Provisioning ...

We planned to be at Carnarvon for six nights.  The closest towns were either Rolleston (103km) or Injune (153km). (Both had small grocery shops).  

There was a convenience kiosk at our caravan park but we didn't want to depend on it for meal provisions, so did a large shop at home on Saturday (the day before departure).  What did we buy?  I hadn't prepared a proper meal plan but jotted down the days we would be away and where we would be each night (to judge energy levels for cheffing).  

Our initial thought was to take one Engel only, running as a fridge - so I picked three of the vacuumed packed Coles One Pot meals. There was also butterflied pork shoulder, a pack of lamb steaks and a pack of marinated pork steaks. All pre-packed options had long expiry dates.

We actually took both Engels, so the meat packs were frozen.  We also froze some bacon, pulled pork and chicken (for wraps/sandwiches), as well as a loaf of bread.  Nick froze some bottles of water, to help the effectiveness of the freezer.  It would have made sense to freeze some milk and I'm sure we'll do that another time, now we've been reminded of how horrid UHT skim milk tastes!

Once the meat portions were in the trolley, the other main meal ingredients were fairly easy to select.  We also took packet pasta cabonara, plain pasta and rice.  There were wraps, peanut butter and vegemite, juice boxes and small fruit packs along with various snacks to have when walking.  There was a carton of UHT custard and two small cartons of UHT cream. (Cheese and antipasto were chosen for a celebratory platter at the end of all our walking).  

Flour, six eggs and a few other basics were packed from home, including frozen corn.  We picked up extra groceries at Roma - bottled water, a pre-mix salad pack, a few vegies, some mushrooms and a small bottle of red wine (for the beef bourginon).  I think there was a packet of chips and another block of chocolate.  

I made creamy bacon and mushroom pasta for our first night.  There was some leftover, which was used as a side dish the second night - with lamb steaks and salad.  We had beef bourguignon the third night, when the mushrooms were good.  Beef madras may have been after that.  I know we had Mexican beef at the end of our 24km/12-hour hike cos Nick put that one together!  I BBQ-ed the marinated pork on our second-last night and we had a cheese platter finale to round off our Carnavon week.  

There was another round of creamy bacon pasta at Mitchell (made with UHT cream), though sundried tomatoes were substituted for mushrooms.  We had the pork steak on our first Chinchilla night.  The second night was BBQed chops purchased from the local butcher, served with potatoes done over the coals and some simple coleslaw.

The one pot meals had good flavour and only needed an onion, a tin of tomatoes and one or two other extras.  We liked them but thought we could choose better quality meat in a DIY version.

Chinchilla-ing!

We left Mitchell at 10:00am on ANZAC Day.  Although we'd been advised the baths would open at 12:00, we decided we'd enjoy them on another visit - so headed back to Roma (where many memorial bottle trees had ANZAC wreaths).

There was no need to re-fuel, so we made our way toward home.  We'd thought of staying overnight at Dalby but stopped at Chinchilla.  

Although we had stayed at Chinchilla Weir on another occasion, it was easier to have a powered site for the Spacevan, so we chose Charleys Creek Campgrounds.

As much as we'd loved Carnavon Gorge, we hadn't been so keen on the busy-ness of our caravan park there - so really appreciated some space around us and being right beside the creek.  

The caretaker suggested we buy a bag of firewood and have a fire, which was a splendid idea! 

Charleys Creek was lovely and we stayed another night - so had two fires! 

We rang the insurer to arrange a claim assessment - for the day after we returned home.  

Bump on the road ...

Our Carnarvon pack-up was smooth and we started heading back to Roma.  There was no real plan.  We had lunch at Injune, at the same picnic spot we'd visited in 2020.  (I had Nick shake hands again with the miner)!

A little further along was Gunnewin, so we stopped to have a look around there.  We re-fuelled at Roma but weren't ready to return home at that point, so decided we'd go to Mitchell - and soak in the mineral baths after all our walking.

I'd not long booked a site at Mitchell when the plan hit a huge bump.  As did we.  

Nick pulled over when it was safe.  By then we thought the trailer might have a flat tyre but once stopped Nick could see the issue.  Sadly the Spacevan's spare tyre had worked free of it's drawbar mounting and then dropped onto the road.  The bump we felt and heard was trailer running over the tyre.  We were both quite shocked to see the side panel damage.  We circled back to look for the tyre but couldn't spot it in the long grass along the roadside - and weren't really sure where it had dropped onto the road.  We stopped again, so I could rescue a tortoise - and then we headed to Mitchell.

Once checked in and set up (on the same site as our first trip in the Spacevan), I used the free wifi near reception to lodge an insurance claim via the app.  Neither of us felt like soaking in the mineral baths and we had a fairly early night.

Gorge-ing ourselves at Carnavon!

Carnarvon Gorge had been on our agenda for a few years.  We almost got there in 2020 but there were no sites or other  suitable accommodation available, so we set off on our Wing-it Wanderings road-trip instead.  

(While staying at Rolleston during that trip, we chatted with other travellers who had just been into the Gorge.  They spoke of the many mice they'd encountered - due to a mouse plague at the time - and we felt better about "missing out")!

There were other false starts but everything finally aligned for visiting in April.  Nick had leave approved and we booked several months ahead.  (Our initial booking was for six nights but we were able to extend an additional night once there).

We bought hiking boots as our anniversary gifts in January and started to break them in soon after.  (I was also getting used to new orthotics). I actually started the year very well, increasing my walking to 30 and 35 kilometres for the first two weeks in January. And then I got Covid, followed by some other issues - which set my physical activity back considerably.  Nick had hurt himself when packing (possibly cracked a rib), so neither of us were in prime condition.  Given how long it had taken to get leave etc lined up though, we decided to just go and do our best.

Plenty of bloggers have written about Carnarvon and there is a lot of YouTube content also.  Although we read tips and watched some footage before arrival, it was still awesome to experience such stunning country first-hand.  I took many, many photos while there.  We managed to walk 70km over the course of our week-long stay, saw everything we wanted to see and even made it all the way out to Big Bend, Cathedral Cave and Boowinda Gorge in one huge 24km/12-hour day!  

When viewing the caravan park's intro video and reading various descriptions of the walks, we felt a bit daunted by all the numbers.  After studying the rated walks, we decided to get up super-early and view sunrise from Boolimba Bluff.  It was one of the level 4 walks and once we'd finished that one (the first hour in darkness, with just the light of our headlamps), we were more confident about doing others.  We had done a level 5 hike close to home the week before heading out to Carnarvon and that experience was good to compare to the sunrise Bluff walk.  

A few days after our level 5 hike, we bought much better backpacks from Anaconda, in preparation for Carnarvon.  I also bought a water bladder to use instead of a drink bottle, which was a great choice.  Nick found my hiking pole when packing and that was so very handy for all the creek crossings we did.

Some people didn't stay long at the caravan park and tried to do all the walks in one or two days.  We took a far more leisurely approach and spent time at each of the sites once we reached them, to fully appreciate all there was to see.  Nick went up to the office the day after our 24km stint and was able to extend our booking, which meant we could have a rest day before our Moss Gardens and Amphitheatre finale.  

This is how our week panned out.  We were very chuffed with our efforts - and how wonderfully everything fell into place.

Day 1 (  3.0km) - Arrive late afternoon

Day 2 (  6.5km) - Visitor Centre Nature Walk and Mickey Creek

Day 3 (10.5km) - Boolimba Bluff and Rock Pools

Day 4 (13.5km) - Art Gallery and Ward's Canyon

Day 5 (24.0km) - Big Bend, Boowinda Gorge and Cathedral Cave

Day 6 (  4.5km) - Warrumba Creek Gorge (Mickey Creek), caravan park lookout

Day 7 (12.0km) - Moss Gardens and the Amphitheatre

Day 8 ( 5.0Km) - Departure ...

Setting off (and setting up) ...

Although we enjoyed two road-trips last year - our Big Loop tour in February and then a Sydney visit in November - it had been nearly 18 months since our first (and only) Spacevan trip, back in September 2021.

In the meantime, we'd completely unpacked the camper, plus moved house.  These two happenings made packing a lot trickier than usual, cos once we'd decided what to pack, we then had to find it! Hah!

Nissa visited for the first two weeks of April.  We holiday-ed at home during her stay, doing daytrips and having a lot of fabulous fun together.  It was wonderful!

After fare-welling Nissa on Friday night, we started packing - aiming for Sunday departure. 

We worked very hard on our separate missions. Nick sorted lights, power and water as well as our two Engels.  

The Engels travelled in Elmer, one as a fridge and the other as a freezer.  The freezer was in the back because we wouldn't often need it (and standing on the tow bar to reach it is a bit tedious).  

The rear seats were folded down and the fridge was stowed in the passenger-side footwell, where it was a little lower for easier access via the side door.  Both Engels stayed in Elmer for our overnight stop at Roma.  Nick ran an extension lead to the car, so they had mains power for that period.  (They use 12-volt power while in transit).

Vaughan came with us for our first Spacevan trip and a section of the rear floor was used for his sleeping area.  It was just Nick and I this time. When we set up properly, the two Engels were carried inside the camper.  

One folding table was used inside, so our Gladstone bags were at a good height for access.  I took a number of plastic hooks and these were very handy for hanging jackets, shower bags etc.  I'd made two shower totes early last year, for carrying clean clothes etc to the amenities block.  We've used them as swimming bags since then but this was their first run for their intended purpose - and they were great!

I'd done other sewing for the Spacevan and those accessories were used for the first time also.  Although I'd intended to make dedicated Spacevan laundry bags, that project had stalled - so we used the set I'd made for non-camper road-trips.

We took two sets of camping mats.  The site was dusty, so it was great to have eight inside.  The dust falls down the holes and sits within them, which minimises the amount tracked onto the upper floor.  There was another set of eight, just outside our doorway.  (We'd forgotten our step but didn't miss it too much).