Twinning Around Australia: 5 - 8 June CARNARVON GORGE – A Place Of Expectations Fulfilled

I have heard of this place for so long – people have used words like wonder, magic, and oasis. When we began this trip I looked at how far from the coast this place was and wondered was it worth the long drive. But in hindsight our inland excursion from the coast was perfect (I am sure we missed some beautiful beaches and lovely rainforest – but Queensland is a coastline of beautiful beaches and lovely rainforest). So as we made our way closer to Carnarvon Gorge and saw our first glimpses of the towering sandstone cliffs, my excitement and anticipation kept building.

We stayed at Takarakka Bush Resort and Caravan Park is located just down the road from Carnarvon Gorge is the only option for caravans outside of school holidays. We arrived fairly early (having done our first overnighter in Rollestone without even unhitching). We set up the van and explored the surrounds of Takarakka (Taka). Taka is a beautiful location itself with a creek running through it, natural pools and a walk to lookout. There is a platypus pool which unfortunately our kids weren’t able to quite sit still long enough to see any of the occupants, but the pool is lovely.

We walked along the creek and watched the boys playing with rocks and water (a big favourite where ever we go) – already this placed just oozed tranquillity.

Then we walked up to a hill behind the campground and were rewarded with our first real views of the sandstone cliffs that make up Carnarvon Gorge – these were beautiful and we hadn’t left the campground.

We fluked our stay having arrived for the Queens Birthday long weekend so the camp ground was close to full (yep its official we are losing track of things like public holidays). But this also meant kids, and ours had a great time riding around in the dust and bumping over the rocks with several kids camped nearby. We also ran into some lovely families yet again – one that had come to join their FIFO father at a nearby mine, another from nearby Emerald. The people in places like this add such a layer of enjoyment to our stays.

Takarakka offers a range of guided tours but they also provided plenty of information and maps so we decided to walk ourselves. To see Carnarvon Gorge means one thing – a lot of walking. The main walk in the gorge is 22k but there was a shorter 14km version which the staff at the campground recommended. This walk covered all the ‘best bits’ and allowed time to really take them in. So while we had never done a walk this long as a family before we decided to give it a try. The Taka staff also recommended walking to your end destination and then taking the side trips on your return leg.

I have never been so proud of how well our boys have taken to this trip as I was this day. We did the whole walk and just to explain this isn’t a walk along a straight path kind of place, there are creek crossings, stairs, ladders, hills, valleys and more stairs. They took it all in their stride and stayed the whole distance. They were also totally involved in the walk and its diversity which made it a truly inspiring day for our whole family.