Into the Gorge - warning long post

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Early morning, we began preparations for our hike into the Gorge proper. Backpacks are filled with sandwiches, rain jackets, cameras, snacks and water.
We seem to be the last car out of the caravan park, as all the grey nomads have headed to the trails early.
We drive 4kms to the Information Centre and approach the Gorge. The excitement is brewing in the car as the boys look forward to a day’s walking. Sure we’ll be walking for 4 hours – no problem.
The main track of Carnarvon Gorge is well worn, and well signposted. Some 40,000 visitors a year make the same trek that criss-crosses the Carnarvon Creek. Who’d have thought that such a small body of water wore away these cliffs over time? (Of course in flood times, this small creek becomes a raging torrent. The recent Qld floods supposed started here in the Gorge after heavy rains on Boxing Day 2010).
Our main aims were to see 4 major points of interest along the track: The Art Gallery, The Moss Garden, Ward’s Canyon, and the Amphitheatre. All up, we estimated this to be about 8kms walk. Thanks to our handy guidebook from Walter, and the laminated map, we struck out at a good pace into the Gorge.
The water in the creek in most parts is crystal clear, but due to the recent flushing, no platypus were to be found. They’ve become very shy during daylight hours as most of their vegetation cover has gone.
It is hard to put into words the beauty that surrounds you on this track. On one side you have the creek bed, with thousands of rounded stones and pebbles. Cutting through the deepest channel is the creek itself running swiftly from the springs in the cliffs and canyons above. Beside the creek is the myriad of greens – in trees, in fan palms, in the rush grasses, and the small flowering plants. The track is a sandy dirt colour, well worn by many who’ve traversed this way before. All this is offset by the sandstone cliffs that tower above you at all points.
As far as walks go, it wasn’t hard. I expected it to be quite a bit more taxing, but given the company of grey nomads around us, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
The Amphitheatre was our first stop – a welcome rest to refuel with apples. You wind up this side track, and are then confronted by a set of metal ladders leading into a crevice. The temperature drops immediately as you walk through this crevice. What awaits is a natural sound chamber – curved cliffs hollowed out by swirling flood waters (not a place to hang out in a storm). The sound resonated beautifully as it bounced from wall to wall. In the middle was this green, moss and fern covered ‘stage’, itching for some performance. Each of us sang and raised our voice to experience this place.
Another 2 or 3 kms down the track, we made it to the Art Gallery. As you approach this wall from the main track, there is a sense of something almost sacred in the air. You climb past a few stone ‘gateways’ or pillars up to meet this rock face head on. This isn’t an art gallery as non-indigenous would see it, but more of a religious site, or even a hall of records. The art here is diverse – stencils of hands, boomerangs, axes, and water bowls. Along side these are free hand drawings of nets, goannas, emu eggs, and even the ‘spirit man’. Interspersed were carvings of emu foot prints, kangaroo feet, men’s feet, and surprisingly female genitalia. There were a lot of the latter of these – leading me to think that this was some form of make out rock, or inspiration point, or even a place on walkabout where young men prepared themselves for manhood. Nobody really knows what they mean.
Back to the trail and into Ward’s Canyon. Named after a family of possum trappers , it was a winter home for indigenous in long forgotten times. One of the striking features of this place was the walk in. Cool waters flow though deep channels before dropping into the pools below – and they were almost perfectly formed. Even Jamie Drurie couldn’t create the perfect curves the water flowed through. Further inside the canyon lay a deep green habitat for the king fern. Only 10 of these plants exist in this canyon – and these are the only ones within Qld’s interior. The leaves were strange in that they had no wood in them for a stem, only water.
Our final stop of the day was the Moss Garden. This is the most photographed part of Carnarvon Gorge and it’s easy to see why. It is a natural artesian basin. It works like this : water hits the sandstone cliffs above, and seeps through (takes thousands of years). At a certain line, the sandstone ends and the rock turns to shale – the water hits this and then finds it’s course to somewhere it can flow through. So it seeps through the rock walls in these canyons and drips down the walls into pools and creeks below. The moss loves this wet environment and thrives living on these wet walls. The water then flows through the pools to the creeks, and becomes the Fitzroy River, and flows to the ocean. This garden is well worth seeing and experiencing.
We then trekked back to the car (a further 3.8 kms). Toby was tired and starting to falter, and grumbled about not making it. Being his Dad, I reached down and grabbed his hand, and offered encouragement for the final walk out of the Gorge. As we walked, I was reminded of how God has done this for me so many times, and continues to do so. I stumble and grumble, complaining that I may not make it, but God is always there with a steadying and guiding hand, coupled with words of encouragement.
The afternoon finished, and we realised we’d trekked 13kms in under 6 hours. Well deserved were showers and a big bowl of spag bol. A night treat of watching ‘Speed Racer’ capped off the evening.
While preparing dinner, a Kookaburra sat on the awning of the caravan. He just sat and watched hoping for some treat. Alas, he moved on unsatisfied.
Birds fill this place with their songs, and their actions. The ‘Jumping jacks’ birds, also known as CWA birds are fascinating to watch as the gather, and bicker, and are generally very social.
Song of the day: ‘Going on a bear hunt’

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