Cania Gorge

Cania Gorge was an amazing place to camp. We chose stay at 'Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat'. There is also a Big 4 campground just down the road. They are fairly similarly priced, but the Tourist Retreat is so much more spacious and private. Our campsite was nestled away in the back of the park and was completely private. In fact a few times I ventured out of my tent in just my undies to hang around our campsite as it was too hot for clothes. I felt so free and liberated!!!

We did tons of walking on this trip. I forget exactly how many km's we covered but I think we averaged about 6kms a day over 5 days. This is fairly easy for an adult to do but we had Kylah and Jazzy with us who did all the walking as well!!! They were amazing! Jasmine has such a natural athleticism and would just walk and walk and walk. Huge mountains were no obstacle for her. Kylah and I whinged most of the time!!

There are sooo many walks to do at Cania Gorge. Ben and I spent a lot of time teaching the children about the local geology and how the Gorge was formed. They also learned about the local flora and fauna. It was like a 5 day excursion!

Our day's fell into a nice routine very quickly. We would wake up with the sun (too hot to sleep in the tent). Have a hearty breaky before tackling school work. Then we would head off on a walk along one of the many beautiful tracks. We would eat morning tea en-route and arrive back at camp in time for lunch. Afternoons were spent in the pool then we would play games together or have an afternoon siesta in the many hammocks around the park. Early dinner was followed by a campfire, bush shower and an early night.

The amenities at Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat were extremely clean. I used a bush shower as Ben had just bought it for me and I wanted to try it out. It was sensational!!! I fell in love and have used nothing else since!! Gone are my day's of having to brave public showers.

I really enjoyed our time at Cania Gorge. I was really relaxed there and it is a beautiful spot. My only complaints were the searing heat, mozzies on dusk and ants.

I absolutely hate ants!! I am getting better with them but at the time of our trip (March 09) I was extremely scared of them. Matters weren't helped when I was bitten on the bum by one. Yes, you read right. A big awful ant bit a huge bit of flesh out of my backside and I screamed and screamed. Ben had to hold ice on it for ages and it really hurt. What's worse, after a day or so it stopped hurting and became insanely itchy!!!! So I would walk around scratching my arse constantly with an intense frantic look on my face.

There was one track that we didn't get to do at the Gorge and that was a 20km round trip one. I would love to take the kids back at some stage when they are ready to walk 20kms in one day (and more importantly, when I am ready to walk 20km's in one day!!!)

You definitely don't go to Cania to relax and drink beers. It is the kind of spot you go to if you want to burn some energy and do some exploring.

All in all, a wonderful trip!!