Yet More...

In any case, the really spectacular galleries, including Giant Horse, the one I really wanted to see, are only accessible through the Quinkan Centre, but I'd still suggest, assuming you're fit and interested, that you take the guided Split Rock tour (I'm assuming that's more or less what we got) rather than just lobbing in the car park and wandering up the hill to take a gander at the paintings.

And if you are there and decide not to do anything extravagant you should definitely drop the suggested $5 per head in the honesty box at Split Rock and take a good look at the displays at the Quinkan Centre, where you can also make the donation. Depends on which way and how far you're going.

A more detailed account of this bit of the trip would have required the use of a notebook or voice recorder, and, to be quite honest, I was too busy keeping up with the walk to be stopping to scribble, and vocal records would have come with a good deal of puffing and panting.

Still, I have to say those three hours were one of the most memorable experiences I've had, and did a lot to clarify my thinking about long dormant historical research. Whether anything concrete comes out of that renewed interest remains to be seen (he said, tapping out his impressions in a motel room at Lakeland Downs the following morning).

From the Quinkan Centre it was off to the pub for a quick chilled article, then back to Lakeland Downs for the night. In retrospect it might have been possible to head all the way into Cooktown, but three hours clambering over the escarpment meant that by the time we'd checked in, had a short rest, and demolished a couple of seafood baskets we were both pushing up the Zs shortly after seven thirty.

© Ian Hughes 2012