Would you do the Carnarvon Great Walk?
The Carnarvon Gorge National Park is one of the most incredible places to visit and explore within Queensland, Australia. The wildlife, remoteness and varied scenery of one place is absolutely stunning and it’s a part of the world that I am inspired to visit many times again.
Carnarvon Gorge is about 9 hours drive North-West from Brisbane which makes it quite a long one-day road trip, or it can easily be spread over a couple of days.
My first encounter was in August 2013 when I set out with Adventure Seekers Wilderness Journeys to conquer the Carnarvon Great Walk; a 6 Day hike that starts at the Carnarvon Gorge Information Centre. The trip makes its way up the Gorge the first day and then the circuit moves up out of the Gorge and through the surrounding countryside for the following 5 days.
Map of the Gorge section of the walk.
You can view the ‘Great Walk’ map here: http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-great-walk/pdf/carnarvongw-topo.pdf
The aim of this trip was to capture a range of footage and then create a short promotional video for Adventure Seekers.
With limited space in the hiking pack this was going to prove a challenge to carry all the required video equipment for the trip. With a few borrowed Nikon batteries and a little help from my Goal Zero solar panel kit (for charging the GoPros) I managed to make it through the six days…but only just!
The pack contents.
Some of the video and charging equipment.
It was quite a busy and tiring journey. I tried extremely hard to capture a range of hiking footage which required walking ahead, setting up the shot and then catching up to the group again.
The trip itself was exceptional…we had great food, great company and some absolutely spectacular scenery.
On day two we rose out of the gorge and were greeted with spectacular views.
Remote campsites = absolute serenity.
Camp arrival means it’s time to boil the water!
The aboriginal artwork along the Gorge track is an important historical site.
Plenty of opportunities along the way to take photos.
The tree growing around a giant rock.
The night sky was stunning at Big Bend, night one.
The terrain changed constantly over the six days.
Night 3 with a bit of luxury – let’s get the fire going!
Six days of walking and it’s time for a beer!
The focus of the trip was the video production which contained a large variety of locations from throughout the walk. You can view the result below:
Revisiting the Park
After a couple of years went by it was time to revisit the National Park again for a personal trip, staying at Takarakka Resort. This time the focus was on relaxation and spending some enjoyable time in nature with my partner, as well as taking the time to get some more beautiful photos (as opposed to video footage from the previous trip).
Loads of wallabies were around ready to get their photo taken.
At Takarakka Resort.
Kristin enjoying some relaxation at the camping site.
The ampitheatre, part way along the Gorge walk.
Looking out of the ampitheatre.
Plenty of rock hopping was done that day!
The Moss Garden was beautiful and incredibly green.
Carnarvon Gorge is a place I would definitely revisit over and over again. It’s just too bad it takes so long to get there!
More information about Carnarvon Gorge can be found here.
If you want to learn more about the Carnarvon Great Walk, visit the site information here.
Thanks for reading, and enjoy your time outdoors!