VDLC 2015 Day 21

VDLC 2015 “Fargo” Day 21 We had a quiet night moored against the piles at Warners Landing sharing this historic site with “Namadgi” from the Canberra Ocean Racing Club a group of 26 owners who share the delights of this lovely vessel. After a slow start to the day we mounted a group walk along the old trail leading away from Warners Landing. The forest is doing its best to reclaim the site with the track wet and boggy in parts and overgrown in others with pioneer species getting a foothold in the quartzite road as it slopes away from the river into the distant hills . We walked for nearly 2 hours hoping to get to a spot with a clear view back over the valley but the track stayed hidden in the forest canopy. We enjoyed some early morning birdsong but mostly the forest was surprisingly quiet and we saw no wildlife although there was plenty of sign of the presence of wallabies and perhaps even Devils with tracks and scats along the trail. We got quite wet from the dripping foliage but thoroughly invigorated by the brisk scramble for 3 hours . We relocated our mooring to the pontoon at StJohn Landing when it became vacant and I freshened up with a brief swim in the 13.9 degree water . Late in the afternoon Mark B and I took the tender a short distance upstream to the site of the old jetty for the old Customs house and we walked up the winch track to the house site. For a time we followed the old logging track back into the forest where the heavy horses used to toil. At the old house site we marvelled at the hydrangeas that still bloom among remnant brickwork of the old fireplace and cottage with bricks from the old Pillinger site still to be found . After some overnight rain the St John Falls was a pretty sight . On exploring the old Police barracks we noted a down river kayaker had spent the night in the relative comfort of this hut now reborn as a campers shelter. With the relatively clear skies the float planes were making the most of the good flying conditions and the good crowds in Strahan by flying up river until late in the evening.