In 1992, a young grazier named Simon Terry and a couple of mates set off to explore Cobbold Creek in a remote corner of his ‘Howlong’ cattle station in Queensland's Gulf Savannah region. Simon had spent many a day in the saddle ranging across the property mustering cattle and he knew that the deep spring-fed waterhole at the mouth of the creek was a great spot for picnics and swimming. He had been there many times but had never ventured upstream beyond the natural barrier of the pool's deep water bounded by sheer rock walls.
For this particular excursion, however, Simon and his friends had brought a tinny with an outboard so they could explore the gorge upstream of the waterhole. What they discovered was beyond their wildest imaginings - cliffs of ochre sandstone carved in surreal shapes, towering almost 20m above the waterline, narrowing to barely 2m wide in places as the gorge snaked its way into the ancient landscape.
Simon and his wife, Gaye, were quick to realise the tourism potential of this unique geological treasure. Within two years of Simon's discovery, they started running tours for day-trippers out of
