Coomera Gorge - 11th December 2016
After a brief hiatus due to Lewis travelling Europe, we returned hitting the ground running with a tough descent into Coomera Gorge. Starting from the Binna Burra Teahouse car park, we began our hike along the Coomera Circuit at 7.30am. At this time of day, the wildlife was buzzing. We could hear many catbirds and whipbirds and could see lots of tiny scrub wrens feeding on the low flora.
The Coomera circuit track is very straightforward and after 45 uneventful minutes we arrived at the turnoff, which was marked by a giant knobbly tree and a hollowed out tree. The path quickly deteriorated from the well-worn cleared graded track, into overgrown long grass, as well as a steep gradient, made slippery from the leaf litter and rain and thunderstorms during the previous week. It didn’t take long before we got lost. This was a result of taking the wrong turn around a couple of recently fallen trees, and consequently we had to backtrack after being halted by impenetrable wall of vines. Eventually we made it back to the slightly friendlier descent, frequently grabbing on to the grass trees as handholds to help us down quicker… but this was not quick enough to avoid getting bitten by jumping ants and both of us got a good couple of bites walking over a nest.
We had to take a quick break at a rocky outcrop to recover from the shooting pain that was pulsating throughout our ankles. Here there was a small stream of running water that helped to ease the pain caused by the bites and cool us down. From the outcrop there is also an impeded view of the gorge below. We knew we still had a while to go. The ant bites eventually subsided to a constant and uncomfortable throb, so we continued across the cliff face until we arrived at a stunning patch of clear pristine Australian rainforest. We slowed down our pace to enjoy the scenery as well as the little bit of extra freedom to move. This would prove to be the last patch of open forest that we would encounter before arriving at the Coomera River at the bottom of the gorge.
We soon found ourselves facing a huge drop with the beginning of it requiring us to cross a daunting narrow ledge that overhung a fatal drop. Lewis went first and slowly but safely made it across to a safer platform, however, in doing so he had dug up a jumping ants nest and they were not happy. I had to wait till they had subsided before I attempted to cross the ledge, as one of the safe handholds was a tree root, right amongst the swarming ants! The rest of the clamber down involved lots of slipping, a couple of heart attacks and lots of using the grass plants as a handhold.
It was just when we thought the descent would let off, that the track turned right only to reveal that it continued down even further, with a wet slippery 5m rock face to contend with that overlooked the rest of the drop. We used a rope to let ourselves down this face because if we slipped, there would be nothing to stop us falling down the rest of the cliff.
Eventually the gradient eased off into thicker forest and we snaked further into the gorge, using old creek lines to help us down. Our motivation sparked up again once we had finally reached the river after about 3 hours of walking. Rock hopping is always a tedious process, and with the rain the water level was even higher, but beautiful scenery of blue dragonflies, running clear water and largely untouched greenery made it enjoyable. There were some parts that were more difficult than others, including ascending a small waterfall on slippery rocks, and our feet slipped into the river a fair few times, but there was nothing too difficult to navigate.
Eventually, after a gruelling 4 or so hours, we arrived at the base of Coomera Falls. For a brief moment we forgot about the gruelling descent and enjoyed the view of the final destination. This waterfall was stunning and we arrived just as the sunlight had illuminated the gorge. To the right of Coomera Falls was another awesome waterfall called Yarrbilgong Falls that was very picturesque. From the base we could see the viewing platform of Coomera Circuit, but that platform does not do this waterfall justice.
Unfortunately, the fairy tale had to end and we began our journey back, albeit much quicker. Knowing the route back, we smashed our time taken to get back to our turn-off up the cliff. We then charged back up the cliffs until our joints were aching and our muscles burning but it was much faster on the return as we knew what we were looking for, and we returned to the Coomera Circuit in just over 2 hours. By this stage we were very dreary and the slight incline back to the car park was enough to make it seem very difficult. We were fortunate enough to see an Eastern whipbird, which can be heard all throughout the forest but are very difficult to spot, and an adorable rufous fantail feeding on the trail, which are much less common. These sightings gave us the life we needed to get back to the car, and call it a day.
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