Carnarvon Gorge National Park

Walking the Carnarvon gorge was a welcome change of pace after sitting in the car for too long.... fan palms, tree ferns, ancient cycads, aboriginal rock paintings, utterly magnificent 900m sandstone rock faces towering over the gorge and rock hopping across the river. The 9 hour return walk to the very end of the gorge was a mistake though- we arrived back at the caravan more than exhausted and gave our camping neighbours a few laughs. It was too far and the last 10km weren't much different to the first 15km. Sore legs and blisters. Maybe we just had to prove to ourselves that we could do it!

Seeing several platypus in the creek was very exciting. With a strong torch at about 9pm, we spotted the beautiful creature, frolicking in the river, gobbling some dinner. She swam right along the creek, just in front of us. Sadly too dark for photos though.

Adorable kangaroos and wallabies and quokkas mooched around the campsite and Russ couldn't help taking loads of photos.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting a young couple from Perth who were on their way to Townsville to take up a new job. We had some great laughs, interesting chats and swapped details so we could keep in touch.