Sandstone, Caves & Bats: A Guide to Cania Gorge

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I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this area and their connection to Country, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present.

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Planning an extended road trip around the Central Queensland Sandstone Belt to hike into Carnarvon Gorge is the perfect excuse for a holiday.

But heading straight to Carnarvon Gorge means a hefty drive—it’s some 720km away from the Sunshine Coast. To turn a straightforward trip in a circuit road trip, Cania Gorge National Park is a great first stop.

While we didn’t love Cania Gorge, here is how you could easily spend a long weekend hiking and exploring the park.

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CANIA GORGE: KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

A long weekend or a couple of nights is the ideal amount of time to spend at Cania Gorge, unless you prefer to take things very relaxed or want to have a day or two for fishing at the dam. We had two nights at Cania Gorge and felt that was more than sufficient to explore the park.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

Cania Gorge is popular year-round. Summers are hot, though you have the nearby dam to cool off in.

In winter, day temperatures are usually pleasant and in the low-20°Cs but nights can be very chilly and damp nights, dropping below 5°C. Summer is much warmer but can also be quite rainy and humid.

The main downside to winter camping in Queensland is that it gets dark very early, and you end up cooking and eating dinner in the dark and cold. Over the years we’ve got used to it, but it is still not that awesome. Needless to say that my appetite for dessert tends to be rather low when camping in freezing weather—crawling into my sleeping bag with a book is always a much better alternative.

GETTING TO CANIA GORGE

Located some 500km north-west of Brisbane, reaching Cania Gorge takes a bit of time if you’re coming from southeast Queensland. Fortunately, the national park is very easy to find, which is exactly what you want at the end of a long day of driving.

Take the Burnett Highway (A3) and turn onto Cania Road about 12km north of Monto if you’re coming from the south, or 82km from Biloela if you’re travelling from the north. From the highway turnoff, it’s roughly another 10km down Cania Road to reach your first camping option, Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat.

Local Tip: If you’re travelling from the south in early winter (June or July), make sure to stop in Gayndah along the way. The town is known for its incredible citrus, and you can pick up some of the largest and tastiest oranges, grapefruit, mandarins and lemonade fruit you’ve ever had! Totally delicious, we always buy bucket loads when passing through.

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HANDY THINGS TO PACK

Cania Gorge isn’t all that far from civilisation but it still pays to be prepared. Here are a couple of things that will come in useful:

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CAMPING AT CANIA GORGE

There’s no camping or accommodation in the actual national park but there are a couple of caravan parks nearby.

BIG4 CANIA GORGE HOLIDAY PARK

One option is the popular Big4 Cania Gorge Holiday Park. This is a great base if you’re keen on a short drive up to Cania Dam for boating and fishing while still being close enough to explore the hiking trails in the national park.

The Big4 park has got more family activities (jumping pillow, pool and a waterpark) if that’s a consideration for you. You can also book cabins if you want an actual bed.

CANIA GORGE TOURIST RETREAT

We booked a couple of nights at the Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat purely because of location and price. This caravan park is situated right outside the national park but with the start of pretty much all the walks close by. So on that account, the location’s quite perfect.

As far as caravan parks go, it’s quite nice and the amenities are reasonably clean. Most sites are grassy in a open sort of setting.

The nights in mid-June were cold though, seriously cold and damp. I really had to wrap myself up to stay at least vaguely warm. That said, we were camping and I was pretty happy about that (notwithstanding Mr. Snorer in the caravan some ten metres away…).

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SHORT WALKS AND LONGER HIKES AT CANIA GORGE

Some people really love Cania Gorge and keep coming back year after year but it’s not a spot we’ve loved. If you’re there with young kids, you’ll probably enjoy it as all the walks are very “doable”.

Since the national park gets pretty good reviews (a gorge, towering sandstone cliffs, Aboriginal rock art, …) and is said to be a “mini” Carnarvon Gorge, I must admit that we did have pretty high expectations. But we were just underwhelmed. Maybe it was the overcast weather or maybe it really is just a bit meh.

As a result, we felt deflated the whole time as we ran up every single track, hoping to discover something spectacular—or at least something more than just nice.

Most of the walks are pretty easy, and you can squeeze them into one day. We ticked them all off, with the exception of the Castle Mountain walk (22km return), which we gave a miss.

All trails are clearly marked and I’d say it’s impossible to get lost.

1. BIG FOOT WALK

The one thing at Cania Gorge that is really cool is probably Big Foot, a giant Indigenous rock art painting of, guess what, a big foot on a white sandstone cliff.

From the Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat, it’s 50m off the main path and you’re there, no strenuous hiking involved at all. But even from the picnic area, it’s an easy stroll to see this giant print.

Cool, huh? The massive shape would probably have looked quite spectacular with a bit of blue sky behind it but wasn’t to be.

2. TWO STOREY CAVE CIRCUIT

The other interesting walk is the Two Storey Cave circuit, supposedly to be covered in 45 minutes. For some reason, it took us much longer and we’re not slow walkers.

The walk itself is ok, nothing spectacular but pleasant enough as you wander around sandstone monoliths.

What’s great about this walk though is that the two storey cave has a colony of bats living in them, and a) you have to scramble into the cave, and then b) try and avoid being smacked in the head by the bats flying in and out.

3. DRIPPING ROCK & THE OVERHANG

This trail was probably the best of the bunch of the hiking trails at Cania Gorge.

It’s an easy enough trail through woodland and rainforest parts that lots of families seemed to enjoy walking. The Overhang, a sandstone formation, is quite cool though I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was impressive.

Dripping Rock, a moss-covered, dripping rock ledge along the way caught my attention for a moment or two but outside the wet season, it’s not that spectacular. There are a couple of benches though if you fancy studying the moss a bit more and getting a mouldy, wet bottom at the same time.

The Overhang though was quite cool. I’d imagine that with more rain, the creek at the bottom of the cliffs would be quite spectacular and would make the whole area look much more interesting.

But what’s really cool along this walk is the rock art—that’s pretty special. There isn’t much art here but the hand prints are still very cool.

4. DRAGON CAVE & BLOODWOOD CAVE CIRCUIT

The trail to the two caves initially follows the same trail as the one to The Overhang but after the turnstile (!), the trail then verges right. The trail itself is a relatively straight-forward walk with no great difficulty beyond climbing around the caves if you wish.

Unfortunately though, both Dragon Cave and Bloodwood Cave were a bit underwhelming. Sigh.

The black shape of a dragon at Dragon Cave (not Aboriginal rock art but a natural black mural) is actually quite cool and you could make it out easily enough. Overall, my expectations were just too high, and I was disappointed by it. The dragon also looks bigger in the photo than what it actually is.

From the caves, we retraced our steps and then took the turnoff to Castle Mountain Lookout, a 22km return hike. If you’re not up for such a big day hike, just climb up the stairs to Gorge Lookout. It’s pretty obvious when you get there and it’s only a short detour (240m up the path).

That said, the views weren’t that awesome but you get some stair climbing exercise! 🙂

5. FERN TREE POOL AND GIANT’S CHAIR CIRCUIT

We did this walk back in 2014, and to be honest, I don’t remember much from this walk beyond thinking that Giant’s Chair Lookout was a bit of a letdown.

We got to the lookout and all I could think was ‘hm, ok, that’s it?’ Maybe I’m being a bit harsh here but trust me, there are much more spectacular lookouts in Queensland.

The other negative was that some burning off had been done a few days earlier and the air was still somewhat acrid from smoke, not the mention the rather sad looking vegetation along parts of this track. The smoldering air and smell was really getting to me by the end of the 5.6km walk.

The trail passes by a fern tree pool and over several creek crossings but I have zero recollections of that. With all the regrowth over the last few years, I expect this hike is now a much nicer walk.

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READY TO EXPLORE CANIA GORGE?

Cania Gorge isn’t quite the ‘mini’ Carnarvon Gorge that tourism brochures would like you to believe but it’s worth spending a day or two here to explore the tracks or heading out onto the dam.

It’s also a good way to see some of the region if you’re not quite ready for a 4WD adventure at nearby Kroombit Tops National Park or want to head to more remote sandstone national parks like Expedition or Mount Moffatt.

So I’ll leave you with this curious thing… What’s up with the turnstile on the walking track at Cania? I’ve never seen this since but at Cania Gorge there’s a lovely turnstile right in the middle of the trail.

Are they worried that a motorbike or big, fat car might try and clamour up the narrow footpath?! Or do such hordes of wild people storm up the walks that only a turnstile can bring order??

Happy exploring,

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