by Spurry - Nov 28-29, 2001
Armed with my new Subaru Forester 4WD off-road vehicle and extreme enthusiasm for the natural environment, Owen and I set out for Carnarvon Gorge National Park located in Central Southern Queensland.
We began our rigorous bushwalk adventures by staying at the 'Oasis Lodge' luxury cabins which are situated on the National Park boundary. We lamented the extreme difficulty in choosing entree, main and dessert of an evening and the packed lunch supplied by the lodge was a minor convenience to our otherwise rugged and difficult expeditions.
Our first day was spent travelling by car from Toowoomba and we arrived at Oasis Lodge around 5pm. We hiked for about an hour on one of the walking tracks that straddled the Oasis Lodge boundary and then called it a day. Before sampling the breakfast buffet at Oasis, we decided to hit the track early on day two and cover the Warrumbah Creek walk. Owen and I knew that this National Park had sandstone rock features and interesting birdlife but were unaware of the sheer size and significance of the gorge. We were taken aback by the scenery and particularly enjoyed the side-gorges (smaller gorges that veered of the main gorge).
Owen's desire to treck up the side-gorges was invigorating - I could almost see his heart beat faster whenever he caught glimpse of a rock formation with a narrow cave-like entry. The gorges were enjoyable scenically but also presented fantastic physical challenges - often just hard enough to be satisfying but ultimately 'do-able' enough to be realistically achievable. As a frog-fanatic, the gorges presented me with an opportunity to see frogs in their natural environment without the need for a torch and a 2am early-rise. With almost no direct sunlight and cool, damp conditions - this was frog heaven.
