A Guide To Visiting Cania Gorge National Park

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Cania Gorge National Park is located near the town of Monto, and is home to a diverse range of wildlife, aboriginal rock art, gold mining history and walking tracks. We recently visited for 2 days / 3 nights, and loved exploring the area with the kids, before heading back to our accommodation and enjoying the water park and wild bird-feeding.

Cania Gorge National Park

The park contains 8 walks, ranging from 300 metres to 22 kms long. Due to our youngest child, Roo, only being 4 years old, we decided to tackle only a few of the Grade 3 walking tracks, which she managed to complete on her own.

Dripping Rock and The Overhang- 3.2 km return

This walk starts at the picnic area, winding its way through dry rainforest as it leads up to the base of Dripping Rock. This rocky overhang is covered in moss and ferns, and at the time of our visit, water was flowing and dripping from the rock. The nearby bench was a pleasant spot to sit for a few minutes to listen to the dripping of water and bird-song.

Continue on the track past Dripping Rock for another kilometre, up and down several lot of stairs, before descending down to The Overhang.

The Overhang is an eroded cliff base, with yellow and red ochre lines running through the sandstone. The creek bed and surrounding rainforest trees gave us the feeling of a secluded, tropical hideaway while we sat on the rocks and enjoyed a picnic morning tea.

Dragon Cave and Bloodwood Cave – 2.6 km return

The track to Dragon and Bloodwood caves branches off from the Dripping Rock track. The track is a little steeper to navigate than the track to Dripping Rock, as you walk up steps along the cliff to reach the caves. Dragon Cave gets its name from the black outline of a dragon’s head on the back wall, while Bloodwood Cave is from the roots of a bloodwood tree that grows near the cave entrance.

Shamrock Mine Site – 1.4 km return

This self-guided walk passes through eucalypt forest, with information signs along the way about the history of the Cania goldfields and the remains of the Shamrock mine site.

Other walks in Cania Gorge National Park:

Picnic Area Circuit – 300m return
Two Storey Cave Circuit – 1.3km return
Fern Tree Pool and Giant’s Chair Circuit – 5.6km return
Big Foot Walk – 1km return
Castle Mountain – 22km return

You can find more information on all the walks in Cania Gorge National Park at https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/parks/cania-gorge/about.html

Things to do near Cania Gorge

Lake Cania

Just up the road from Cania Gorge is Lake Cania. Built on Three Moon Creek, it is a great spot for swimming, fishing, kayaking and boating, plus BBQ’s and shaded picnic tables. Make sure you grab your fishing permit here before you throw a line in!

Meet the local wildlife

Cania Gorge is home to a large range of wildlife! During our stay we encountered hundreds of very friendly wild birds, kangaroos, wallabies, bettongs, possums and lizards, both within the national park, at the caravan park and at Lake Cania.

Explore Monto

The nearby town of Monto is closest town to Cania Gorge, serving the surrounding farm area. You can explore more the history of the local area with a visit to the Monto Historical Complex, and check out the amazing silo art!

Visit the Mulgildie Bunyip

Approximately 16 kms south of Monto is the tiny town of Mulgildie, home to the sculpture of the Mulgildie Bunyip.

Go 4WDing

There are a plenty of 4WDing tracks at the nearby Kroombit Tops National Park, which is also home to the wreck of WWII Liberator bomber ‘Beautiful Betsy’.

Cania Gorge accommodation

Camping is not permitted within the National Park, however there are Cania Gorge camping sites located nearby at the 2 caravan parks.

We stayed in a cabin at the Big4 Cania Gorge Holiday Park for our recent visit, and while the cabin was a little dated and basic, it was clean and comfortable. The park facilities and grounds were a hit with the whole family, with 3 swimming pools, a water park and large water slide, jumping pillows, daily wild bird feeding and plenty of space for them to run and play. We loved being greeted by the friendly kookaburras and parrots every morning on our verandah!