CARNARVON GORGE

The country around here is very dry, the yellow fields feeling the brunt of the drought, fluffy type grasses with pink tips line the edges of the road. The long straight stretches of road means that other cars and trucks are seen from miles away, and as we plod along they slowly catch up and eventually pass us. Unfortunately the kangaroos do not seem to see the traffic as well as us as there has been more road kill around here than we have seen anywhere else on this trip. So many dead roos on the side of the road in all states of decay, some you can smell before you actually see them. It has been nice to see some hills about as we travel on our inland loop and the country side is becoming what I have always imagined the “outback” to be like, although the soil is not quite as red yet as it needs to be to complete my picture. Spinifex grass blows along like tumbleweeds in the old westerns, yesterday we actually saw a willy willy (a small scale hurricane) in a field we were driving by, the circular wind had picked up a lot of spinifex and was spinning it around, was an amazing sight. So it was great to arrive in the oasis that is Carnarvon Gorge, which sits in the middle of some very dry country and is lush and green and hosts some amazing wildlife. It contains a quarter of Australia’s bird species and supports many roos, wallabies, gliders and platypus. On our first day there we did a 13km walk up the gorge to the Art Gallery where there were some great pieces of Aboriginal art from 10,000 years ago, stencilled hands, boomerangs, goannas and nets were some of the symbols displayed. We had to cross the creek 12 times on a series of stepping stones, and as we had the pusher with us we had to get Jarra out, carry the pusher over and convince him to get back in again, we were all very pleased to get back to camp after our trek. The next day we headed up one of the side gorges which was spectacular, getting narrower the further we went up, sheer walls of rock 30 metres high and only about 2 metres apart at some places. We received some sad news after leaving Carnarvon. When we got back in to mobile reception a message came through that Helen’s Gran in Scotland passed away the night before, she was 89 so had a good innings, but it is hard for Helen being so far from home. The sandflies are quite prevalent up here in Queensland and we have all been affected by them. We found out that they do not actually bite you, instead they wee on you, and if you can wash the area where they have been soon enough, it makes a big difference.