Carnarvon Gorge

Unfortunately, we only had a couple of hours to spend at this national park. It's best on a visit of multiple days, so we did the best we could. Almost all the sights in the park are only accessible on walking tracks. One of the tracks we took was to an aboriginal site called Baloon Creek.

It was only about a 1km walk to the site, crossing the same (dry) streambed multiple times.

These are the handprints which were painted 10,000 years ago (plus or minus 3sigma). The pigment used is from ochre found nearby. This site is very similar to the one I've visited in Boynton Canyon, near Sedona, AZ. Those people didn't build roads either, it's a long walk to their old towns along the cliffs.

The real handprint culprit.

Typical scenery on this side of the gorge -- large basalt monoliths, gum trees, palm trees, rocky stream beds. Most of Australia has been in a 5 year drought.