The Panorama Route & The Chubby Pig

I was up at 5:30am witching a coughing fit thanks to my cold. It had rained heavily overnight and although it wasn’t raining now it was really misty.
Ellie got up at 6:30 and after coffees we both headed over to the washrooms to get cleaned up. It was still very misty by 8:40am when we got back and I sat done a couple of very quick Spanish lessons and by 9am the mist had lifted and we were under burning sunshine. It really is the most bizarre weather here.
Our plan today was to cover the whole of the Panorama route starting at the furthest point 40 miles away and working our way back, stopping at the chubby pig restaurant for lunch before finishing the route and coming back to camp.
We left just after 9am and initially drove past the first scenic turnoffs for the pinnacle rock and gods window before seeing the sign for Lisbon falls and I decided we would do the scenic points going up incase the weather turned again, so our first stop of the day was Lisbon Falls. A beautiful double waterfall with a viewpoint but the viewpoint was quite overgrown and I couldn’t get great pictures.
After Lisbon Falls we doubled back on ourselves going to Pinacle Rock which cost us £1:50 each to see a singular rock standing on it’s own and then we went to Gods Window which cost us £2:50 each to look down a view of the valley between 2 mountains and then climb 100 steps to visit what was called a rainforest and look at the same view from higher up.
I was thoroughly disappointed with all of this, I hadn’t been that excited about coming here looking at the pictures online but it is a world famous route and Ellie wanted to do it.
After Gods window we worked our way up to the next stop, Berlin Falls and had to pay another £2:50 each to view a singular waterfall running into a giant pool. Again we couldn’t get anywhere near it there was just 2 separate viewpoints and it was busy with tourists. Even Ellie was disappointed at the views but more disappointed that we had to pay at every single stop.
We then took the decision to head to Bourkes Luck Potholes skipping all the other waterfalls en-route as this is something we both wanted to see. So we drove the 10 miles up the panorama route and this time paid £5 each to walk down what was called the lichen trail, which in reality was a rocky path to Bourkes Luck Potholes.
The potholes are so named because they are part of a tightly formed canyon and as water has run through it has gauged out circular holes as it turned forming craters that collect the water. Pictures online make it seem that these “potholes” are everywhere but as we found out this is not the case.
Everybody’s £5 entrance fee has gone into building 3 bridges spanning the width of the canyon and although it is a beautiful canyon and walk this is a well publicised place and as such it was heaving with people. Coach loads of people, and as we walked over the rocks and bridges we couldn’t see the potholes that we see online anywhere until we got to the last bridge. There they were, 200 feet below us and compared to pictures they were tiny. I was gutted.
After the potholes we called it a day and decided not to get ripped off with crappy views anymore and as it was now 12:30pm we decided to head to the chubby pig for lunch.
The chubby pig is a bizarre restaurant in a field next to a slow flowing river. We had only found it because they have holiday chalets here and we were booked to stay in for 2 nights last year but cancelled 2 days before because some ladies in the swimming pool told us that the panorama route was dangerous.
We were greeted by a lovely girl who was also the manager and at the time we were the only ones here but it did get busier. She told us we could have a swim in the river if we wanted and although it looked inviting we didn’t have our swimming stuff so we just settled on eating.
I chose a bacon and Brie burger with fries and onion rings and Ellie chose a chicken, peach, and pea Vestkoek which is a battered roll. Ellie’s looked bizarre and it was unbelievably heavy to eat. It was just so doughy but the Chicken, peach and peas with gravy and mayonnaise actually tasted pretty good. Who would have thought it?
After the Chubby pig we headed back to camp, Ellie said she was really tired so we got in the tent at 2pm for a nana nap and I got back up at 2:30pm leaving Ellie asleep.
By 2:50pm I was bored so went swimming on my own for 20 minutes to cool off and Ellie still wasn’t up when I got back.
She finally got back at 4pm and then said she didn’t feel well. I thought I had given her my cold but around dinner time she started being sick and continued to be sick until 9pm. Then she just flaked out in the bed next to me.Read more