Carnarvon Gorge

Carnarvon Gorge is a great national park, far enough from Brisbane not to get day trippers and a beautiful gorge with easy walks.
We enjoyed three nights here rather than the two we'd intended to, at Takarakka Bush Resort.
The forest here reminds me a lot of the bush around Sydney and the Blue Mountains with high sandstone cliffs, gum forests with ironbark and red gums, but the main difference would be the tropical feel you get from the groves of cabbage tree palms and huge cycads.
The main walking track takes you along beside the river, rock hopping large pebbles when you need to cross it.
The further up river you go, deeper into the gorge, the more lush the forest becomes. Side paths lead you into smaller gorges off the main river. It is cool and shady with more palms and tree ferns and the water in the creeks flows over and around mossy rocks. The Moss Garden was the first of these side paths and we all made the 3.5km distance there for lunch. R was carried on Evan's back but 4 yr old L walked the whole way there and back, even carrying a backpack!
The Art Gallery was a length of Aboriginal rock art at the base of the sandstone escarpment, about 50m long with handprints and boomerang stencils. Some are dated at 19 000 years. S and I really wanted to see it so we pushed on another 3km. Some looked so fresh I wondered if the ranger had been touching them up with an orange spray can.
On the walk back we also went into the Amphitheatre. Where the gorge ends there is a large crack in the sandstone. Metal ladders lead you up into the crack, taking you through a narrow passage and opening into an open space or amphitheatre. It was beautiful in there but quite cold. We careful descended the cold slippery ladders and finished our walk out of the gorge. I'd love to come back here in a few years time and walk to the very end of the gorge and camp overnight at Big Bend.
I was a bit sore the next day as S and I had walked 13.5km but we still did the shorter walk into Mickey's Gorge where it got narrower and narrower until you could touch the mossy sandstone walls on either side. S and Evan went in as far as they could but were stopped by a deep pool of water.

We really enjoyed our stay at Carnarvon Gorge, we'll definitely come back here.