Carnarvon Gorge National Park (CGNP)

Approaching Carnarvon in the late afternoon, the light was glorious. Unfortunately, it also highlighted all the charred and browning eucalypts that had been recently burned. Two actively burning fires ahead, in the very direction we were going, had given us worries about whether Carnarvon would even be open. It is. We just can’t get used to so much use of fire as a landscape management tool! I’m also wondering why they’re doing so much of it in spring when lots of baby birds are trapped in their nests.

 

Most of the streams we crossed were bone dry so, when we had to ford this one, I simply had to capture the moment!

 

 

 As we neared CGNP, brolgas (very like our sandhill cranes) began their amusing dancing and displaying along with vocalizations that I didn't capture but did laugh at!

Neck held vertical, the male brolga implores the lady to be his love.

 

 

The pretty-face wallaby is well named. It's also called whiptailed wallaby. 

 

 

When the birding gets tough. we turn to dragon flies.

 

 

Or echidnas. This one saw us coming and quickly turned himself into a spikey ball and "hid".

 

 

After a while, he decided it was safe to show himself. Intriguing animals: they, along with platypuses, are egg-laying mammals.

 

 

Carnarvon Gorge from the valley below.