Carnarvon Gorge is part of the Carnarvon National Park and is a wonderful place to go walking and see lots of beautiful scenery.
It is part of the Carnarvon National Park in central Queensland and is located approximately 320km inland, 400km from Gladstone, 250km north of Roma and 240km south of Emerald in the Capricorm Coast Hinterland. The final 21km of the road to the gorge is unsealed but is a good quality and is fine for all types of vehicles including caravans. The nearest petrol stations are at Rolleston and Injune.
The Carnarvon Gorge Visitor Area is 4km from Takarakka and there is plenty of parking provided there as well as some picnic tables. If you don’t already have one you should pickup the Caranarvon Gorge visitor guide which has lots of information about walking in the park. There is an information centre here that has lots of information about the gorge and the park in general and the rangers are very friendly and informative and will try to answer any questions that you have.
The main reason to come here is to walk, whether you do the longer walks along the gorge or some of the shorter ones around the Visitor Area there is something for everyone. Take a look at our Carnarvon Gorge Walks page for information.
Carnarvon Gorge Accommodation
There are only three accommodation options that allow you to stay near Carnarvon Gorge.
The first is the Takarakka Bush Resort which is a huge, open caravan park with lots of powered sites, fewer unpowered sites and lots of cabins. There is an area which is a camping area for tents and this is quite rough but also quite secluded and shaded and gives you a real feeling of being in the bush.
The resort is split into three main areas each with its own amenities block and kitchen. The amenities blocks are great with plenty of showers and toilets and the kitchens are huge covered areas with plenty of wooden picnic tables, lots of gas rings, a couple of large BBQs and a huge hot water urn but no fridge. The cabins all have their own fridge so the only people this affects are tent campers. The shop in the reception does sell ice so if you have a cool box (eski) you can use that to keep food or drink cold. The kitchens are really social areas since everyone is here to do the same thing, namely walk in the gorge or surrounding areas, and you can get some good tips from people who have already done the walks. There are areas near each of the kitchens where you can have a campfire and there is plenty of wood supplied for these.
A creek runs alongside the resort and you may be lucky enough to see platypus there in the early morning or in the evening. You need to be patient and quiet in order to see them. There are quite a lot of wallabies also along the creek which are reasonably tame as are the occassional kangaroos that you will see but don’t approach them because no matter how tame they may seem they are wild animals.
On Tuesday and Friday evenings there is a slide show and talk run by the park rangers which lasts about an hour and a half and is extremely interesting, informative and entertaining. It is split into different sections starting with general park information, slides of the floods and damage done by them, flora and fauna and wildlife.
If you are staying at Takarakka Bush Resort you need to bring most, if not all, of your food with you as the kiosk there has very little. They do have bread, milk, some frozen meat, soft drinks and also beer and wine.
The second option is to camp at the Big Bend Camping Area which is a 10km walk along the gorge from the Visitor Area. There are hybrid toilets here but no showers and the water needs to be treated before drinking. Also there are no fires allowed.
The other option is the Carnarvon Gorge Wilderness Lodge which is an upmarket place offering lovely cabins in a bush setting. It has a restaurant and bar serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You can get more information about Carnarvon Gorge on the official Queensland National Parks website.