Day 1 - Carnarvon Gorge Road Trip

Well the time had finally arrived for our much awaited 1,700 km road-trip to Carnarvon Gorge, with a total of 14 people, 8 motorbikes and 2 support vehicles we made our way to the Bronco Inn outside Toowoomba...giving us a head start for the long haul 700 km plus to Carnarvon Gorge in 38-40 deg temp.

a 590km ride to Carnarvon Gorge including 13km of dirt!!

It was a great short stopover at the Bronco Inn as everyone finally arrived expectant of a great roadtrip. We enjoyed some great country hospitality and after good dinner and some communal singing thanks to Dave Way's guitar..we turned the aircon up to full and hit the sack, ready for a long ,straight and hot ride in the morning.

Leigh covered with o/night bugs

An early breakfast before hitting the road 150 km to Chinchilla, our first fuel and drink stop. Traffic was heavy with multiple large articulated trucks carry farm and mining material...despite a slow down, the impact of mining can be seen all around this area with vehicles, accommodation donga's and investment in in the larger towns we passed through. As expected the road was straight with a number of roadworks along the way...what a hot job those road workers have.

stretching the legs is always good

It was then onto Roma and the wonderful "Bakeroma" bakery for lunch (thanks Andrew)..the temperature was rising towards 40 deg C..... but Johann found something for free ...a FREE "P"

We pushed on the 90km to Injune, where we filled up some addition fuel containers as there was no more fuel for 260km till Rollenson. We enjoyed the cool drink and shade at Injune though we were standing outside an air conditioned store? There were a couple of Jillaroos in the vehicle , coming in for a cold ice block.

It was from here that things got really interested as a mobile phone weather radar image showed a storm in our path to Carnarvon Gorge ...but being sooo hot sitting down putting on wet weather gear was not a prospect we entertained .... lesson #1...take notice of the technology!

Unfortunately we didn't capture any footage during the storm...too busy holding onto the bikes and the road as the elements tried to dislodge us ...this included lighting bolts that set fires near the road...temp drop from 40 to 20 deg C in the process, something we love sharing now but was scary in the middle of it. The reflection of bike headlights in my mirror kept me going...there was no real choice, no where to hide...

Everyone a little shocked/exhilarated after surviving the storm  ....now to tackle the 13km of dirt road and not one adventure bike in sight!!!
So we turned off the main highway and headed to Takarakka ..after 30km of beautiful tarmac ,lush undergrowth (and the odd herd of cows) we were confronted by the beauty of the amazing Carnarvon Gorge region..draw dropping and thankfully the dirt road hadn't turned to mud and we all safely navigated the journey (with a little trick riding from Drew on the big red Honda Goldwing).

..and so the intrepid adventurers made it to Takarraka Bush resort riding some 590 km in quintessential Aussie landscape, temperatures around 40deg C and with the odd apocalyptic storm thrown in ...what a start to our adventure.

After settling into our glamping tents, purchased our supplies we settled in for a night of good food (thanks Megan & Drew) and conversation then hit the sack after a long day and with an early start to walk the Gorge in the cooler part of the day.

How many supervisors do you needs to prep a meal :) It was great to chilled out and listen to Tim tell us all about those noisy Bats next to his tent.

Drew was amazing on the BBQ but between the singed eyebrows and the kookaburra mafia ( they love expensive eye fillets!) he had a tough time.

As we settle in for the night the animals came out to play... the obligatory Kangaroos everywhere were great to watch...but not the ferel pigs who have done great damage to the gorge (as we would see on day 2) and the Bats that seem to think that its all right to go partying at 2:30am!!