Big Bend Hike
With international travel still banned in Australia, I set out to return to a National Park I have not visited in ~35 years, Carnarvon National Park featuring the beautiful Carnarvon Gorge, a 9 hr drive west of the Gold Coast.
It’s best approached over 3 to 5 days.
The main gorge walk is a 23km “out & back” hike, but add in the 8 or so side attractions, and that walk becomes ~29km+.
So being dog-walking fit :-), I took it on in 1 day, with the arrival afternoon getting a lay of the land by doing a separate walk to Mickeys Creek & Warumbah Gorge.
Hikers can essentially turn-around at any time, and most get to the historically important indigenous Art Gallery, leaving the extra 4.8km to Big Bend for the truly ambitious.
Along the way, a variety of wild life adds to the appeal of the Gorges grandeur. Kangaroos, wallabies, echidna, emu, snakes, cockatoos and lots of other birds, and even the very hard to find wild Platypus.
If you venture to the Big Bend camping area, you will have crossed the river 16 times, balancing across unpredictable stepping stones, but those river crossings often provided the most spectacular vistas.
I left the Bush Resort at 4.30am to be on the trail by 5 am as the sun was rising. After many photo stops and simply to Look Up ! and take it all in, I returned 10 hours later, exhausted, having experienced Moss Garden, Amphitheatre, Wards Canyon, Art Gallery, Cathedral Cave, Boowinda Gorge and Big Bend. The rainfall water across the moss wall was serene (below)
The side gorges are probably the most memorable, like Warumbah Gorge where you can stand in the centre and touch both sides, or Wards Canyon with the amazing red river base.
So in my usual fashion, I will let the pictures tell the rest of this story, as I plan the next road trip.
