At the Visitor Centre with the Kangaroos
We got up early and packed snacks galore and sandwiches for lunch, filled our water bottles, slip, slop and slapped on the hats and suncream and drove to the visitor centre. Little did we realise that by the end of the day we will have walked approximately 21km nearly up to the end of Carnarvon Gorge!!! We left the visitor centre at 9.20am and returned tired at 4.45pm.
The start of the Carnarvon Gorge walk
We took loads of photo's so you will only get a quick snap shot of our day. The gorge walls are mostly a white sandstone with a tinge of grey and yellow and orange rocks. Walking through the gorge floor you are surrounded by gum trees and palms and lots of sword grasses with the towering gorge walls on either side of you. It is quite spectacular!
The first offshoot from the main canyon walk was called Moss Gardens. It was 1.3km return walk back to the main track. We crossed the river on stepping stones (the first of many such crossing throughout the day) and climbed up some stairs into a lush tropical oasis. Along the way we walked around an amazing strangling fig tree that was enormous and it's roots were wound around a massive boulder.
The roots of a strangler fig
The last part of the walk into the gardens was on a specially constructed boardwalk to protect this special area. A waterfall flowed down into a pond and the surrounding rock walls were covered in moss and ferns. It was a beautiful, tranquil place.
In the Moss Garden
Once we returned back to the main track we continued on till we came to another offshoot from the canyon called Wards Canyon. This was a steep climb up to this beautiful canyon with a waterfall and a narrow walkway with ancient King Ferns. You could see up towards the canon rim. It was gorgeous!
The kids and I enjoyed having leaf boat races down the waterfall!
The beautiful Wards Canyon
Back on the main track we walked on till we cam to the Art Gallery where there was some Aboriginal paintings and carvings. The Art Gallery was 5.4km (one way) from the Visitor Centre. We walked through a narrow gap in-between the rocks to the boardwalk viewing platform. There were lots of handprints, boomerangs, nets and then heaps of vulvas. They are not sure why there are so many vulvas and what the significance of it is.....maybe it was a women's area????? We had a bit of explaining to do!
Some aboriginal art at 'The Art Gallery'
We stopped there for lunch and then we decided to tackle the hike up to the Cathedral and Boowinda Gorge.
Due to the floods in 2011 & 2012 there was a lot of track damage so Ed was in the lead finding the way through. We crossed the river several times and walked on tracks with grass almost over Thomas's head!
I was on 'hyper snake alert' as you can imagine!
We were rewarded with more spectacular views and aboriginal art at the Cathedral. 80m beyond the Cathedral was Boowinda Gorge. It is shaped a bit like a crescent moon at the gorge entrance. We walked a short way into it before turning back for the return journey.
Boowinda Gorge
Ed set a cracking pace and the girls and I couldn't quite keep up but Thomas was running along with him.
By the end of it we were glad to get to the car and we couldn't believe that we all had walked nearly 22km. Our feet were sore but it was so worth it. The chocolate along the way helped to get us to the end.
The kids were amazing and we were so proud of them.
We enjoyed dinner and hot showers before we all crashed early as you can imagine!!!
The next morning we were all a little stiff and our feet were still a little sore too.
After breakie we packed up slowly and decided to take a short drive up to Blackdown Tablelands National Park which was north east of Carnarvon Gorge. It was a steep climb up into the park. We camped at the only camp ground there for the night.
We were surrounded very quickly by Kookaburras and Currawongs all waiting for an opportunity to eat. One cheeky one even flew into the car through Ed's window looking for food!
There were several walks around the park but the kids and I were not up for any walks so we opted for a 4wd around the park which was fun. We stopped halfway along at a lookout which gave amazing views of the surrounding countryside.
The lookout at the Blackdown Tablelands National Park
Unfortunately the weather started to close in so we had rain overnight. We crashed early again, although Ed and I didn't sleep very well listening to the rain overhead through out the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment