by Sally Hammond

The sun set just as our ten-seater plane connected with the grass runway. George, the pilot, breathed a sigh of relief, and so did we - it had been touch and go to get to Bandanna airstrip, a four-hour flight from Mackay in north Queensland, before dark.

There were no lights on the strip of course, but the staff at the nearby Oasis Lodge assured us they had come down earlier and 'shooed the cows off '. Great!

This lodge guards the entrance to southern central Queensland's Carnarvon Gorge, an 11km gash through ancient sandstone. To the Aboriginal people it was a significant spiritual site and they honoured it with reverence, decorating it with paintings to record their mythology. Today their stencilled handprints are some of the best-preserved examples of this ancient and primitive form of self-expression and people come from around the world to see them.

Deep in the gorge, past tree ferns and over numerous smooth-rock river crossings of Carnarvon Creek the only water that dribbles through the rift, is near one section of rock-face called simply 'the art gallery'. Here, once your eyes adjust after the brilliance of the gorge, you begin to make out innumerable pictures, all with a cryptic significance and messages sadly lost on most who see them now. Further still is the Cathedral Cave and back a bit is the stunning Amphitheatre, big enough once you get in there, but almost hidden by a mere metre-wide opening. One of the most extensive art sites is at Ward's Canyon, and others reported great views from the lookout on Boolimba Bluff.

Carnarvon Gorge is both subtle and wild. There is fragile beauty at the Moss Garden, but this is topped by the drama of huge bluffs thrusting through the palms above it; pretty-face wallabies and roos fearlessly check out the cabins at the lodge, but there are also rare birds and exotic tree ferns in the gorge which require patient searching to locate them; parts of this country are as challenging for serious hikers as anything you'll find, yet board-walks, easy trails and signs mean even the most timid can enjoy the best of the sights.

We had decided the Moss Garden sounded intriguing and so we scrambled up the track. Seven hundred metres, the sign had said at the turnoff. Nearly there - or so we thought - and then another sign said 500 metres. Returning hikers told us 'you're nearly there!' in typical bushwalker-speak, that always minimises the effort. But when we got there, eventually, it was worth it. A damp green, cool, reward for our patience.

Only some guests drop in by air, as we did, by chartering a small plane from Bundaberg. There are regular coach tours from Brisbane or you can drive yourself - the Gorge is about two hours' drive beyond Roma which is accessible from Brisbane by coach, train and air.

At Carnarvon Gorge Wilderness Lodge, the safari cabins continue the theme of blended luxury and 'roughing it' with the lower walls built from timber, and the windows and roofs of canvas, stitched like tents. There are en suite facilities, heaters and comfortable beds. The Lodge Squatters Restaurant pampers guests with the best meals that side of the black stump. They will pack lunches for day-treks and provide essential water-bottles. Vegetarian and special meals also catered for.

At the gorge, you can be as active as you wish -  abseil, rock climb, bike or hike, then bush-dance the night away - or you can enjoy a sunny doze in a settler's chair on a cabin verandah, wander through the bush, or take a quiet picnic to the creek and watch for platypus.

And if you wake to a thump on the cabin's canvas roof in the night, don't worry. It's probably just a possum patrolling the grounds.