Carnarvon Gorge Day 2 Qld

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We rose early to commence our hike to the end of where we could reasonably cover Carnarvon Gorge. Fortunately, we brought one hiking pole each, to assist us in balancing as we leapt from rock to rock across the thirty two river crossings on the way to Big Bend. The river levels were elevated due to the recent rains, making negotiating the crossings more difficult. Carnarvon Gorge is essentially one long sandstone canyon, with a number of side tracks branching off it to points of interest. We covered the side tracks towards the end of the hike, to avoid having to repeat the long walk and river crossings the next day.

The Cathedral Cave and Art Gallery are full of aboriginal paintings on the sandstone walls, and are a must to visit. Big Bend is literally a big Bend in the gorge where the river has carved away the sandstone walls of the gorge. It was a bit too cold for a swim.

After walking eight hours, hopping over thirty two river crossings and covering nearly twenty five kilometres, we only just made it back before dusk to our vehicle in the Car Park. We were totally exhausted, but were spurred on by the grunt of a wild pig near the walking track as we neared the final river crossing.

Again, an amazing adventure in the totally amazing Carnarvon Gorge.

Back to Sandstone Park where I cooked a damper on the fire in our Camp Oven.

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