Many people had told me already how magnificient the Carnarvon Gorge is. But you know that a big amount of words doesn’t feel quite like a real experience. Well then, after my real experience, I will join those who tell how magnificient the Carnarvon Gorge is.
If you read my past post, you will see that I came here, after the downs, with a certain depressed syndrome. But for some mysterious reason, once I approched this area the sky became blue and the temperatures became warmer. Such a bless for the low-budgetty traveller!
However, it is not possible to accommodate yourself for free or for very cheap at the Gorge. During school holidays, National Parks allow you to camp for the normal national park fees of around about $4, but now, you had to stay in a proper camping, where I had to pay $16 per night. That said, the camping is absolutely nice, with beautiful settings, great facilities and even platypus viewing just next to it. Which is such a plus!
The night I arrived, a park ranger came and did some sort of slideshow presentation to all the residents in the camping. The slideshows were fine, but the passion she was talikng about the park, how she absolutely loved her job and the place, were tremendously engaging, and next day I was even more eager to start my walk around the magics of the park.
I like to walk in the bush. Absolutely. And here, it seems, is a walkers paradise. Well. The fact is that “the walk” to do is about 25 km. You have to walk the full gorge and then come back while visiting all the small side gorges, each one with a different amazing attraction.
Well, you don’t HAVE to, but I did anyway.
And the walk took me a full 9 to 5 working day, but it was absolutely worth it. The main gorge is towered with huge white walls at both sides, and fringered with palms and gums. 20 stone hoping crossings (made by hand by the abnegated rangers –I wonder if “abnegated” is a word, in english) criss-cross the Carnarvon Creek, to bring you safely to all the attractions through the huge amounts of debris created by recent floods.
I will highlight the Beewinda Gorge as an amazingly narrow canyon with eternal wind, the aboriginal art in the Cathedral and the Art Gallery, and the spectacular Amphiteatre, a “hole” in the rock of hundreds of meters on all sides, that make you wonder how the hell could something become this.
Accessing this amphiteatre, by the way, and hopping from stone to log to stone to go around some water, I was misfortunate enough to trust my weight on a log that was not quite stable, and I fell miserably into the water. Well, just til the knees, but miserably anyway.
So the last several kilometers had the extra burden of wet and heavier feet. Nothing has been written about cowards, anyway!
The 20 crossings of the creek, on the way back, felt like the 21 curves of the Alpe d’Huez, each one more painful than the last one. But absolutely worth it.
Talking about the Alpe d’Huez and the Tour, by the way, hummm… I just want to remember you that the australian guy lost. Yes. And to a spanish one, yes.
The next and last day in the gorge, I wanted to climb what they call the bluff, from where supposedly you have gorgeous panoramic views of the whole area. But do you know what? I had problems walking from the tent to the toilet, so I sat in the sun and wrote this instead.
