For background information on this series, you can read Part One and Part Two.

And also here is a hiking guide to Carnarvon Gorge.

April 2021

So far, the two hiking trips that I’ve done have been adventurous… though hard to call them a success. I realised I had so much to learn – but me being me – decided I needed to take it to the next level.

Introducing: Carnarvon Gorge Great Walk

The disasters began even before I left for this hike… I couldn’t believe my luck.

My workmate and I had planned on doing this hike (including the 18 hours of driving to and from Brisbane) from a Saturday to Saturday, with a long weekend at the end to aid in our recovery. It was new territory for us both doing a 90km multi-day hike. The previous hike in Part Two of this series was around 17km over two days, and that was the longest I had done.

All week, the only thing we could talk about was the hike – we were so excited and the nerves were high. Did we have everything? What would we eat? How do we go about collecting and purifying water? Did we need a proper map? So many questions!

Come Friday (our short day at work), I was in the process of moving some heavy items around in the work ute, and all of a sudden I twisted and felt a horrible pain shoot down my lower back, hip and legs – it was so painful that it was a struggle to breath. All I could think of was – oh no… I’m supposed to be starting a 90km, 6 day hike tomorrow with a total of 18 hours driving. I was devastated!

There’s no way that I could keep working, so I called my boss and asked to leave early. I drove straight home where my wife took me to the doctors. Still in a lot of pain and discomfort, I sat there for over two hours – only to find out the doctors and forgotten me and skipped over my name. So eventually a specialist came to see me, did some tests and asked some questions about what happened.

I explained that I had my hike to Carnarvon Gorge planned and I had to do anything I could to make it. My workmate couldn’t go if I couldn’t, so it only added to the pressure. After being put on some heavy painkillers and given some to last me a couple of weeks, I left – determined that somehow, I would be doing the hike.

After a call to my workmate, we agreed the reassess at 5am the next morning and as I was on painkillers, he would drive.

I’ll admit, I’m stubborn and have quite a high tolerance for pain – so I already knew this wasn’t going to stop me. Pain makes you feel alive, right? Haha, I’d still rather none!

It was on! My workmate picked me up after I practiced putting on my pack without causing too much discomfort, and we hit the road. Nothing was going to take away this opportunity from me. 

I thought I would have learned to pack lighter… but I still came in at around 23kg of pack weight.

After passing Toowoomba, we had a lunch break at Chinchilla, stretched the legs and then continued toward our destination – Carnarvon Gorge. We stopped once more at Roma to inspect the famous Bottle Trees, and then ensure we had what we needed for the hike.

On the way into the National Park, we had a break at the plane crash monument and happened to spot an echidna in the grass nearby. It’s these little moments that can give such a morale boost – it was the first echidna I had seen in the wild!

Arriving to Takarakka camping grounds, we parked on our designated spot and prepped our dinner. Despite the pain, I convinced myself I was having the time of my life. As well as seeing the echidna – another morale booster presented itself. My workmate prepared his dinner on our little hiking stoves, and a cheeky cockatoo crapped from the tree high above us straight into his food! I lost it! I couldn’t control the laughter, tears were streaming down my face like a cascade and despite that hurting my back, I couldn’t stop – the whole scenario and my workmates reaction was priceless.

That night was horrible. The only comfortable spot for me was trying to sleep in the passenger seat… which resulted in the grand total of about two hours sleep that night. I was pretty convinced I was doomed at this point. I lie there waiting for the alarm to go off at 5am… what a crappy start to the first day of hiking.

DAY ONE

Roughly 17km

Nevertheless, good things never come easy, so I girded up my loins and told myself to harden up. There’s always someone else out there who is experiencing more pain and discomfort – so I put it all in perspective and promised myself I wouldn’t complain the whole hike, and in all honesty, I stayed true to that.

We arrived at the Carnarvon Gorge Visitor Centre and then the hike was officially on! That first river crossing in the dark was stimulating – it was all adrenaline at that point.

When we booked our camping spots previously, we had agreed to do the hike anti clockwise – probably different to the way most people decide to do it. This was purely for the fact that we wanted to enjoy the actual Gorge and side trips as the grand finale.

Pain is an interesting thing. It can make or break us, and finding that balance between pushing through it and letting out bodies recover can be a fine line. The pain was there, but it was manageable.

After an incredible sunrise at Boolimba Bluff (cardiac arrest heading up those ladders with a pack haha), we back tracked a little and then turned off for the Great Walk track. There was a sign with some warnings – experienced hikers only – if you don’t meet the criteria, TURN BACK NOW. “Oh great! What the hell have we done… have we dug our own grave?” Haha it might sound dramatic, but it was the unknown.

The last part of day one, heading up to the Cabbage Tree, was truly a challenge for me. It was usually a cycle of a rest, then a few minute trudge, then rest etc etc. But, we eventually made it – and it was a feeling like I’ve never had – dropping that pack was sensational – almost erotic haha. But, we couldn’t stop for too long, because we needed to set up our tents, have an early dinner and get an early night.

As I lay in my tent, trying to find a position that produced the least amount of pain, I wondered why the ground was so hard… surely my hiking mattress was creating a decent buffer between me and the ground. I was a little out of it due to the tough hike and my back, so it took me a moment to realize my mattress was flat – so I blew it back up again and attempted to find the magical spot of comfort. 30 minutes later, the same thing happened – and then it hit me – I HAD A PUNCTURE IN MY MATTRESS! And me being a noob hiker, had no form of repair kit and not even tape… to this day, I still don’t know if it was actually a puncture, or because of the bad quality, the material wasn’t able to hold air with my weight on it (95kg).

What ensued was ANOTHER bad nights sleep. Two nights in a row – luck had gone from bad to worse.

DAY TWO

Roughly 14km

As we agreed for the entire hike, we started early – 30 minutes before sunrise. This allowed us to get going early, and then gave us time to explore when we arrived at the next campsite.

Our hike to the Consuelo campground wasn’t too bad. I was quite happy because it was relatively flat. Again, the pain was manageable, but I knew the lack of sleep would start to be my main concern. As the hike was quite flat, my mind raced, thinking about my hiking mat – it was completely useless, and I’d be waking up constantly to blow it back up. What to do!

Consuelo was a nice place to stop, and because it was a shorter day, we still had plenty of time to explore and rest. I read Jackie Chan’s autobiography during the hike, so as we had no phone reception (which was a good thing), this was my main activity to pass time. Knowing that I was in for another painful night, I (in my limited knowledge and skills), cut down some nearby grass and created and pile to pitch my tent on. Now I was only relying on the padding of my sleeping bag and some grass to help me through the night. It was a fantastic idea – at first…

As I tossed and turned again, semi-relying on pain killers, I became aware that I had company… company in the forms of mice! I couldn’t believe it! It’s like those mice had been smashing energy drinks, because they were running around my tent, climbing in between my tent and fly (tent cover), and even burrowing into the grass I had made as a “mattress”. You could imagine the words going through my head at this point, it was truly a test of patience haha. One mouse had actually climbed to the top of my tent and was just chilling there – thinking he was king. That little punk – I made a fist and punched the top of the tent where he was chillin’ – it gave him a fright and he took off. Eventually after about an hour or so, the mice must have got bored or scared off (or sleeping in my grass mattress), and I thought I’d get the opportunity to rest… it took about three hours for me to fall asleep.

It felt like only a second later that I hear a larger animal sniffing around outside of my tent, and then howling not long after in the near distance. I never got out to investigate haha, but pretty sure it was a group of wild dogs checking us out!

DAY THREE

Roughly 17km

Yes, you’ve probably figured out the pattern by now, another bad nights sleep. If you’ve ever had minimal sleep for a few days, you’ll know how it can test you mentally like nothing else. This combined with the lack of food I had packed, first time multi-day hiking and back pain – it really began to test me.

Leaving before sunset again, we took off with our head torches on and began the days journey with clearing spider webs with our face. Early bird gets the webs when it comes to hiking haha. Our next stop would be West Branch.

A positive of this situation is the constant changing landscape. The Carnarvon Gorge Great Walk is world class – it is absolutely stunning, and the variety of landscapes that you’ll experience is mind-blowing. In certain parts you’ll actually feel like you’re in another country!

This day went pretty smoothly. Yes, the pain was still there and the lack of sleep was causing my brain to play mind games – but – as any hiker can’t attest to, it doesn’t take many days to start getting a rhythm. By the end of day three, I felt like I had found a good pace and rhythm, and also found some mental strategies to distract myself from the pain.

The only small incident I had was an ankle strain… there was some sections of long grass, where I couldn’t see the ground properly. As I was trying to set a decent pace, I got a bit careless, stepped on the rock and felt my ankle turn in an unnatural way – lucky I managed to stay upright haha.

Any experienced hiker is probably shaking their head thinking that I’m a complete rookie – and they’d be right!

I was in a rhythm BUT my legs were on fire haha. There’s a completely sane and logical reason why people should work their way up to hikes like this. My daily outfit would include a pair of Crossfit semi-lifters, athletic shorts and any random shirt I owned that I didn’t mind getting dirty. I did bring a very light zip up sweater to wear at night… because even in April, the mornings were a bit chilly!

After the days hike and a very basic dinner, we took the time to lay under the stars and enjoy the absolute serenity of being so far from man-made light and noise. It’s so hard to put into words – but those of you who have hiked like this before will know the sensation.

West Branch was nice, but I seemed to have a constant battle with ants haha. I made the mistake of killing quite a few, and this only attracted more!

I was a bit lazy with my grass mattress that day, and it compacted very quickly that night. It was still a horrible night, but I managed a total of four hours sleep – which compared to the previous three nights, it was an improvement. During the night, it sounded like a wild pig was being killed by a predator – its squealling was hair-raising.

DAY FOUR

Roughly 16km

This morning I got up determined. There was no other option but to embrace this experience and use it as a tool for personal growth. Today was the first day I decided to skip taking painkillers.

It turned out to be a good day. We had spotted an emu in the wild and again experienced the beauty of the ever-changing landscape. The journey to our next campsite, Gadd’s, was enjoyable and went without drama.

Despite my determination that day, I was still operating on a major lack of sleep – and my mattress didn’t magically repair itself. So that night, I proposed a crazy idea to my workmate.

I told him the situation and that more nights without sleep could drive me crazy haha. So I asked him if we could do the next two days in one, and then drive home straight after the hike. He knew I was struggling, and he agreed. We had a plan!

Although it was broken sleep, I managed another four hours – just enough.

DAY FIVE

Roughly 30km

We called this our 24 hour grand finale. It began at 4:30am, and ended at 4:30am the next day. I was low on food as well, so this didn’t help the situation.

After an early start, we made our way toward the Battleships Spur lookout – and we were truly blown away. The view out over the Gorge is spectacular – seeing it like that reinforced my decision to do this hike. Like I had mentioned earlier, these small but magical moments are a massive boost. It was game time!

The descent from Battleships Spur to Boowinda Gorge is a mission, and at that point, I’m glad we were going down and not up – because it would have been an even slower struggle for me haha.

We descended and eventually made it to Big Bend. After a quick look and a rest, we knew our journey was far from over – but at least the majority of the hike was slightly downhill.

Carnarvon Gorge is truly a natural wonder. For those who decide the Great Walk is too much, just doing a day trip through the Gorge is totally worth it – and anyone who does it will be blown away – just make sure none of the side trips are missed.

Remember to check out my other article to give you a little more info on hiking Carnarvon Gorge.

Another positive that this section presented itself with was the chance to drop the packs at the entrance to each of the side attractions. Here I would only take my camera… and I felt like I was flying haha. My back appreciated the short rests a lot!

After seeing the side trips and exploring the river system a bit more, we knew that the visitor center was only a few km’s away. Game on! I was so excited about getting to the end I started jogging in the last kilometer – what an idiot haha. But after going through this experience the last few days, even the pain wasn’t an issue because of the excitement of making it.

After the final river crossing, I collapsed on the grass and demolished my pack of dried mango (I had saved it for this moment). Nothing would detract from this feeling – the absolute satisfaction of completing the Carnarvon Gorge Great Walk. And in that moment, I gave respect to all that had completed the hike previously and gained more respect for the people all around the world who endure hardship and accomplish even greater feats.

Total respect for you all!

Once my workmate reached the visitor center, we planned on hitting the road straight away. It was now getting dark, and a 9 hour drive was ahead of us. As we left, we said goodbye to one of the most amazing places in Australia.

The initial drive down to Injune was a bit stressful because our fuel light was on and we were running on fumes… we had a bit in a jerry can and topped it up on the side of the road. Reaching Injune, the found the petrol bowsers out of order, and the station shut up… uh-oh. After researching the distance to Roma, we made a break for it. Being super careful with our speed and revs, we somehow made it to a station in Roma and topped up. 

Being so exhausted, we were taking turns driving to Roma – despite wanting to get home, we understood that driving tired is serious business. Smashing about two full McDonalds meals and some energy drinks, I felt like Super Mario on mushrooms and drove the whole way back while my workmate slept.

It was around 4am by the time I got home… I dropped my bag in the garage, had my first proper shower in a week and jumped in bed with my wife. So much was hurting, but the sensation of being home, seeing my wife again and having accomplished that hike – it was a special moment.

The purpose of sharing these experiences is certainly not to deter anyone from hiking or getting out into the great outdoors. In fact, it should be a motivator because as with anything in life, things go wrong and sometimes our plans have a different idea – it provides opportunities for growth. 

As with my other two experiences, I learned a lot from this one (more so than the others). Developing a strong mental state is important when you’re on the trails. After being around other hikers a bit more these days, I’ve noticed a common trend – most seem to have a good resilience and a good ability to push through physical pain. Complete respect for you all!

For me, my learning phase of hiking is still a working progress as you’ll see with my next couple of hiking stories.

Stay safe and reach new heights.

Lessons From Carnarvon Gorge Great Walk:

  1. Take care of your back!
  2. Know when it’s okay to push through pain barriers and when to stop and let your body go through a healing process.
  3. Pack light (as you would have noticed, I still haven’t learnt my lesson)
  4. Take moments to admire the landscape.
  5. Use hiking for meditation and time for thinking about how the journey is assisting your personal growth.
  6. If getting into multi-days, invest in good quality products.
  7. Plan your hiking meals and how you will ration then. Plus always pack yourself something special as a reward.
  8.  Away from civilisation, remember the animals become more wild.
  9. Don’t neglect the importance of purifying water if it is untreated. Use filter straws or bottles, and carry purifying tablets.
  10. Long hikes shouldn’t deter you. There was more time to rest each day than I had realised.
In a couple of months time, I was to experience my next hike – and it was pretty interesting!

About Author

Currently travelling Australia! Our dream is to complete the 'Big Lap", and we've learned quite quickly that we want to share it for all to experience. We hope this website helps you all plan your next adventure.

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