It doesn't matter how many times I visit this place I'm always in awe of it.
Over the years I've done the first section of this walk a few times, it's one of the best easy walks in Australia in my opinion. So I was pretty keen to hit the track this morning as I knew I'd be in for a good day. After signing in at the visitor centre I was on my way, crossing Carnarvon Creek for the first of about about 20 times today. The track up to Big Bend is an easy tourist track, with stepping stones on the numerous creek crossings and steps and benches in numerous spots.
My first crossing of Carnarvon Creek.
I'm heading up into that gorge.
The track through the gorge is really a tourist walk.
Heading into the gorge.
Carnarvon Gorge National Park.
The big interest on the first day of this walk is in the side trips off the main track, the first side trip for me was to the Moss Garden, a ferny little grotto with a small waterfall and water seeping through the moss covered walls. Being Good Friday there was a lot of day trippers out today however I was still able long sections without other walkers and I was confident that the further I went from the road the less punters I'd see. After enjoying the relative cool of the Moss Garden for a few minutes I retraced my route back down to my pack.
Crossing the little creek that feeds the Moss Garden.
The Moss Garden.
The Moss Garden.
Heading back out to the main track.
Reunited with my pack I headed further into the gorge to my next point of interest, a side trip to the Amphitheatre. This involved a series of steps, ladders, and a natural tunnel, which eventually deposits you in a rock walled amphitheatre with the walls towering 360 degrees around you. Craning your neck gives you a patch of blue sky and like all the side trips today there's a feeling that you should talk in a whisper to be reverential... I'm not sure if that sentence works, but you know what I mean!
I'm heading towards the Amphotheatre now.
The Amphitheatre is a slot in that cliff ahead of me.
Passing through the slot into the Amphitheatre.
The Amphitheatre.
The Amphitheatre.
Dropping back into the main gorge from the Amphitheatre.
Saddled with my pack again I headed off upstream again to my next side trip, this time I climbed up to Ward's Canyon on the north side or the gorge. Years ago you were allowed right into the canyon as far as you could go, I remember wading through waist deep water in the dark with the walls touching distance on each side, the sunlight completely blocked out. Nowadays your not allowed quite that far in but its still a beautiful canyon, with a crystal clear stream running through it and huge Man Ferns towering above trying to block out the sun, the climb up being punctuated by a small waterfall to stop and check out.
Heading up towards Wards Canyon.
Wards Canyon.
Wards Canyon.
Wards Canyon.
Wards Canyon.
Wards Canyon.
Back down in the main gorge again.
Back with my pack it was onto the Art Gallery, now I'm not talking Monet, I'm talking Bidjara and Karingbal People. Carnarvon Gorge has some of the best indigenous art in Australia and the huge walls of the Art Gallery showcased some of it. Once again it felt right to talk in a whisper here. After reading of the stories behind the paintings and etchings I headed back down to my pack for a rather late lunch, I wasn't really hungry but I was super keen to lighten my load a bit and start eating into my six days of food. Arriving back at my pack I noticed that the resident Currawong's had worked out how to open zips and were helping themselves to another walkers lunch, they flew away when I turned up but it was a fairly disgruntled walker who turned up a few minutes later to find some of the contents of his pack spread all over the ground.
Back in the gorge again.
The Art Gallery.
The Art Gallery.
The Art Gallery.
The Art Gallery.
Lunch time.
I now had quite a few kilometres until my next side trip to Cathedral Cave so I settled into a comfortable pace, stopping very frequently to try to do photographic justice to the towering walls of the gorge. After about 45 minutes the track follows a rocky ledge just above the river, a perfect spot for a swim. I was far enough into the gorge now for most of the day walkers to have dropped off, so I was able to go for a dip without feeling like I was an exhibit in the zoo, something about a big pack and walking poles seems very exotic to most day walkers but it gets a little tiring answering the same questions over and over again, "your going how far, your pack weighs how much, why?"
Back in the main gorge and heading for a swim.
This'll do me!
I had quite a nice view to enjoy while I dripped dry.
After drip drying in the afternoon sun for awhile I got dressed, shouldered the pack and headed off to Cathedral Cave which would be my last side trip for the day. Cathedral Cave, like the Art Gallery is a massive natural exhibit of indigenous art. Being late in the day I was able to take it in on my own. Parks have spent a lot of money on infrastructure to keep the art safe and also provide the walkers with a way to view the rock faces. It was nice to sit in silence and take it in.
Cathedral Cave.
Cathedral Cave.
Cathedral Cave.
Enjoying the view and the late afternoon shade at Cathedral Cave.
Reunited with my pack for the last time today I headed across creek crossing number 20 and walked the last few hundred metres to Big Bend Walkers Camp, there were two other parties there at that stage, a family of four and a super fit couple from the Gold Coast, Steve and Kim who were doing the same walk as me but in three nights instead of my five, wow! I spent the night cooking, eating and chatting to my fellow walkers, another four of whom turned up just on dusk. Once it was dark the mosquitoes came out so it was time to crawl into the tent and settle down for the twelve hour night.
Dropping back into the main gorge again after leaving Cathedral Cave.
The creek crossings in the gorge are numbered...
... and have stepping stones.
The Dirt.
According to my GPS I walked around 15 kilometres and climbed about 440 metres on what was a pretty easy days walking. The walk today was all along well marked and signposted tracks. Big Bend Camp needs to be booked through the Qld parks website. I used ty GPS topos along with the Carnarvon Great Walk topo map today.
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