Carnarvon Gorge

From Fairbairn Dam we headed south passing through Springsure and later Rolleston where we had a quick break and headed off the main road. Another hour saw us at Takarakka Campground just out of Carnarvon NP, and also about 5km from the ranger head quarters (the start of most of the walks). Everything is looking very lush with lots of water lying around – apparently they’ve already had twice their annual rainfall here already and it’s only September. Carnarvon itself in one huge gorge, predominantly sandstone, not too unlike the Blue Mtns really, the difference being it’s a tad warmer up here during winter and there are remnant pockets of sun-tropical rainforest here. Once we had camp sorted we headed off and checked out the ranger info centre and did a walk up Mickey Creek and a smaller side gorge called Warrumbah Gorge, which the kids loved as it involved rock scrambling and climbing up the very narrow gorge. It was quite noticeable how much cooler it is in the smaller gorges which have virtually no direct sunlight – on a hot day these would be the places to hang out.

What an epic day! The kids worked out with all the side trips we walked appox 24km. The kids were great, there were bribes involved of course! As well as keeping them well fed with a heap of food, and that most important food group chocolate, they were promised a “Heaven” icecream if they got through the whole day without whinging.  We also played a heap of games to help make the less interesting bits whiz past a little quicker. Chantal also countered every stepping stone on the 13 creek crossing we did to the top of the gorge, 517 in total. We walked pretty much straight to the top of the gorge only stopping at the “Art Gallery” and “Cathedral Cave”, both Aboriginal Art sites which were close to the main track. We came across a green tree snake, who high-tailed it once he saw a couple of noisy kids. We had lunch at Big Bend, the top of the main track which also had a pool deep enough for a dip – though the kids thought it was a tad nippy for a swim. On the way back we explored Boowinda Gorge and Ward’s Canyon both specky in their own right. Ward’s has the only stand of King Ferns in central & west QLD. These are huge ferns that need a continual supply of water otherwise they give up the ghost pretty quick. The last hour on the track was a real challenge to keep one little girl moving, many games were played to take her mind off the “sore legs and feet”.  We even walked backwards at one stage because she thought it didn’t hurt as much. That night we all slept very soundly!

After our big day we’d planned a sleep in – this wasn’t to be as our neighbours decided to get up at some ungodly hour to go walking, and I’m taking before 6am here! Once up, the morning was spent chilling out, doing some maintenance stuff on the car and trailer, and more importantly the kids catching with their diaries. The arvo was spent doing a few of the smaller walks, Baloon Cave (another Aboriginal art site) and the Rock Pool where the kids had a swim with the turtles. Lachlan also climbed to the top of the big boulder there and jumped in.

We were up early to beat the heat. From the visitor centre we walked, scrambled and climbed up to Boolimba Bluff. The kids loved it as the climb had a heap of steps and a number of ladders. In fact our little Miss Numbers (Chantal) counted every step on the way back down and ended up with 915 ! The view from the top which is on top of the plateau was spectacular and we had it to ourselves. Once back down on the main track on the gorge floor we headed upstream to the Amphitheatre, an amazing chamber on a little side gorge. It was accessed via ladders and a small slit through the rock. There was a school group there and just as we were leaving they sang the national anthem, proving the acoustics were excellent. We headed back downstream and walked up another side gorge to the Moss Garden, where the water constantly seeps through the porous sandstone keeping a range of ferns, mosses and liverworts thriving all year long, with a great backdrop of a waterfall. It was quite noticeable how much cooler it was higher up in this small canyon compared to the relatively exposed main canyon. We had an hour slog back to the car which the kids enjoyed far more than two days before when they’d already walked seven odd hours. Again Miss Numbers worked out we’d done approx 14km of walking for the day. Back at camp we were inundated with two coach loads of high school kids, which meant sprinting to the showers before the hot water was consumed. Later we had a more pleasant encounter, catching up with a young family from Melbourne we’d met many weeks before at Wonga Beach, which is not too far north of Cairns. After dinner the rangers put on a slide show and spoke about the Gorge and the wider park. We also got to hear from the legendary Fred Conway, an indigenous ranger who has been at the park for ages is passionate about promoting and preserving the indigenous culture of the area.

Today after some goodbyes we made our way to Workman’s Beach (Agnes Waters), which is south of Gladstone. Agnes Waters is also close to 1770, apparently the first place Mr Cook landed in QLD. It ended up being over a 500km drive so we on the move pretty much all day only stopping for a shop at Biloela. We’ve got a nice little camp spot and lots of friendly mozzies to boot. Plan to spend a few days here not doing much, though apparently it’s Oz’s northern most surf beach – we had a quick look tonight and I have my doubts. Maybe we’ll just have to chuck in a line or two.