Amazing Carnarvon Gorge

We said farewell to Roger & Jenny and left Sapphire heading south east. You may notice there are no shorts but the long pants have finally come out of storage!! 

      

The land around Emerald (so named for the green grass - not the gems) is a very fertile agricultural area and it certainly lived up to its name with lovely healthy crops.

      

We then drove into the Carnavon National Park and that drive alone was spectacular with lovely farm scenery, heaps of young healthy looking Brahman weaners and the huge mountainous backdrop. The valley was one place you'd happily call home as it looked very productive. It was a little like driving towards the Grampians. We camped at a Bush Resort called Takarakka which is very popular, being the only campground near the gorge - until school holidays when they open up a campground near the information centre. Darryl rates it fairly low though as we couldnt have campfires, there's no water supplied or rubbish removal and there's a $5 fee for dumping cassette waste!! The amenity blocks are however, brand new and very nice and spacious, and the setting is very picturesque!! 

        

Someone asked me once if we'd been to Carnavon Gorge as its pretty amazing - well they were spot on!! It's a fantastic place and the walks in the gorge lovely. There are several walks but we selected to undertake a 12 km walk to the Ampitheatre  and Moss Garden and they were beautiful walks with spectacular scenery. We'd even go as far to say that the Ampitheatre outshines any gorge we've seen so far - and we've seen quite a few. 

We had to skip over a few rocks as we crossed the Carnavon Creek several times - with no one slipping in! 

       

The photos and words unfortunately cannot do justice to the vastness and beauty of the gorge: it makes you feel quite insignificant against such natural wonders. 

                  

You can see three enraptured tourists here in the Ampitheatre.

   

 

         

   

  

The Moss Garden has water constantly dripping from the sandstone walls, supporting a lush carpet of mosses and ferns. There is also a little waterfall and rock pool which is surrounded by tree ferns. 

        

    

It was certainly well worth the effort and was far better than we expected. You could actually spend days here undertaking all the walks and enjoying the ambiance of the gorge. We, however, are pushing on ..... to exactly where we aren't sure but to be able to have  a campfire is our main prerequisite for the next site. 

We send everyone our love and hope everyone is as fit and healthy as we are! Love from the happy travellers ❌❌❌⭕️⭕️⭕️