

The reason I have my camera out practising my skills is because some big changes are coming and some have already occurred. I will be back exploring again in a major way soon.

Change and more change

My wife at Jacques Coffee, Mareeba back in 2019.

There was a time when my wife would come along on my journeys into the bush but she has no desire to sleep rough as I do and journey as far. My desire to get further away from everything and for longer, gets stronger and stronger as I age.

Up the side of a hill somewhere near Windin Falls in 2020.

It has been a couple of years now since my wife has joined me in the bush on one of my outings. The pain and discomfort in getting to remote places she does not enjoy at all.

The kids have all left home now and she has started a new career and doing very well at it. She has things she wants to do and I encourage her to do them. So off into the bush alone it is for me.

Gin chan, aka the Rally Car, has also had enough of my trips!

I have used my Suzuki RE Swift to roam over 300 000 kilometres of Far North Queensland and it cannot take much more. “Gin” (pronounced with a hard g as in good) in Japanese means “silver” and “chan” is a term used when referring to a young child or someone younger than you. I often refer to my wife as Yumi chan. My wife and I refer to my silver car as Gin Chan.

My customers however refer to it as the rally car. The “RE” in “RE Swift” stands for “Rally Edition”. During my many trips to meet with customers through out the region I have taken it places only a rally car would go.

The day I drove into Kalkani Crater I thought the Swift was going to vibrate to death. I think I broke a few engine mounts on that corrugated road……it was a shocker. I ended up replacing 3 engine mounts shortly after.

Another fond memory is the day the Rally Car made it into Blencoe Falls….what an achievement. Well into the dry season and with the road freshly graded the Rally Car went to a place usually only visited by a four wheel drive or motorbike. It was certainly a very interesting trip with my wife in the car ;)

I have always wanted to visit Blencoe Falls again but without a four wheel drive that was not realistic. I got lucky once with the Swift and that would probably not happen again.

With my wife no longer travelling with me and the Swift unable to get where I want to go even in the best of health….I decided it was time for a change.

Here comes Himi Chan

I grew up riding motorcycles in the bush around the Kirwan area in Townsville. It used to be all bush out there past Kirwan Primary school. I had TT500 Yamaha thumpers, a yellow and an orange one. I wish I still had them.

As I got older I had street bikes but once I got married my wife asked me to stop riding. Now the kids are gone and no one is depending on me, time to put some “dignity of risk” (if you know you know :) back into my life.

The last week I have been running my 450 Himalayan in and after its first service will finish preparing it and myself for some time in the bush. The adventures begin!

Where will the new adventures start?

The first place I want to visit on Himi Chan is Blencoe Falls and camp there for a while. Following that I will be acting on a promise to myself and start exploring the areas past Mount Molloy up towards Cooktown. I am excited :)