2 July 2018 - Carnarvon Gorge, Carnarvon National Park
The Carnarvon
Gorge Main Track with its side tracks was today’s goal. We commenced walking just after 8am and
headed directly to Big Bend, 10km down the gorge. We were rained on much of the way and it was
rather miserable at times. Thankfully
there was a brief pause in the rain when we arrived at Big Bend, allowing us to
do some exploring. Our first branch
track was Boowinda Gorge – we went about 800m in over a rocky creek bed. This gorge winds, narrows and widens
constantly so you never have any idea how far it goes. We had a picnic lunch at Cathedral Cave – a
stunning cream 
overhang with aboriginal
paintings on the walls. From here it was
a solid hike back to Ward’s Canyon, during which time the rain started to
ease. Ward’s Canyon climbs up, past a
waterfall and onto another level where the rocks in the water appear to be
covered in a red form of moss. Old
grinding stones were also visible here.
The Art Gallery was our next destination – smaller than Cathedral Cave
but truly stunning! There was a large
quantity of red stencil art on the cream rock – hand prints, boomerang shapes
and emu tracks. There were also many
petroglyphs of female genitalia that were believed to be carved as part of
fertility rites. The next side track was
the Amphitheatre. This is reached by
climbing several ladders and then going through a crack in the rock to emerge
into a moderately large, high walled open space. The manner of formation was interesting –
water erodes down cracks until it reaches an impermeable layer where it starts
to erode sideways. The remaining rock
erodes over time and is washed away as sand until none remains. The last
sidetrack was the Moss Garden. Again,
this is due to water, which has filtered through the sandstone, reaching an
impermeable layer. The water then
travels sideways until it drips out the side of the rock. This creates a constant source of water which
supports ferns at the top and moss below.
We then had 3km to hike back to the car – we needed our headlamps at the
end, but not for long. All up, a long
and tiring but terrific day! 9.5hours of
hiking and approximately 29km.
https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge/
overhang with aboriginal
paintings on the walls. From here it was
a solid hike back to Ward’s Canyon, during which time the rain started to
ease. Ward’s Canyon climbs up, past a
waterfall and onto another level where the rocks in the water appear to be
covered in a red form of moss. Old
grinding stones were also visible here.
The Art Gallery was our next destination – smaller than Cathedral Cave
but truly stunning! There was a large
quantity of red stencil art on the cream rock – hand prints, boomerang shapes
and emu tracks. There were also many
petroglyphs of female genitalia that were believed to be carved as part of
fertility rites. The next side track was
the Amphitheatre. This is reached by
climbing several ladders and then going through a crack in the rock to emerge
into a moderately large, high walled open space. The manner of formation was interesting –
water erodes down cracks until it reaches an impermeable layer where it starts
to erode sideways. The remaining rock
erodes over time and is washed away as sand until none remains. The last
sidetrack was the Moss Garden. Again,
this is due to water, which has filtered through the sandstone, reaching an
impermeable layer. The water then
travels sideways until it drips out the side of the rock. This creates a constant source of water which
supports ferns at the top and moss below.
We then had 3km to hike back to the car – we needed our headlamps at the
end, but not for long. All up, a long
and tiring but terrific day! 9.5hours of
hiking and approximately 29km.https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge/
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