Carnarvon Gorge – Day 1

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision that proved to be a winner.

Knowing that Shelley was coming to spend a week with us and that she needed a break from work, and everything else, doing something special during her visit was a priority.

I thought about a quick trip to Carnarvon Gorge. It’s not the first time I’ve thought about it, but this time I was able to find some accommodation at a reasonable cost. This can be a difficult thing to do because the gorge is a popular attraction that is only accessible at certain times of the year.

I quickly discussed the possibility of visiting the gorge with both Dean and Shelley – who were equally as eager as I was – and then booked and paid in full without even checking the weather.

Who does that?

I do I guess, but, luckily, this spur-of-the-moment decision did prove a winner.

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Carnarvon Gorge is nowhere near where we live, but rather a day’s drive north-west into the centre of Queensland. I figured if we got up early enough, we’d arrive just after lunch, however, my inner alarm clock was set to snooze, so we actually left about an hour later than planned.

We took the highlighted route, aiming to approach the gorge via Rolleston.

It took us a total of nine hours and Shelley was delighted – nay, beside herself – that we allowed her to drive our car that last hour on a quiet country road where we encountered more cows than other cars. Actually, the cows outnumbered the cars by 100:1.

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After we arrived at our accommodation (the Carnarvon Gorge Wildness Lodge) and checked in, we emptied the car, donned our boots, and set out for a quick walk to Micky Creek.

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Mickey Creek walk is just a short 3.5 km (2.3 mi) – that’s the return distance – and given we’d arrived late afternoon, the 1½ hours it took was perfect timing as we then got back to the lodge just before sunset.

The brochure says: “Enter another world as you follow the creek into a narrow side gorge, where your walk becomes a rock-hopping adventure.”

I was not capable of that type of rock-hopping – although I tried, I eventually became frightened and refused to go any further.

I’d have been happy to sit on a log or rock while Dean and Shelley ventured deeper, but neither of them seemed all that interested in doing so either. We knew there would be many more wonderful things for us to explore the following day. But we did venture as far as we/I could.

Undeniably, we were surrounded by an incredibly beautiful landscape.

Our first taste of the area we were in was exhilarating, and we could hardly wait to head out the next morning.

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Oh yes, and it must be said, it was Shelley’s birthday and what’s a birthday girl to do when the driver (Dean) pulls up near a playground for a quick rest and stretch of the legs after the first three hours of driving?