CARNARVON GORGEous - QLD Central Highlands

 How lucky are we to be back at this beautiful place within 3 years!

Carnarvon Gorge is hidden in the rugged ranges of Queensland’s Central Highlands and features amazing walks between towering sandstone cliffs. We had five nights camping at Takarakka Campground which is a beautiful shady campsite alongside a lovely creek, home to Platypus, Echidna's and Kangaroo's.

Day One we headed off early for the long walk to Big Bend, via Boowinda Gorge, Cathedral Cave, Ward’s Canyon and the Art Gallery – 25kms return. We sat and admired Aboriginal Art dating back 3,500 years, hiked up the Boowinda Gorge, a dried creek bed full of challenging river stones, until the towering rock walls began to close in on us and sat in the shade of the waterhole at Big Bend for lunch.

Day Two we headed back into the National Park to view Moss Garden, the Amphitheatre and another visit to Ward’s Canyon – 18kms return. We were blessed to have all of these special sites to ourselves for a lot of the time, so we could soak up the serenity and listen to the sounds of tweeting birds and running streams. Ward’s Canyon is a cool oasis and home to the world’s largest King fern’s – magnificent with the sun shining on the brilliant green fronds. Magic indeed.

Day Three was declared a rest day by Sippy. We had a good cook-up breakfast of poached eggs, tomato, oregano chutney and toasted rye sour dough and then did the housework. A few loads of washing, a wipe down of the ensuite and we were done. Love this!!! As it was a beautiful blue-sky day and a warm 28 degrees we headed for the Rock Pool, a lovely waterhole just inside the National Park. Although a little cool to take the initial plunge, once in we were rewarded with a beautiful refreshing swim in stunning surroundings.

That evening we sat around the communal campfire and met some very interesting people. Sippy informed me we would meet some characters – and alas he wasn’t wrong. One guy in particular had had a very interesting life having been a snake catcher, a song writer, recorder and performer, an opal miner and a heavy machine operator who had lived in 4 Australian States … my goodness he could talk!

Day Four we headed off to climb Boolimba Bluff – a 2.2km vertical climb which afforded amazing views of the gorge and cliffs faces. As we ventured up early in the morning, we were blessed to have the sun shining fully on the cliff faces – spectacular and well worth the climb (and the many steep steps and ladders). We then hiked Mickey Creek Gorge and Warrumbah Gorge, again lucky enough to have the gorges to ourselves. We soaked up the grandeur, along with the peace and quiet of nature. Total walk 15kms.

We finished the day with another swim at the Rock Pool, along with a few turtles. Sausages with fried tomatoes and mushrooms, washed down with a Brokenwood Rosato completed a great day.