A hidden oasis in the savanna lands that stretch from the Tableland to the Gulf, Cobbold Gorge boasts stunning swimming holes, rugged rocks and a wonderful array of wildlife

On a steamy day in the sultry tropical heat and humidity of Cairns, it’s hard to believe that the Outback’s wide open dustiness is just half a day’s drive away.
But skip up and over the lush Tableland via Ravenshoe and you are soon cruising through increasingly scrubby savanna stretching to the Gulf of Carpentaria, 800km west.
Massive termite mounds extend as far as the eye can see, mobs of wallabies and wallaroos skip away as you pass and, apart from farmers’ Land Cruisers, the only other vehicles on the highway are cattle trucks and grey nomads.
This is the Savannah Way, the epic road-less-travelled scenic route linking Cairns with Broome.
The savanna is immense and almost empty of people. Instead it is home to hundreds of thousands of cattle.
Breaking up the sweeping grasslands are occasional hills, sporadic strands of scrubby forest and a marvellously intricate, mostly invisible network of seasonal rivers that over millennia have carved waterways through solid, ancient rock.
A trip out here is a good introduction to the delights of the “real” Queensland.
Rugged “no bullshit” cattlemen swap stories in wonderfully atmospheric roadhouses that reveal the Outback’s historic character and fiery characters.
We headed west on a beautiful spring day to visit Cobbold Gorge.
It’s open to visitors from Easter right through to October. En route, we passed through charming, historical Mt Garnet and Mt Surprise, plus the turnoff for the spectacular Undara lava tubes, an ancient geological wonderland well worth several hours of your time.
Reached by a bumpy but easily negotiated unsealed road off the Savannah Way, 45km south of Forsyth, Cobbold Gorge is certainly off the beaten track.
It is also a travel experience like no other, combining revealing insights into the sometimes harsh reality of outback life with wonderful wildlife tours, fantastic fishing and the lip‑smacking delights of wholesome Australian bush tucker under a spectacular night sky, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest big city.
Cobbold Gorge sits near the Howlong homestead on Robin Hood Station, a 1284sq km cattle property owned and run by the Terry brothers.
In 1992, two old school friends of Simon Terry arrived with a small tinny and outboard, and Simon decided to explore further the mouth of the creek that had long been a permanent watering hole for cattle and a popular picnic spot. After “bush bashing” their way from the road to the creek with the tinny, Simon was amazed by the scale and majesty of the hitherto unknown Cobbold Gorge – he immediately began hatching plans for a sustainable tourism business to share his discovery.
In 1995, Simon married his wife, Gaye, and they launched Cobbold Gorge Tours from Howlong Station.
Today, you arrive at the homestead under your own steam or station pick-up (powered sites from $25, cabins from $100). Gorge access is by guided tour only – with an unforgettably atmospheric boat cruise through the narrow gorge.
A full day tour, with walks, agate fossicking, lunch and swimming, plus the gorge by boat, costs $110. We took a half-day walk and cruise, which costs $80.
Our guide was Graham, a warm, friendly and knowledgeable Queenslander who has spent most of his working life driving coach tours around the northern states of Australia, from Perth to Brisbane and all points in between.
Always sporting a wide‑brimmed Akubra with his long-sleeved tour guide shirt buttoned right up at the neck, Graham provided some salient safety advice for this newly arrived Pom. Having lost parts of his nose and ears to skin cancer, he was a living warning of the dangers of Australia’s tropical sun.
Passionate and enthusiastic, Graham’s great pleasure in Cobbold’s delights was infectious. This was the great revelation. From the highway most of outback Australia looks the same. But dip into it and you will find a dazzling variety.
In the century of its existence, Robin Hood Station has survived hostile Aborigines, bushfires and the Great Depression. A magnet for miners before it was used for cattle, today a team of mine engineers based at Howlong are exploring every inch of the station in search of gold and other precious metals.
Cobbold Gorge was named after Frank Edward Cobbold, a pioneer pastoralist who established cattle stations across Queensland and New South Wales in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The tour also includes a visit to the well maintained grave of John Corbett, killed by an Aborigine’s spear in 1871.
Graham’s bushwalk and cruise included freshwater crocs and turtles, archerfish, honeyeaters and kingfishers.
Robin Hood is home to a huge variety of wildlife. No Grand Canyon, Cobbold Gorge’s beauty comes from its intimacy and the surprise of finding such a hidden treasure secreted in such rugged landscape.
Although the rocks around the gorge are almost 1700 million years old, the gorge itself is geologically young, formed as recently as 10,000 years ago.
Possibly opened up by an earthquake, the gorge’s walls tell the geological history of this land with layers of sandstone, pebbles and shale from different epochs.
Robin Hood Station has a carefully engineered hydrological scheme to catch rainfall during the Big Wet, store it in an extensive network of reservoirs and distribute it around the property via pipelines to water the cattle.
The Terrys’ herd is now almost exclusively brahman, an Indian breed well adapted by evolution to deal with the extreme temperatures and relentless flies of the Australian interior. Today’s mustering system is much modernised  with helicopters and motorbikes employed alongside horses and dogs.
As Graham explains on an informative station tour, the Terrys’ no stress mustering technique operates without excessive noise, whips or physical pain, which makes it much easier to corral cattle into the trucks that take them to the coast to be shipped overseas.
Most cows at Robin Hood Station are exported to Indonesia from Karumba, though some go further afield from Townsville.
With the Australian dollar at an all time high, it’s a hard time to be a cattleman. So kudos to Simon and Gaye Terry for creating a vibrant cattle property that is also a brilliant exemplar of a diversified, modern tourist business.
To book accommodation or tours at Cobbold Gorge, phone 1800 669 922 or visit cobboldgorge.com.au

 

Share this article