Nodes in Great Northern Hwy (A1)

As for most of northern Australia, this region is mostly pastoral leases (cattle stations) or Aboriginal freehold. Many pastoral lessees are already diversifying into tourism activities or are interested to do so, including obtaining as required an ILUA or the like. See also https://www.pc.gov.au/research/completed/pastoral-leases, etc.

Climbing thus may well be a sustainable and economically positive tourism activity which, in ILUA-suitable locations, could be not only acceptable to but even appealing to pastoral lessees.

Given that pastoral leases cover around 44% of Australia it would be good to see some headway on access for sustainable and respectful recreational tourism uses such as climbing.

The lower (accessible) section of the gorge has minimal potential. The Fitzroy has impressive major floods so it seems pretty muddy and practically all exposed rock is rillenkarren (grey daggers) or too sharp. And max height is only about 18-20m. Climbing is explicitly banned all around the carpark area, presumably because it seems pretty loose. Also cultural sensitivities mean that the entire eastern bank plus certain other spots are closed for swimming and fishing (and hence climbing) so be sure to identify and avoid these. On the other hand, the gorge extends for a further ~10km upstream and can be accessed if you bring a shallow draft boat. Moreover, Parks WA Rangers mentioned that school camps are occasionally run up that way, and include abseiling and climbing activities, with permission of TOs.

A World Heritage listed area, also having great cultural importance, meaning that climbing is unlikely to ever be allowed here (and to be clear, this entry should not be taken as any sort of inducement for climbing activity).

Nevertheless climbers should at least come and have a look at this amazing place. If you thought Meteora, Riglos, Montserrat or Maple Canyon had amazing conglomerate cliffs, this place could well top them all. The north end of the range has simply gobsmacking amounts of big 150-200m+ high conglomerate cliffs, of all angles. As usual the cobbles look like they could all just fall out, but initial appearances are that the rock is actually way more solid than you could dream of (its certainly more solidly welded together than Meteora). The established walking trails (Echidna, Mini Palms & Homestead) alone let you ogle mind boggling amounts of enormous solid cliffs ... and then you realise that even this is just a mere fraction of what this 30km+ escarpment has to offer. Amazing.

FWIW, the "beehives" in the south of the range, while certainly justifying their fame and being well worth a visit, would actually not be of interest to climbers as the rock is soft and loose down there (and again, climbing is firmly banned).