Thread starter
The Cormanus Chronicles: Carnarvon Gorge
- Thread starter Cormanus
- Start date
emptysea
Road warrior
It’s 0600 as I read this chapter of the Cor-Chro. I enjoy waking early and particularly so on riding mornings. Today would be a riding morning were it not for the lack of a ride as my CB1100 is probably sitting on a lift awaiting a service technician to resume his task of isolating and repairing the high idle problem it has. Your account of your recent trip could not have been posted at a better time as it has raised my own spirits in what might be described as the opposite way yours were as you headed out.
About that pink elephant...
“ One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.” - Captain Spaulding
Blockhead_imp
Been there
It’s the highlight of my day when I see these, Cormanus. Love the pics, that truck has to be 160 feet long?
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
Always a delight to absorb your documented journeys Cormanus. 
the Ferret
Road warrior
3 KTMs on one trip led by a 390? Amazing.
Very fun! That bottle tree looks crazy.
bflint
Been there
Impressed... a real CB1100 Travel Blogger. I need to take you on my next cross country trip. You can train me. Thanks for sharing your Australian journey
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
Sadly,j3gq_imp said:
no CB1100 excursions for me to the U.S.
Django
Road warrior
Cormanus, I really enjoy your chronicles. Masterpiece of riding reports. Makes me feel like I was in Australia myself.
Redbird_imp
Running like a top
Another one of your most enjoyable chronicles Cormanus - I do enjoy them very much.
Thread starter
Day 2
It rained during the night which was fine as my tent kept me dry. The day dawned OK, although further showers were promised for the afternoon. It’s 20 kilometres to walk to the end of Carnarvon Gorge and back. My companions are considerably younger and healthier than me and a great deal fitter as well, so I shooed them off thinking I’d stroll a couple of kilometres along the trail into the park and back and otherwise have an easy day.
Carnarvon Gorge is what its name says: a valley between two escarpments of around 600 metres high. There’s a pretty stream that runs through the valley. When there’s serious rain, it becomes a serious river and is probably uncrossable. The track winds along the valley and there are side-walks to a number of interesting and scenic natural attractions. I figured my general lack of fitness and a dodgy knee meant I’d maybe make it to the second of these and then head back for a rest.
Carnarvon Gorge
As it turned out I enjoyed myself so much I walked in as far as the Art Gallery, a return walk of around 11 kms.
My wife says I take too many photos. She’s probably right, but in these digital days it’s no longer an indulgence, I’m not a great photographer and I generally apply the method Tom Lehrer set out in the The Huntng Song, “You just stand there looking cute, and when something moves you shoot”. I reckon, if I press the button often enough, I ought to get the occasional good shot. To keep her happy, though, I reduced the two days at the park to less than 20 photos. Here they are.
The start of the walking track
The western escarpment
The climb to the entrance to the Amphitheatre
The entrance at the top of the steps
The western walls of the Amphitheatre
The Amphitheatre was formed by erosion over a long time. A sandstone core has somehow eroded away leaving an amazingly tranquil canyon that can be accessed only though a narrow cut through the rocks. The information sign tells how entertaining it can be during a flash flood.
Having been totally amazed by the Amphitheatre, I decided Ward’s Canyon was not too far away and that I should be able to make the extra distance. I’m glad I did. It was well worth it; perhaps the prettiest feature I saw.
Waterfall at the entrance to Ward’s Canyon
Pretty rock in the creek at the bottom of the waterfall
Ward’s canyon is escribed as a ‘time capsule’. It is the last place in central Queensland where the ancient king fern survives. I heard a naturalist type in the canyon talking in terms of them being 10,000,000 years old. They can’t survive without water as they have no woody tissue: water fills their fronds exerting outward pressure to keep them rigid. Like a fire hose, says the sign. It also says the fronds can grow up to five metres in length, placing them amongst the largest of the world’s ferns. In some ways they are less prepossessing than the tree ferns in the canyon which have very long, straight trunks supporting their leafy canopy.
A king fern
Inspired again, I decided to press on for an extra kilometre or so and look at the Art Gallery
Australian indigenous art on the rock face in the Art Gallery. The colour comes from ochre and the images tell stories of the use of the site by Aboriginals.
So as not to exceed the photo limit, Ill pause here and take a word or two from non-existent sponsors.
It rained during the night which was fine as my tent kept me dry. The day dawned OK, although further showers were promised for the afternoon. It’s 20 kilometres to walk to the end of Carnarvon Gorge and back. My companions are considerably younger and healthier than me and a great deal fitter as well, so I shooed them off thinking I’d stroll a couple of kilometres along the trail into the park and back and otherwise have an easy day.
Carnarvon Gorge is what its name says: a valley between two escarpments of around 600 metres high. There’s a pretty stream that runs through the valley. When there’s serious rain, it becomes a serious river and is probably uncrossable. The track winds along the valley and there are side-walks to a number of interesting and scenic natural attractions. I figured my general lack of fitness and a dodgy knee meant I’d maybe make it to the second of these and then head back for a rest.
Carnarvon Gorge
As it turned out I enjoyed myself so much I walked in as far as the Art Gallery, a return walk of around 11 kms.
My wife says I take too many photos. She’s probably right, but in these digital days it’s no longer an indulgence, I’m not a great photographer and I generally apply the method Tom Lehrer set out in the The Huntng Song, “You just stand there looking cute, and when something moves you shoot”. I reckon, if I press the button often enough, I ought to get the occasional good shot. To keep her happy, though, I reduced the two days at the park to less than 20 photos. Here they are.
The start of the walking track
The western escarpment
The climb to the entrance to the Amphitheatre
The entrance at the top of the steps
The western walls of the Amphitheatre
The Amphitheatre was formed by erosion over a long time. A sandstone core has somehow eroded away leaving an amazingly tranquil canyon that can be accessed only though a narrow cut through the rocks. The information sign tells how entertaining it can be during a flash flood.
Having been totally amazed by the Amphitheatre, I decided Ward’s Canyon was not too far away and that I should be able to make the extra distance. I’m glad I did. It was well worth it; perhaps the prettiest feature I saw.
Waterfall at the entrance to Ward’s Canyon
Pretty rock in the creek at the bottom of the waterfall
Ward’s canyon is escribed as a ‘time capsule’. It is the last place in central Queensland where the ancient king fern survives. I heard a naturalist type in the canyon talking in terms of them being 10,000,000 years old. They can’t survive without water as they have no woody tissue: water fills their fronds exerting outward pressure to keep them rigid. Like a fire hose, says the sign. It also says the fronds can grow up to five metres in length, placing them amongst the largest of the world’s ferns. In some ways they are less prepossessing than the tree ferns in the canyon which have very long, straight trunks supporting their leafy canopy.
A king fern
Inspired again, I decided to press on for an extra kilometre or so and look at the Art Gallery
Australian indigenous art on the rock face in the Art Gallery. The colour comes from ochre and the images tell stories of the use of the site by Aboriginals.
So as not to exceed the photo limit, Ill pause here and take a word or two from non-existent sponsors.
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
Fascinating.
the Ferret
Road warrior
Empty Sea does some pretty good ones.j3gq_imp said:
I take lots of pics but am rather reticent in the writing department (which is funny since I used to be a freelance writer and an Associate Editor in the bow hunting industry with dozens of published stories and a book to my credit.... guess I got burned out on writing. Still enjoy taking pics though and will take 600-1000 pics on a week long trip)
GoldOxide_imp
Road warrior
It is actually play off of "SoCal", "NoVa", etc.j3gq_imp said:@Cormanus
Really, really nice !
Sadly,GoldOxide_imp said:Sadly,j3gq_imp said:
Would you let us know where So-on is, at least on which continent (in case it's a secret.
So: Southern
ON: Province of Ontario
"So-ON" or "SoON", but the latter looks like "soon" and is not as cool as "SoCal".
= = =
Land area wise:
Ontario is about 12.8 x the size of Austria.
Southern Ontario (whatever) is about 1.67 x the size of Austria.
Thread starter
Day 2 cont.
I'd walked far enough, so I turned around and headed out.
This kangaroo barely interrupted his eating to check me out
A scarlet percher dragonfly
Because this is a motorcycle forum, here is an obligatory bike picture. The BMW below was jammed amongst all sorts of camping and exercise gear.
Later, back the camp site, we were enjoying a recuperative ale or two when this echidna popped out for a photo op.
A currawong
Day 3
Another day of walking. This time only as far as the Moss Garden, another amazingly tranquil oasis of water and green.
A moth on the path
The Moss Garden
I sat down in the Moss Garden to enjoy the tranquillity, only slightly marred by the constant stream of visitors. I hauled water and a muesli bar from my bag and was surprised to find that the muesli bar—which had been at the bottom of my waterproof riding bag had been opened and munched on. So had another I dragged out. I’m not a greedy man and I’m happy to share, but I was mystified about how they’d been munched. I figured I hadn’t adequately secured the top of the bag.
After leaving the park, I dropped in at a waterhole where people occasionally swim. A turtle clung to a tree.
And later in the evening, a real treat. The river running past the campground is home to a platypus, shy and seldom seen. The platypus and four species of echidna are the only surviving monotremes on planet earth. Two monotreme sightings in two days is almost too good to believe. (See how I got all the variants of ‘to’ into the preceding ssentence?) Anyway, campground residents take a drink and their camera to the waterhole around dusk to catch a glimpse of this peculiar creature. We were not disappointed.
The final wildlife sighting was a black-faced wallaby, a relative of the kangaroo.
I'd walked far enough, so I turned around and headed out.
This kangaroo barely interrupted his eating to check me out
A scarlet percher dragonfly
Because this is a motorcycle forum, here is an obligatory bike picture. The BMW below was jammed amongst all sorts of camping and exercise gear.
Later, back the camp site, we were enjoying a recuperative ale or two when this echidna popped out for a photo op.
A currawong
Day 3
Another day of walking. This time only as far as the Moss Garden, another amazingly tranquil oasis of water and green.
A moth on the path
The Moss Garden
I sat down in the Moss Garden to enjoy the tranquillity, only slightly marred by the constant stream of visitors. I hauled water and a muesli bar from my bag and was surprised to find that the muesli bar—which had been at the bottom of my waterproof riding bag had been opened and munched on. So had another I dragged out. I’m not a greedy man and I’m happy to share, but I was mystified about how they’d been munched. I figured I hadn’t adequately secured the top of the bag.
After leaving the park, I dropped in at a waterhole where people occasionally swim. A turtle clung to a tree.
And later in the evening, a real treat. The river running past the campground is home to a platypus, shy and seldom seen. The platypus and four species of echidna are the only surviving monotremes on planet earth. Two monotreme sightings in two days is almost too good to believe. (See how I got all the variants of ‘to’ into the preceding ssentence?) Anyway, campground residents take a drink and their camera to the waterhole around dusk to catch a glimpse of this peculiar creature. We were not disappointed.
The final wildlife sighting was a black-faced wallaby, a relative of the kangaroo.
