We woke up early the next morning and set off for a swim in the nearby Rock Pools. At 8am, it was already really warm and the swimming hole seemed like a great idea. That is, until, the girl at the campground kiosk told us the Rock Pools were filled with non-venomous snakes - that was all I needed to hear to not put more than a toe in the water! Jon had a grand old time splashing about and trying to drag me into the snake pits.
With no luck trying to coax me into the water, the trail we decided to take was a 14 km round trip bushwalk that weaved across the Gorge Floor with numerous creek crossings. It was a beautiful day to explore "Australia's Grand Canyon."
According to park literature, the rugged 16,000ha Carnarvon Gorge section is the most popular destination in Queensland’s central highlands. Remnant rainforest flourishes in the sheltered side-gorges while cabbage tree palms, ancient cycads, ferns, flowering shrubs and gum trees line the main gorge. Grassy open forest grows on the cliff tops. The park’s creeks attract a wide variety of animals including more than 173 species of birds (or which we saw two!)
Since this is drought country, the river was far from freely flowing, but it still made for a beautiful landscape for a bushwalk.
It was a really warm day and it was very buggy - it now made sense why Aussie blokes are often portrayed with corks hanging off their hats. We made do by shoving ferns in our cap brims. Not exactly a runway look, but it kept the gnats away.
The walk was "destination hiking" which works well to motivate Jon and I to keep going; there were four stops on our itinerary. The first being a "Moss Garden." The rain falls on the top of the porous cliff walls and trickles down like a really big Brita filter until it hits a hard rock layer of shale. The water permeates out of the cliff side and brilliant mosses have bloomed in the moist habitat. It was a little rainforest oasis in the rather dry surroundings and the cool breeze and shade made it a nice spot to stop and have some lunch.
Then we continued along the bottom of the Gorge losing count of how many times we crossed the semi -dried up creek, making our way to The Ampitheatre, which reminded me of the hiking in The Gunks (Near New Paltz, NY). You are climbing ladders and squeezing through small crevasses into deep gorge. Water eroded away a space into the rock to create a little room that the Aboriginals in the area used for shelter. The walls of The Ampitheatre are absolutely gorgeous; there are 1,000s of color bands that extend hundreds of feet into the sky. The walls make for good acoustics for doing the Ricola commercial, as you do.
The Cathedral Caves, a few kilometres down the trail, were formed by running water like The Ampitheatre. The cave is one of the largest rockshelters in Queensland and the magnitude is staggering.
As we continued on to the piece de resistance, the Art Gallery, Jon found a pointy palm frond and decided that he was Zorro. There was poking, then yelling and I ended up with a few welts on my bum. The drama subsided when we arrived at the Art Gallery, a 62km sandstone wall with ochre Aboriginal cave drawings. It's hard to imagine that these markings have stood the test of time and continue to be so vibrant.
There are examples of line drawings, as well as outlines of tools, hands & weapons that had paint blown around them that have survived the harsh terrain for hundreds of years.
The sun was setting and we were really keen to get back to camp to try and catch a glimpse of a platypus in the river alongside the campsite. No such luck; there were heaps of kids making loads of noise, so the shy platypus didn't make an appearance. A few kangaroos visited our dinner table while we made some kebabs. All dreams of having a few beers by the campfire were dashed; we couldn't keep our eyes open. As soon as my head hit the air mattress, I was out like a light.
See all of the photos from our trip on Webshots:
Carnavon Gorge National Park ~ Central QLD
