Hikers Wool Blog

Doing a little reminiscing the other day reminded us of the time we spent in the fabulous Carnarvon National Park in Queensland, Australia.

Carnarvon sits in the middle of the Great Dividing Range and the most interesting part of the park is the Carnarvon Gorge which is an oasis surrounded by dry plains.

The day we arrived there was a typically lovely Queensland day - "One day perfect - next day better" as they say there. We pitched our tent in the camp ground and after dinner we were treated to a slide show by one of the Park Rangers which gave us a preview of what we might see while we were there.

The next two days we spent hiking through amazing deep gorges - some with chest high grasses, others with beautiful palms and gum trees. There were boulder crossings of the river; an awesome and accessable Aphitheatre in a cleft high in a cliff in which grew palm trees and had an opening to the sky about 100 metres above; deep pools and river beaches; mossy ferns and Aboriginal rock carvings and paintings.

There was also an abundance of creatures to see - tiny brown frogs, butterflies, kangaroos, platypus, small bushytailed wallabies, herons and the wedge-tailed eagle with it's 1.5 metre wingspan.

Back at the camp each night, exhausted and grateful for the HikersWool in our tramping boots we were treated to more entertainment. We had been warned about the local "residents" - ie the Kookaburras and the Kurawons who liked the campers food much better than their own. These birds would sit in the trees seemingly minding their own business when suddenly and silently they would swoop down and swipe a sandwich or sausage (or whatever else it was that you thought you were going to eat at that time) without so much as a thankyou!

We heard many a shout followed by expletives echoing around the camp at meal times including from the fellow camping next to us who left his plate of meusli on the table while he fetched the milk from his tent. He returned to find a couple of birds had eaten half of his breakfast. After the initial shout at the birds and uttering words which cannot be repeated here, he shrugged his shoulders, resignedly left them to it and sat down and drank the milk! 

All this is just another entertaining diversion in a truly magnificent Aussie National Park.