Blogs from Carnarvon NP, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

18-9-11 big day today, we were only going to go to the Art Gallery Gorge, we decided to go to the furthest point then see the walks on the way back (14km return). We reached the Art Gallery in 1 ½ hours & felt pretty good, so we pushed on to the Cathedral Caves, another 4 km on (22km return). The track was pretty good to the Art Gallery, but after that was a lot of creek crossings & rough tracks. We reached the Cathedral Caves after 3 hours of walking. It was well worth it. The Cave was spectacular. Den pushed on & did the Boowinda Gorge, I could not walk ant further as I knew we had to do the return walk. We were both hurting & my feet were burning, but after getting ... read more

Brisbane to Carnarvon National Park We woke up Monday the 27th excited to start our great Aussie adventure. We took the train to the outskirts of Brisbane and picked up our van. The rental people were great, carefully explaining all the ways they will screw us if we crash their van. Finally on our way, we got onto the M1 highway (the main highway north) before quickly realizing we'd already made a wrong turn as we'd intended to head west. It's not so hard getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road, the worst part is getting used to the different vehicle and getting it in the centre of the lane. Our Mitsubishi van is brand new with only 30,000km but it's not the most ergonomic vehicle to drive as it's essentially just ... read more

Vandaag zijn we na 250 kilometer aangekomen in Carnarvon National Park. De laatste 30 kilometer waren niet geasfalteerd, dus dat was een zogenaamde "bumpy ride". We moesten trouwens vooraf bellen met de "rangers" van het park om te vragen of de wegen wel goed begaanbaar waren. Door de regen zouden de wegen niet echt geschikt kunnen zijn voor onze eenvoudige campervan. Gelukkig waren de wegen in orde en konden we gaan. Carnarvon National Park is echt een waanzinnig groot natuurreservaat, bestaande uit verschillende segmenten. Een van de segmenten die goed toegankelijk is voor bezoekers vanaf de oostzijde is Carnarvon Gorge, dat is ook waar wij heen zijn gegaan. In het kort, Carnarvon Gorge is een soort groene vallei met een aantal vertakkingen waar ontzettend veel planten, vogels en andere dieren leven die nergens anders in Queensland ... read more

Carnarvon Gorge has done a good job of making itself inaccessible, hidden away inconveniently far from any major town and at the end of an unsealed stretch of road that has more cows wandering around on it than the average Indian street. The promise of one of the best gorge hikes in Australia, as well as a profusion of Aboriginal art, had lured me here. As the bookings man had helpfully stated - "We don't have budget accommodation here, just accommodation" so I had a 3-bed canvas cabin to myself for 2 nights. The washing block had probably the best facilities I've ever seen at a campsite, but the kitchen area had no pots/pans/plates/etc at all, condemning me to sandwiches for all meals. Tame wallabies and kangaroos loped about the place nibbling at the grass, or ... read more