Anyone been to Carnarvon Gorge recently?

[Hefty]

Howdy all,
Looking at adding Carnarvon Gorge to the beginning of our half lap in the middle of the year but also looking to upgrade to a pop-out camper (eg jayco coromal et al) or poptop van to cut down on setup and packup time.

Has anyone been driven into Carnarvon Gorge recently towing any kind of trailer or small off road van? Advice from the national park suggests no caravans or large motorhomes but I'm not sure about smaller poptop vans etc.

Cheers!
Jono.

[nbd73]

Wow, wonder what has happened to the road? Went there in Aug 2011 with my GS & FIL towed his on road Jayco caravan in no worries at all. I cant recall any particular parts that were even close to being suspect. But as said that was a few years ago.

[Chris-Vi]

This will be interesting. We are booked in there from Easter Monday for 4 days. It will be the start of our lap as well. 

[Stewart]

We went there in July last year. Towed our Cub camper no trouble . Lots of caravans in the van park some pretty big rigs that seemed to have no difficulties getting there.

[Landyline]

If you are staying at the caravan park then there is no problem as you won't be towing all the way to the NP anyway.
I can only think they are concerned about parking and if it rains.
I don't remember there being anywhere to park big stuff.

[Windies]

If you're taking about Carnarvon Gorge then I don't think you will have a problem if you stay in the private caravan park. We went this time last year. We didn't tow but the parents-in-laws towed the Galaxy van into the private camp site without any problems. The road in was good. If you're going to the other national parks in the Carnarvon group then things might be different. If it rains the roads get slippery. We went car only to Nuga Nuga National park and almost got stuck.

[Just some guy]

We went there in August last year with our Jayco Penguin. The dirt road in was good enough.  We stayed at Takarakka caravan park.

Your post makes me wonder 2 things:
1: has the road deteriorated since August last year - this is perfectly possible but if this is the case - they might grade it again before the holiday season.  It might be better when you are ready to go.  Or perhaps its just muddy right now and will be ok in a week?
2: are they discouraging people with caravans and motorhomes from using the national parks camp ground (not sure if this was ever allowed?)

Did you find out your information via a phone call or on the internet?  If on the internet, could you provide a link?  Phoning the Takarakka caravan park and asking them a few questions might be worth your while too.

Hope you can get there - its fantastic (as long as you like walking)!

[Hefty]

My wife looked up the info. I'll try to find the link but yeah, I think they're just discouraging people with caravans and motor homes from using the national park camp ground. Just wanted to check 1. if there was any other reason behind it that might relate to our trip and 2. when does a caravan or motor home become 'large'?

sent from the dark recesses of my mind.

[Landyline]

A caravan or motorhome becomes 'large' when it doesn't fit in the car park and you have to park it kms away from the NP.

The NP campgrounds have bollards so no vehicle based camping is possible.

We went outside of school holidays and there was plenty of parking but school holidays and long weekends I hear it gets very crowded.

[markpeh]

The road is good. Takaraka is the go and they see plenty of large vans. The national park camp griunds are only open during school holidays. Nuga nuga is great. I used to head in there for day trips every couple of weeks.

[Isuzumu]

We took our old Viscount into Mount Moffatt about 4 years ago with out any problems.

[cupcake]

We went there October 2013, stayed at Takarraka, nice spot with its own creek to swim in with catfish & platypus. Echidna wander the park at night, apparently, we didnt see any, lol.
Towed the Trackabout no probs, plenty of big vans (18ft+) in at Takarraka.
Also saw vans (about 15ft) and camper trailers in the National Park campgrounds at Carnarvon.

[Rumpig]

The NP campgrounds have bollards so no vehicle based camping is possible.

things must have changed since our visit there many years back now, we camped in the National Park with a camper trailer. Has been a while since we were there though, it used to be open to camping all the time back then

[McAbouts]

We camped in the National Park bit in the July school holidays last year near the Info centre. It's open in the school holidays. Cheap too. Think it was less than $20 for two nights for three of us. Booked through the National Park site. Great spot, fit the Trackabout in easy. Loved it. Plenty of showers and toilets, coins for showers, hit and miss whether you got a hot one. Saw an echidna and loads of roos.

Cheers
Louise

[UIZ733]

NP is only open for school holidays.

[Hefty]

Ok, I found the link http://www.nprsr.qld.gov.au/parks/carnarvon-gorge/camping.html
We've booked in the national park visitor area for the first weekend of the June/July holidays. We've got a camper-trailer site (approx 12m x 10m) and at that stage we'll either have, at worst (for want of a better term, it's still an awesome camper!), our current camel beachcomber or a Coromal PS421 if everything goes to plan.
From the info on the site and everyone's description of "usual" conditions, I no longer have any concerns about getting either of them in there.

Thanks for all the replies!
Cheers!
Jono.

[mcm72]

Jono,

i also have a Camel Beachcomber
i am also head to the Gorge in the first week of the holidays ( and part of the 2nd week )

no more room in the NP camping area so we are booking into the Takarakka camping area.

we might bump into each other !

Cheers

MM

[pedrogb]

Hi all
We were there at Easter this year. Stayed at Takarakka, highly recommended. Easy access, saw lots of large vans in this campground. Fantastic camping.  Very good facilities. I can't see you having a problem, unless there is lots of rain just previous, there is a couple of weirs to go over.
Pedro

[still_riding]

Any updates on the road in to Takarakka? I think there is only 11km of dirt, shouldn't be a problem (D-Max with an outback Jayco Dove). We've got an unpowered site.
The park seems well equipped, anything out of the ordinary that you would recommend?
We're only staying 3 nights, lots of walking & port at night!
Pete


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[NomadPhil]

Stayed at Takarakka mid May. It's more like 23 km of dirt. Dirt road is fine. There are two dry creek crossings around blind bends that you need to slow down for or it'll get bumpy otherwise no worries. Good that you booked it is very popular campsite. Platypus every morning in the creek.


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[still_riding]

Thanks Phil


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[BaseCamp]

Stayed at Takarakka Easter..

Canarvon well worth it...

from what I saw of the NP camping area...  you could fit a camper / van..

Avoid
#  The roast dinner deal Taky runs...   Wonton rip off...    From memory just under $50 for 2 pax - for something that another place elsewhere not treating their clients as walking ATMs would charge maybe $25 for?   
#  Also Taky make you do your own washing up; and serving; for the $40-$50 "privilege"...  LOL
#  Also on our evening - they made everyone wait 40 minutes between the roast; and the so-called desert..
#  Don't bother asking them kindly; or otherwise; if they would mind making a reservation for you for dinner at The Lodge up the road - they bark you (not really speaking to you); to the direction of their pay phone outside of "reception"... 

# Fellow campers had done the chopper tour and were very disappointed with it...      Spend over $500 and then found out the choppers are not allowed to fly over the Canarvon Gorge...   

Do
# The Homestead Sunset Tour - about $60 for 2 pax.....    This was great... Had bush damper and billy tea; and wine and cheese; bush poetry and ballads; bush-ranger stories and local history talks; Q&A on what its like on a working cattle station; etc...  went for approx 2.5 hours as the sun set and lit up about 30kms of gorge cliff face as the sun went down...    WOW... 





 



 

[Mobi]

Went there last years on the way home from McGirr trip up the Cape and only the last 5km was gravel in good condition.  Great place, only disadvantage is that all the walks are further in the same direction eg walk 1 is say 2.5km out and back and walk 2 is 4km out and back but it follows the same route as walk 1.

 

Peter

[still_riding]

Great info there, the homestead tour sounds good, I wonder how master 13yo & miss 10yo will cope!
We'll be taking our own food & cooking on the camp kitchens, don't need to do the mass dinner thing...
Looking at google earth, there seems to be heaps of trails around the outer perimeter, maybe up for an adventure ride next year on the Tiger...


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[BaseCamp]

There is one walk I would have really liked to do....   its called "the steps" -or something like that. ...    basically you set off about 1.5 hrs before dawn beeak.....    and then you reach the steps ... which are ex 100 (dont recall) steps up the Gorge face....    You reach the top of the cliffs and the watch the sun rise. ....

Tacky has a big telescope and do a stars show. ....   We did the Cosmos show in Charleville which is an absolute must....   did the sun observatory by day and the Cosmos show in the evening. ....   I can now point out some of the stars in the heavens from that experience. ...  and think about that tour often....    The kids would enjoy "The Bilby Experience"  even though it was a bit of a tourist trap to us??   

Regarding Canarvon walks....   see the Moss Garden; the Amphitheater; etc....

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