Carnarvon Gorge

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Having decided that time is too precious to wait for people to call us about potential work, we planned an inland detour with the possibility of returning to Rockhampton if jobs materialised. It was the first time in a long while that we drove 4.5 hours in one day – stopping for a lunch break in the cutely named town of Banana and making it to Rolleston in the evening. Because we were going inland, our ‘East Coast Australia’ Lonely Planet had to be banished to the bookshelf (yep, we do have one in the van) and the big ‘Australia’ bible was once again consulted.We read about the stunning Carnarvon Gorge National Park and we certainly weren’t disappointed, when we got there the next day.



The area is a hiker’s paradise and there are countless walks, of all grades, available to visitors. We started off with the gentle walk to Baloon Cave, whose name originates from the Aboriginal word ‘baloon’ meaning stone axe. Three pictures of this implement, along with hand prints, have been stenciled onto the rock using orange ochre. We also explored Mickey Creek Gorge and Warrumbah Creek Gorge which has huge cracks in the rock facade that you can actually walk through. Eventually the path became too difficult to navigate but, a little further on, we spotted some people having a go at rock climbing.



On arrival at the visitors’ centre, we thought we would try our luck by enquiring if there were any spare camping spots available. We were told in no uncertain terms that the camp was fully booked and that, as it’s only open during school holidays, people book their tent sites as far as 12 months in advance. We must have good karma, however, as we were permitted to set up camp in the ‘overflow area’, a huge space which could easily have accommodated another half dozen families. All this for a modest fee of $10 per night with hot, coin-operated showers. Awesome! We later noticed that many camp spots were actually free and could only assume that the people who had booked them simply hadn’t turned up. You would have thought that the park rangers would permit others to camp there instead… but sadly we heard a number of other people being turned away. After lunch we did the gentle Nature Trail walk, a circuit track around which many kangaroos hang out, nibbling on the plants.



The night temperatures at Carnarvon Gorge could easily have been sub-zero and our first night was, without a doubt, the coldest one on this trip so far. I was huddled underneath the duvet with my book and flashlight, wearing four layers as well as my hat and gloves… and still freezing. Thankfully the days were gorgeous – crisp but sunny.



Our second day in the park turned out to be rather hard core… We thought it would be a good idea to do the grade four 22km hike all the way up Carnarvon Gorge with side walks along the way. It was a real adventure as we chose our walking sticks, lost count of all the river crossings (landing in the river a couple of times!), navigated our way around rocks and over lose ground and admired the beautiful scenery around us. The fresh outdoors helped my cold work its way out… I won’t get too graphic, but I’m sure you can imagine. We explored the Moss Garden (a beautiful spot with moss covered sandstone walls, lush ferns and a small waterfall), the Amphitheatre (an amazing and unreal 60m deep chamber in the rock with towering stone walls), the Art Gallery (a 62m long stone wall covered in Aboriginal engravings and ochre stencils) before arriving at Cathedral Cave (a massive wind-eroded overhang with more Aboriginal rock art). It was here that we admitted that our feet were killing us and our knees weren’t feeling all that crash hot either. We were well equipped, however, and munched on our lunch and made cups of tea.



Aware that we were limited by daylight hours, and constantly checking the time, we didn’t have much of an opportunity to linger and relax. The walk back seemed to take forever and there was much less chatting than there had been in the morning. After 8.5 hours we finally arrived back at our camping spot, collapsed and shared a glass of wine with our new neighbour, a gentleman with his kids from the Gold Coast who had also been consigned to the overflow area after being stuck at the side of a flooded road for four days.



The next morning my knees were complaining heavily so I had a fairly relaxed day, reading and sorting through our photos. In the afternoon we did a slow 4km walk to the Rock Pool and back. This is the only place in Carnarvon Gorge where it’s safe to swim and there were a few people taking a dip in the afternoon sun. In the evening, Dean continued his quest to see a platypus in the wild. With great results as he finally saw some in a creek along the Nature Trail! The return walk was a bit hairy though: apparently a sizeable kangaroo was sitting in the middle of the path and refused to move, growling at Dean whenever he tried to come close. Instead, he had to climb through the bushes in order to make a detour around the angry marsupial. The following morning, Dean did a sunrise hike up to Boolimba Bluff, returning with amazing photos. The bluff towers 200m above Carnarvon Creek so the views are out of this world.



We had a fairly leisurely start on our last morning before heading back to Rolleston. Until then we had had no reception at all (which was quite refreshing!) and quickly checked our emails for any potential work opportunities in Rockhampton. As there were none (?!) we happily continued on our way to the town of Emerald.

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