Carnarvon Gorge

Emerald – Carnarvon Gorge:  17 August [237 Km]

We woke to a quite strange day:  while it was fine, there was a combination of low cloud, mist and smoke, which meant that we had poor visibility as we left Lake Maraboon and headed south along the Gregory Highway.  We were driving through reasonable pastoral country, although there were rugged mountains in the distance.  There is widespread evidence of volcanic activity through this region, as there are many basalt plugs and plateaus remaining.  Even though it was difficult to see these mountains clearly, they would look quite spectacular on a clear day.

We passed through Springsure and changed to the Dawson Highway – until we reached Rolleston, where we then changed to the Carnarvon Highway!  As we turned onto the road into Carnarvon Gorge, we could see substantial sandstone cliffs in the distance. 

They looked very substantial and quite magnificent.  The good news was that, by this time, the strange mist that had been with us started to dissipate and, as we got closer to the Gorge region, the cliffs showed clearly in the bright sun.  The final few kilometres into Takarakka Bush Resort were on a reasonable quality gravel road.  There were a couple of water crossings which we managed with no problem.

Our cabin was ready when we arrived in late morning, so we had an early lunch and then drove the 4 kilometres to the Ranger Station to do some walking.  With plenty of food and water, we set off on the main track:  this was a well formed track and it was relatively easy walking once we had crossed Carnarvon Creek.  There were a lot of people walking along the track:  some, of course, would have started early in the morning and they would have gone right into the main gorge.  The cliffs we were walking through were magnificent.

Our objective was to walk 3.5 km to the Moss Gardens:  with a bit of a clamber towards the end of this walk, we arrived at the most superb spot.  In a side gorge, there is an area where water constantly drips from the sandstone walls and this supports a lush carpet of mosses and ferns;  as well, there is a small waterfall running into a pool in the rocks.  What a serene spot to simply stop and listen to the water flowing.

After we had some refreshments at the Moss Gardens, we returned to the Ranger Station and drove back to our cabin.  Even though it had been quite warm doing this walk, the end result was really worthwhile.  It is a pity that we can only stay for one night;  we will have to program in a longer visit to do more of the walks into Carnarvon Gorge.  It is a beautiful region in the sandstone Central Highlands of Queensland and there are many other treasures to walk to – including natural features and indigenous rock paintings.

As we ate our dinner, some storm clouds rolled in:  thunder crashed through the escarpments and it started to rain!  This was our first rain since Exmouth all those weeks ago.  We relaxed for the evening reading:  there is only limited telecommunications in this part of the world – we didn’t have mobile phone connections and there is no television.