Miles to Bell (Carnarvon Great Walk Trip)

 

Saturday 16 September 2023

Today began with Miles Parkrun, a lovely run along a path beside the creek, where we ran into friends from the coast. 

https://www.westerndownsqueensland.com.au/towns/miles/

https://www.parkrun.com.au/miles/

Heading for home we took a different route. We stopped in Warra to look at a collection of historical items. The “Welcome to Warra” log has been secured, due to its adventures during a previous flood.

https://www.queensland.com/au/en/places-to-see/destination-information/p-56b2604f2cbcbe7073ada559-warra

Dalby was our lunch destination, followed by a walk along Myall Creek.

https://www.westerndownsqueensland.com.au/towns/dalby/

https://www.wdrc.qld.gov.au/Community-Recreation/Parks-Outdoors/Parks/Myall-Creek-Linear-Park

Our last stop for the day was the town of Bell to look at the Catholic Church and its Biblical Garden.  The art inside the church is stunning, and the garden was excellent with murals of the stations of the cross integrated throughout.  I would have found it helpful if the plants were labelled and had some information on their biblical relevance.

https://www.bellbiblicalgarden.org/

Then home.

Injune to Miles (Carnarvon Great Walk Trip)

 

Friday 15 September 2023

The colours on the cliffs in morning light were beautiful.  It would be well worth coming back to do the Boolimba Bluff walk for sunrise in good weather – we have walked it first thing in the morning in the past but the sun did not appear that day due to cloud cover.

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge/journeys/boolimba-bluff-walk

We stopped in Injune for a look around.  Henricks Park was a lovely little amphitheater and park area.  Scattered around town are the “Characters of Injune” which feature various locally relevant people both past and present. I also had a look at an historical train loco that had been involved in a rollover on the way to Samford many years ago.  We took the short walk around Injune Lagoon to give the legs a gentle stretch.

https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/town/injune-visitor-information-centre/

https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/attractions/characters-of-injune/

https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/attractions/injune-lagoon-walk/

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Attraction_Review-g499667-d23629739-Reviews-Locomotive_824-Injune_Queensland.html

Then on to Roma, where we enjoyed wonderful free hot showers, followed by a picnic lunch in Loam Reserve.  This is a lovely spot close to town but peaceful , with plenty of trees and birds.  I wen to explore the famous “Ace Drapers” that I had heard about from many grey nomads. Every available space from floor to ceiling was full – amazing fabrics, odds and ends, craft supplies, linen, crockery, school uniforms, you name it! The Roma Saleyards were not auctioning today, however since we were last here they have added the Roma Saleyards Interpretative Centre, which was very good and packed with information.

https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/town/roma/

https://www.facebook.com/p/Ace-Drapers-100057309945963/

https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/tours/roma-saleyards-interpretive-centre-and-tour/

At Wallumbilla we stopped at the Wallumbilla Calico Cottage Complex (it had been closed on our way out) which has the old railway station, lots of craft and baking and an excellent book swap.

https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/town/wallumbilla/

https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/attractions/calico-cottage-heritage-complex/

The plan was to go on from here to Chinchilla, so that we could do a parkrun we had not done before. However, an accident on the Warrego Highway had the highway closed in both directions for over an hour and a half.  I spent some of this time collecting several bags of rubbish from beside the highway.  When the road reopened the traffic heading west was queued for more than three kilometres.  We pulled into Miles just on dusk and set up camp at the showgrounds.  I messaged Miles parkrun to see if I could do volunteer and there were happy to have me.

https://www.westerndownsqueensland.com.au/towns/miles/

https://wikicamps.com.au/site/Queensland/Campground/Miles+Showgrounds/8580

Conseulo Camping Zone to Carnarvon Visitor Centre (Carnarvon Great Walk Trip)

 https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge

Thursday 14 September

Day 5

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-great-walk/walking

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0026/164159/carnarvongw-topo.pdf

Part 1 Conseulo Camping Zone to Cabbage Tree Camping Zone

We set an alarm to be up at 5am this morning for an early start.  We could hear a lot of dingoes in the area at dawn.  We started our hike with our jumpers still on at 6:30am due to the cold. The track was firetrail and easy walking, with a lot feral pig damage and forest litter. The area from this campsite all the way to the next campsite had clearly had a fire through in the last few years.  We saw a lot of fresh, and old, horse droppings. This section of the track has more consistent vegetation with less variation than other days. It is predominantly rolling hills.  About nine to ten kilometres from camp we saw a solo brumby and a small group of brumbies.  The path for the walk repeatedly criss crosses the fire trail and many of the arrows have been burnt. The newer arrows appear to be on the fire trail, with the older arrows sometimes 20m from the path.  At one stage we did not see an arrow for more than 500m , so doubled back, to find we were on the right path already.  The campground at Cabbage Tree Camping Zone is a nice open area with flat spaces.

15.18km,3 hours 55 minutes, 158m ascent

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-great-walk/camping/cabbage-tree

Part 2 Cabbage Tree Camping Zone to Carnarvon Gorge Visitor Centre

This section of the walk has a great variety of microclimates and ecosystems due to the constantly changing altitude. At the four kilometre mark we disturbed four cattle, two adults and two calves.  Between 4 km and 5.5km it is very steep up and down.  We saw several small pools of stagnant water. There was also evidence of a more recent fire and continuing evidence of feral pigs.  This section, not surprisingly, is predominantly down hilss, with the steepest sections having steps and some walking along narrow ledges.  The switchbacks marked on the map include a long continuous uphill on a spur in full sun.  At the top of this is an area very dessert-like in appearance with red rock and high temperatures.  This is thankfully followed by a long smooth downhill for at least a kilometre with good views in a number of places. Th Boolimba Bluff lookout is well worth the detour, even at the end of a long day. The afternoon light lit up different parts of the cliff face.  The descent from the lookout involved four ladders and hundreds of stairs, which was tough on tired legs.  We arrived back at the Visitor Centre just before last light and had dinner at the picnic tables in the day use area before moving on.  A very long day!  As we finished we saw three people heading out for a night walk.

17.83km, 5 hours 50 minutes, 375m ascent

Total for the day: 33.01km 9 hours 45 minutes, 533m ascent

https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge/attractions/carnarvon-gorge-visitor-area#:~:text=Carnarvon%20Gorge%20Visitor%20Area%20is,road%20from%20the%20park%20entrance.