Before I go any further, I've just added a Picasa album from our time at Fraser Island. You might want to have a look at it.
After packing up at Calliope we stopped in at the little Calliope Historical Village for Sunday markets. Bought a couple of bits and pieces and had a chat with one of the stallholders who actually lived on Fraser Island when he was a child for about 10 years. His father was one of the Rangers and they lived at Central Station - he had very fond memories of the island and told us a couple of interesting stories - said he might write a book one day.
We were heading for Carnarvon Gorge via Biloela, so keyed in the appropriate info to our trusty GPS whom we call Kate. Well, Kate was having a bad day, and it wasn't until we were nearly at Rockhampton, still looking for a turnoff to Biloela, that we realised she had led us astray! We pulled over to the side of the road and reassessed our position, and decided that Kate needed a bit of a rest and we were going to have to do things the old-fashioned way - use maps and read the roadsigns! I'm sure John Ward will be having a bit of a laugh now, cos he really doesn't like (or trust) these new-fangled GPS things. Sorry to say it, John, but on this occasion you were right.
So, having taken us a very long way round, and increasing our journey by 150-200kms, we finally reached Rolleston which is a kicking-off point for Carnarvon Gorge. Stayed in a very basic little caravan park, but it was only $20pn, and had hot showers and toilets, so we were not complaining. Just happy to have somewhere to stay for the night before heading to the gorge the next day.
We booked into the Takarakka Bush Camping Site and arrived around lunchtime. Paid $34 for an unpowered site, and set up. It really is a lovely setting and the showers and toilets are excellent. We tried to book in for the Spit Roast, but it wasn't on that evening - they said there would be one the following night. We hadn't decided whether we were staying one night or two, so thought we would leave it till the next day to make a booking.
That afternoon we took a drive (and walks) up to Balloon Cave which had some Aboriginal rock paintings and then the Rock Pool, the only place suitable for swimming in the national park. Spotted a turtle and lots of little fish - very pretty. Then we headed back to camp where I cooked a lovely green chicken curry for dinner. Oh yes, we decided to book another night, but couldn't book in for the Spit Roast the following night as they were full - bugger!
Next morning we set off to do our 15km walk through the Gorge up to the Art Gallery. It was a much nicer day weather-wise than the previous one. Quite sunny and clear, but not too hot for walking. The Ranger (and accompanying brochure) suggested that we walk straight to the Art Gallery, then do the side trips to Ward's Canyon, the Amphitheatre, and the Moss Gardens on the way back.
Well, the walk was wonderful. Really pretty, lots of water crossings, different kinds of palms, macrozamia trees, mosses and ferns, all mixed in with eucalypts, casuarinas and wattle. The Art Gallery was really interesting - a large amount of aboriginal paintings and carvings in a huge overhang of sandstone rock, looking down into a lovely valley full of palms and mazrozamias. Ward's Canyon was beautiful, a long, deep, very cool walk with crystal clear water running through t. The Amphitheatre was amazing, and aptly named - if you had a concert in there, the sound would be incredible.
Our last stop (and the hardest one, we were starting to 'hit the wall' by then) was up (and I do mean up) to the Moss Gardens - a 1.2km return trip, mostly uphill which opened up into a beautiful cavern full of different mosses, with water constantly dripping down from them. Just lovely.
After packing up at Calliope we stopped in at the little Calliope Historical Village for Sunday markets. Bought a couple of bits and pieces and had a chat with one of the stallholders who actually lived on Fraser Island when he was a child for about 10 years. His father was one of the Rangers and they lived at Central Station - he had very fond memories of the island and told us a couple of interesting stories - said he might write a book one day.
We were heading for Carnarvon Gorge via Biloela, so keyed in the appropriate info to our trusty GPS whom we call Kate. Well, Kate was having a bad day, and it wasn't until we were nearly at Rockhampton, still looking for a turnoff to Biloela, that we realised she had led us astray! We pulled over to the side of the road and reassessed our position, and decided that Kate needed a bit of a rest and we were going to have to do things the old-fashioned way - use maps and read the roadsigns! I'm sure John Ward will be having a bit of a laugh now, cos he really doesn't like (or trust) these new-fangled GPS things. Sorry to say it, John, but on this occasion you were right.
So, having taken us a very long way round, and increasing our journey by 150-200kms, we finally reached Rolleston which is a kicking-off point for Carnarvon Gorge. Stayed in a very basic little caravan park, but it was only $20pn, and had hot showers and toilets, so we were not complaining. Just happy to have somewhere to stay for the night before heading to the gorge the next day.
We booked into the Takarakka Bush Camping Site and arrived around lunchtime. Paid $34 for an unpowered site, and set up. It really is a lovely setting and the showers and toilets are excellent. We tried to book in for the Spit Roast, but it wasn't on that evening - they said there would be one the following night. We hadn't decided whether we were staying one night or two, so thought we would leave it till the next day to make a booking.That afternoon we took a drive (and walks) up to Balloon Cave which had some Aboriginal rock paintings and then the Rock Pool, the only place suitable for swimming in the national park. Spotted a turtle and lots of little fish - very pretty. Then we headed back to camp where I cooked a lovely green chicken curry for dinner. Oh yes, we decided to book another night, but couldn't book in for the Spit Roast the following night as they were full - bugger!
Next morning we set off to do our 15km walk through the Gorge up to the Art Gallery. It was a much nicer day weather-wise than the previous one. Quite sunny and clear, but not too hot for walking. The Ranger (and accompanying brochure) suggested that we walk straight to the Art Gallery, then do the side trips to Ward's Canyon, the Amphitheatre, and the Moss Gardens on the way back.
Well, the walk was wonderful. Really pretty, lots of water crossings, different kinds of palms, macrozamia trees, mosses and ferns, all mixed in with eucalypts, casuarinas and wattle. The Art Gallery was really interesting - a large amount of aboriginal paintings and carvings in a huge overhang of sandstone rock, looking down into a lovely valley full of palms and mazrozamias. Ward's Canyon was beautiful, a long, deep, very cool walk with crystal clear water running through t. The Amphitheatre was amazing, and aptly named - if you had a concert in there, the sound would be incredible.
Our last stop (and the hardest one, we were starting to 'hit the wall' by then) was up (and I do mean up) to the Moss Gardens - a 1.2km return trip, mostly uphill which opened up into a beautiful cavern full of different mosses, with water constantly dripping down from them. Just lovely.
Then we had only 2.8km to go to get back to the Ranger's Headquarters. This last 2.8km seemed much, much longer than on the way there. Don't know how that happens??? But - we managed it even though our legs felt like jelly and our fingers were throbbing - very happy with that. We obviously don't do enough walking, and will have to make an effort to do more when we get home. When we got back to camp we were wrecked - had a cuppa then decided to have a shower before dinner, or we'd never get back on our feet again. Tomorrow we're heading toward Roma, then probably over to Mitchell where they have hot artesian bore springs - think we might need to take a dip to recover from our walk.....
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