“Imagine you are here in a flash flood. Water swirls violently in the Amphitheatre like a washing machine pushing everything before it….” Just as I read these words on the explanatory sign, plump drops of rain strike me. Others impel like random bullets in to the thin layer of bulldust I am standing in. I look up at the series of vertical steel ladders with quite narrow steps that we will need to ascend to reach the Amphitheatre and more importantly, will later need to descend backwards. The image of the flash flood instantly becomes more vivid than the sign writer could ever have hoped for.
Common sense prevails. A flash flood in the next 20 minutes or so is not going to happen, but for one brief moment the visual was enhanced by the sudden rain into a moment of intensity.
Carnarvon Gorge in central western Queensland can claim to be one of the great National Parks of Australia. Even though it is practically in my backyard, this will be my first trip and another great expedition ticked off. A straight through drive from my house takes about the same time as a flight from Brisbane to Honolulu, or Sydney to Hong Kong. Almost anywhere you want to go from here is an expedition.
Dragon on the moveEverything you need in a country townCoffee break at the truck stopIt really is a truck stopCorrugated cuisineBushfires and flooding plains – something for everyoneThe ants are big out here
Time is on our side this trip so we make it a leisurely drive, enjoying a few of the sights with an overnight stop at Springsure. We hit Rolleston, a small township of maybe 40 houses, which is where we turn off the highway. It’s Sunday afternoon and the place is deserted. Glad we fuelled up earlier as the 24 hour servo is locked up as well. Was there anything else we should have got before we entered the National Park? Too late now; I’m not driving back over 70kms to Springsure unlike the unfortunate people we met later who were counting on that place as a fuel stop.
The final drive in; just need to dodge the cattle
Glamping for 3 nights – En suite conveniently located in the corrugated iron tank conversion
Whether you are a pitch a tent type, or a full modern luxury style of traveller, Carnarvon Gorge seems to have something for everyone. We opt for a point in the middle which is a tent on a platform complete with fly sheet and best of all, en suite facilities. That rather small tin tank on the right of the platform houses a perfectly adequate shower, with plenty of hot water, and toilet.
The tent can sleep 5 people and apart from the beds, it holds a small fridge, a pedestal fan, a handy hat stand along with a broom and dustpan. All you need really! The fan was used on the rare occasions we were inside during the day.
Timing can be everything when you travel and sometimes you hit the sweet spot. The week before, some visitors chose to leave as the heat was unbearable at over 40 degrees Celsius. In the interim, there had been a couple of good storms and we arrived to hot days for sure, but everything was greened up, water was running and nights were comfortable with just a light bed cover and the windows and doors rolled up to let the cool air flow through the bug mesh.
You don’t have to move far to meet the first locals
Our main aim at Carnarvon was to explore by hiking around, but what was so good about this place was that there was plenty to see and do for less mobile visitors. Kangaroos and wallabies everywhere, betong at night, active platypus in the creek, plenty of bird life and a bat colony – not totally welcome having relocated their roosting place a little too close by.
Bats on the move
We were told there was a colony of 100,000 bats resident nearby. I assumed this was a slight exaggeration but after watching (and hearing) them on the move, I don’t doubt the numbers. It was like watching a continuous wave flowing on and on through the trees.
Plenty to entertain even if you choose not to hike the trails
There are more than a dozen designated walks, some as short as under a kilometre and others around the 20 km mark return, though a lot longer if you walk in and out of each of the highlights along the way.
The trails are not difficultThough some are less well-formed than othersThe trick with the many rock hopping crossings is just to keep moving
A hot walk, but plenty of interesting places to cool off
New visitors rolled in every day to hear the valuable information sessions, mingle in the happy hour or enjoy the roast evening meal. Large camp kitchens with bbq facilities are located around the facility. The main danger of the camp kitchen area is the exceptionally gifted abilities of the kookaburras to steal food right off your fork. After surviving two evenings maintaining a watchful eye, I was caught out on the last night. I saw, heard or felt nothing apart from a slight brushing of wing feathers on my face as a vigilant kookaburra stole the last mouthful right off my poised fork. All we could do was watch as the bird “killed” the catch on the adjacent grass. That is one lethal beak.
Beautiful in the wild
But beware when eating a sausage!
Echidna going about its business
The sound of someone walking behind the tent in the middle of the dark night. A growling sound, neither a dog nor a possum. Another growl and I am wide awake. We have no really dangerous wild animals in Australia, apart from the odd venomous snakes and spiders so this was a wild animal sound uncommonly heard.
But I had once heard similar growling walking around one of the lovely bush tracks of Mt Majura in Canberra. There was a lot more intense growling on that occasion as two full-grown kangaroos fought it out in the late afternoon. Here, after only two growls and lots of silence I finally heard the definite thump, thump of a roo bounding away. The disturbed ground outside the tent in the morning provided evidence of the altercation during the night.
Could this have been one of big fellas during the night?
Hidden in the rugged ranges of Queensland’s central highlands, Carnarvon Gorge features towering sandstone cliffs, vibrantly coloured side gorges, diverse flora and fauna and Aboriginal rock art. This promo somehow seems understated and lacking in the drama and exhiliration after the real experience. Absolutely worth the effort of getting there!
Lorna On The Loose 