Carnarvon Gorge

Sam at the top of Boolimba Bluff

We have just spent 5 days at Carnarvon Gorge which has been on my "bucket list" for ages. ( Along with whale watching. ) Even the campsite at Takarakka is beautiful, let alone the gorge itself...We didn't manage to see a platypus but the kangaroos nibble grass quite close by and the echidnas had a trail beside our van.
We had a funny moment when we were playing boules. The birds thought the shiny balls might be good to eat and would run in to examine them and then all squawk in unison and flap backwards again. All to be repeated time and time again. I guess you had to be there...
Ben and Mick packed a tent, sleeping bags, and food and camped overnight at Big Bend which is roughly 10 km along the gorge. They saw dead fish in the nearby creek which ( the ranger said later) were probably killed by the shock of a huge boulder that had crashed there a few weeks earlier. Glad I didn't know about that before they went as it had bounced close to their campsite. ( While a man was camping there too I might add..)
Ward's Canyon, with its sole remnant of King Ferns in central Qld, was declared the most impressive sight.  This small colony is apparently not reproducing ( or as Mick puts it... " the king fern is not talking to the queen fern " ) and is destined for extinction in this region.
Sam's and my favourite sight ( because we didn't make it as far as the others )was the Amphitheatre. This is a massive cave with towering walls, and daylight peeping through where the water has eroded the sandstone over thousands of years. It was eerily quiet with just the sounds of water trickling and awed voices whispering in the chilly half-light.
Carnarvon Gorge is one of those places that needs to be experienced to fully appreciate its magnificence.