Carnarvon Gorge

Carnarvon National Park in central Queensland is home to one of the country's most impressive gorge systems. The last 12 kilometres of the access road to the adjacent caravan park is unsealed, so we were in two minds whether we would visit with our decidedly non-offroad caravan. However, we decided that the gorge really is on the must see list for any trip around Australia, so we took it slow and easy and the van seems to have survived the experience.

We spent 3 full days at Carnarvon Gorge, and did most of the available walks. On the first day we polished off the short walks, including Baloon Cave, a rock overhang with stencilled Aboriginal rock art.

On day 2, Wendy tackled the 6.4 km trail up Boolimba Bluff. John was concerned that the 'climb up 963 steps with several small ladders' would be too much for his delicate achilles tendon, so stayed at the van. The trail wasn't quite as tough as the trail notes suggested, however the 300m section of extreme uphill took Wendy 20 minutes to negotiate, and every step coming back down sent jolts through her knees. The view from the Bluff lookout made the effort worthwhile, the photo at the top of the blog shows the towering white sandstone cliffs that line the gorge.

The main trail at Carnarvon Gorge runs for nearly 10 kilometres from the visitor centre to the head of the gorge. There are also multiple side trails that branch off the main trail, so to do the whole set of trails would need 2 days, camping at the head of the gorge overnight. We have neither the equipment nor the inclination to camp out on a walk, so chose to walk the first 5km of the main trail, visiting the side gorges on the way back to make a total walk length of around 14km.

The main trail is reasonably flat, winding near and, several times, across the creek that runs down the base of the gorge. The three side trails we visited, however, were all reasonably steep with multiple steps (more jolting through the knees). The creek crossings were much easier than those we encountered at Main Range National Park a month ago, with large solid stepping stones, so we weren't ever really in danger of getting wet feet.

The first side trail led to a large aboriginal rock art site. The second side trail led up Ward's Canyon, a green oasis that is the only Australian home of the world's largest fern, the king fern, outside the coastal strip. The third side trail, to the 'Moss Garden' ended at a micro-climate of dripping rocks where the porous sandstone walls met a solid shale support. Water that may have fallen as rain thousands of years ago and that has seeped gradually through the sandstone meets the impermeable shale and oozes sideways, to emerge as a myriad drips. The line where the two rock types meet is marked by masses of mosses, ferns and lichens, fed by the constantly dripping water.

The total walk took us nearly 5 hours, and by the end we were quite exhausted. John's feet and Wendy's knees were well and truly walked out, and we had a very quiet and early night indeed. However, we loved our time at Carnarvon Gorge, and we are very pleased to have 'crossed it off the list'.