Carnarvon Gorge Qld
After spending a few days in Roma we travelled the 250km north to Carnarvon Gorge. You pretty much drive about 150km before turning off onto a quite narrow but bitumised road for the last 50 or so km into the park. Lots of cattle wander along the road so just a tip to look out for them and slow down !! Beautiful drive in though.
We chose to stay at the Breeze Big 4 Caravan park which is alongside the Carnarvon Creek. Great walks along the creek and even a few platypus viewing areas where if your patient enough you can spot a platypus or two ! We sat for probably a good half hour or so in the late evening and eventually the shy little bugger put in an appearance !! The CP also have lots of kangaroos and wallabies hopping around through out the park. There was a little shop at the entrance where you could sit and try your luck at getting your daily internet fix or buy a beer and some snacks. Pretty much though if you hate being without internet or tv then maybe just plan a few days here. The drive into the Gorge visitor centre is only about 5km down the road, which is where the majority of the walks start from.
Stupidly we started the walk and decided to walk the whole 9.7km (19.4km return) one way towards Big Bend. Ambitious we may have been but we walked from about 9am returning around 4.30pm. The main track has off shoots which lead into other places of interest. We stopped on the way and looked at The Amphitheatre which is about 650m off the main track. This was truly spectacular as you claim up these stairs and through a narrow gorge to get into the Amphitheatre. Well worth the climb! After doing The Ampitheatre we decided we would go all the way to Big Bend and return the next day to do the other trails that we had missed along the way. We didn’t quite make it all the way to Big Bend but we did make it to Cathedral Cave which was really quite spectacular with its Aboriginal rock art. We also stopped on the way and looked at The Amphitheatre with is about 650m off the main track. The walk is truly spectacular as you cross probably a dozen or more creek crossings and walk through the most stunning sandstone cliffs and a diverse range of flora and fauna. The many blisters and aching muscles the next day made the walk well worthwhile. Unfortunately we never made it back to look at the few offshoot tracks that we missed.
We did however do the Mickey Gorge walk and wow, that would have been one of the most spectacular walks in the gorge. You walk along the creek until you come to a juction. You turn right and go over the creek and walk until you get to a sign saying end of main walk but if you keep going you come to the most spectacular gorge with a little creek running through it and which the gorge walls covered in green moss, you just want to keep walking as it is so breathtakingly beautiful but you get to a point where you would be wading in water to keep going. That was probably the standout walk in the gorge.
Next stop Emerald area …….
