Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat

To get the Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat more eco friendly we had to have more watertanks. We ordered them 9 months ago and now they finally arrived. Two 2000 gallon tanks for the shop and the Kangaroo cabin and one 5000 gallon tank for the three other cabins. Now it’s up to us to get the rebate; the Government excluded caravan parks! Very unfair, but we’ll see what we can do. Hopefully we get the wet winter they are talking about !!

The second couple of cabins are ready. After another month of hard work we are very proud we finished another lot. The murals are spectacular and are also done by a local. It took Brett powter (Cania Dams caretaker) one week to get it all done. Thanks Brett you are a gifted artist.

The Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat is a 4 star establishment, part of a national chain and Dogs are WELCOME. It is situated in a valley of colourful sandstone walls and offers spacious, grassy powered and unpowered sites for caravaners and campers. A very well equipped community camp kitchen makes it easy for campers who are lightly equipped or only travelling with bare essentials. Owners Gerard and Margaret pride themselves on making sure that their park is an eco-friendly one and have made numerous improvements in this direction in the last 18months since taking it over. For me it was lovely to see the free-range chooks roaming around the park grazing on what ever they could find in the grass. At 4pm each day you can feed the parrots, this was an amazing experience as hundreds of parrots flew in to have a feed, their non-stop chatter makes your ears ring.
Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat is relaxing and peaceful, there are hammocks hung throughout the park just waiting for you to take an afternoon ceiester or just kick back and read a book. If you have your dog with you, as I did, you will be happy to know there is a large dog walking area and plenty of shade. The tourist retreat is bordering the National Park and 6 of 7 walking tracks in the National Park leave from the front gate.

Comment by Lisa and Darin

After being on the park for 1 year, we recently had our first long break. Ron & Jenni Bednal came in and looked after the park. They did a very good job and we are very grateful to have met them. Ron & Jenni will be back on our park in the future.

Thanks Ron & Jenni!

After arriving at the Cania Gorge Tourist Retreat and settling in, we decided to head to Lake Cania and have a look around that area. As the sun was already quite low in the sky we decided to wait around and see if we could get a good sunset shot which would reflect and enhance the reddish hues of the rock face and we were not disappointed in what we saw. We were reluctantly preparing to leave as we were enjoying the solitude of the location when we noticed an almost full moon creep up into view – absolutely magic.
Bruce & Liz Hanisch

After the park was hit by a storm we knew exactly which trees needed to be cut down or pruned. After 2 long days of hard work we pruned 6 trees and cut 5 trees down.  All the trees where at the border of the park so they all could be dropped back in to the creek. It took a lot of work to get a big Blue back in the creek. It was behind the Koala cabins so we couldn’t make a mistake. With the expertice of Ray we managed. The park is getting ready for the busy winterseason and we are looking forward to it

Thank you Mike for putting this picture of the lorikeets at our park on Flickr. We do wonder what they are gossiping about. As you can see we can use your pictures to put on our own website. Every guest can sent pictures taken at the gorge and/or our park to us or Flickr so they might end up on our website !!!

 

On monday 12 February 2007 a storm hit the retreat. In half an hour we recorded 45 mm of rain. Hail and heavy wind caused some damage on the park. The old Moreton bay ash tree at the back of the park with the orchid and fig in it came down. Fortunately nobody was hurt and there was no damage done. The ranger told that he thinks the shape of the gorge is part of the reason it occurs.

last week we had some photographers visit the park. they were taking photo for a coffee table book to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the monto shire. This is the photo they took on the 2 storey cave walk.

Our park is bordering the Cania Gorge National Park and all the walking tracks are within walking distance from our park. Click here for a National Park map.

Castle Mountain (22 km return)

This bushwalk takes you to two lookouts with stunning views down the gorge. The first lookout “Gorge Lookout” is only 1.5 km from the picnic area and second lookout “Castle Mountain Lookout” is 11 km from the picnic area and gives you a spectacular view of Lake Cania.

Big Foot walk (50 mtr return)

This short trail features a large brown image of a four toed foot on the white sandstone cliff. This trail starts only 50 mtr from our park.

Fern Tree Pool and Giant Chair Lookout (5.6km circuit)

Crossing Doctor’s Gully several times, the track passes Fern Tree Pool (2.5 km) and continues at a moderate climb for another 2.2 km up a sandstone escarpment to the Giant’s Chair lookout. This walk is most easily walked in an anti-clockwise direction. Going down from the lookout you will pass some beautiful grass trees. This trail starts only 300 mtr from our park.

Two Storey Cave (1.3km circuit)

The circuit meanders upwards around isolated sandstone monoliths. A 20m sidetrack leads you to King Orchid Crevice, an ideal haven for king orchids and silver elkhorns. The top section of Two Storey Cave is important habitat for insectivorous bats. This trails starts only 900 mtr from our park.

Dripping Rock (2.2 km return) and The Overhang (3.2km return)

This track winds through eucalypt woodland and dry rainforest. At Dripping Rock, cool water that seeps from the sandstone creates a haven for ferns and mosses. From Dripping Rock the track continues on past weathered caves of vivid yellow and red ochres, ending at The Overhang, where water has eroded the base of the sandstone cliff. This trail starts 900 mtr from our park.

Dragon Cave (1.8 km return) and Bloodwood Cave (2.6 km return)

A moderately steep track leads to the cliff face, where a sidetrack branches north to Dragon Cave. Here, the natural black mural of a ‘dragon’ can be seen highlighted against the white sandstone wall. The track continues to Bloodwood Cave, so called because the roots of a bloodwood tree can be seen at the left hand side of the cave.

Shamrock mine (1.4km return)

A relatively easy walk with picturess views of Castle Mountain and remains of Gold diggings. It begins at the northern most carpark, about 1km south of Lake Cania. Please note fossicking is not permitted, however you will see where miners of old have sought their fortune. This is the only trail in the top part of the National Park and starts 10 km from our park.