This morning we left for our walk at 8 o’clock.  Yesterday I didn’t think that I could walk 19.2 km (return trip) to Big Bend (end of the walking track) but today I know that I walked about 22km.  It was worth every step just walking amongst the beautiful Carnarvon fan palms, cycads, eucalypts, wattles, ferns, grasses and many, many others I don’t know the names of would have been worth the long walk alone, but the magnificent sandstone walls of the gorge shimmering in the sunshine was just magical.  This place is an oasis of rainforest.  I wanted to take photos of everything but the camera just can’t do it justice. To think that there are plants thousands of years old and that the rocks were formed hundreds of millions of years ago made me realise how insignificant we humans are. There is some great Aboriginal rock art (ancient graffiti) to be seen on the sand stone walls.  Tomorrow we will go for a shorter walk about half the distance.  We are hoping anyway.  They are all reasonably easy tracks, even as you zigzag across the creek (over 20 creek crossing in 9.6km) large stepping stones are placed solidly.   Coming back that last 4 km couldn’t come fast enough – “ aren’t we there yet?”

The sites we visited today were Big Bend, the end of the formed track & overnight camping area.  As the name suggests, it is on a big bend of the creek with an absolutely stunning curved cliff face following the bend of the creek around.  The photos don’t do justice to the white sandstone nor the sheer size.  We then went for a stroll up Boowinda Gorge, which twists & turns & gets narrower the further up you go.  This gorge is unusual in that the base is much wider than the top, with the base being at times 5m wide & the top sometimes 2m.  Very pretty & it entices you to walk further, to see what is around the next bend.  Cathedral Cave was next & is a very large overhanging cliff face that has been adorned with a great number of differing aboriginal motifs.  Obviously a very significant site of great cultural heritage.  The last site we visited today was the “art gallery”, another significant aboriginal site with about half the number of motifs as Cathedral Cave.  Another culturally significant site.  Both of these sites we had to ourselves for a long time & it was great to sit & reflect quietly.

Back at the camp, wine, cheese and bickies.   Our legs stiffened up & we could hardly move.  Lucky that our freezer has some home cooked frozen meals (tonight’s lucky dip was Beef Bourgeon) I only had to make a salad and boil some potatoes.  (We do rough it.)  Ron is already sleeping and my aching bones are screaming for the bed too.