A remote oasis- Lawn Hill National Park

Hi all- first thanks to those who recently left comments- love receiving them! Adam and I are at tiny Camoweal, near Mt Isa after a terrific four days at beautiful Lawn Hill National Park- which is north of here, basically in the middle of nowhere, a gorgeous oasis and palm-lined gorge, accessed only by rough dirt road. There is no phone service out there, or internet etc. therefore this update is kinda long, as I have still been keeping a diary of our daily adventures on the computer, which I am now uploading here, as we have some internet reception again (although very slow, so no piccies for now)…so I hope you enjoy our latest news! (I’m now back to clean up duties- our van is full of red dust after the trip out of lawn hill!) :



Friday July 14th

Left Karumba this morning…still a few rain clouds and showers, but the weather starting to clear thankfully. Set out on the Matilda Highway, south down through Normanton and on to Burke and Wills Roadhouse- a funny sort of place in the middle of nowhere really, which advertised being the only food, drink and fuel for the next 200kms. We refueled ourselves and the car and then took the turnoff to Gregory Downs, on our way to Lawn Hill National Park, reported by many to be a stunning gorge, and an oasis of greenery and water in the middle of arid bushland.

It was a long day of driving, especially as once again it was mainly all sealed SINGLE lane…we had to repeatedly pull off onto the gravel shoulder, which was a bit scary today as after all the rain the sides of the road were very soft. Once we pulled off and stopped to let a truck pass and actually found we were bogged! Fortunately it wasn’t too bad…we were able to back up a bit and then got out of it, luckily, with the caravan on!

We stopped at Gregory Downs, a tiny little place on a river and had a drink at the pub. It was getting later in the day (after 4) and we decided to press on to Lawn Hill NP (if it had been too late we were going to stop at Gregory Downs)…the last 90kms in to Lawn Hill from there is dirt road. Not too bad…but heavily corrugated and bumpy on the last half. A rough old ride for poor Molly (our caravan)! At one point there was a dip in the road which wasn’t marked and we didn’t see it until we were going over it- it gave the car and the van a mightly jolt! We were chatting with another fellow who said the same thing happened to him- he was driving a motorhome and said he got it airborne going over that unexpected dip! Not good.

Anyway- Lawn Hill is a beautiful place, and so is Adels Grove, the caravan park/camp site we are staying at which is just outside the national park itself. We are right on the banks of lovely Lawn Hill creek…lovely lilies and little freshwater crocs on the banks. The water is very clear and you can swim (the freshies are more scared of us than we are of them!). There is nothing much else around here for many many miles. There is a dirt road linking here with Mt Isa, and then also the road we came in on. There is absolutely no phone service for any network and no internet. There is no power on the sites either, so it’s out with the camp laterns and on with the gas stove etc.

When we arrived I was a bit upset when I discovered the state of the inside of the van. After the rough trip (and THAT dip) things were all over the place. One side of the back window was open and red dirt was all over our newly washed bedsheets….and the back curtains etc. Inside the fridge a yoghurt had hit something and busted and the entire contents of the fridge were covered with it- meanwhile, the salt had fallen over in the cupboard and emptied all over the plates etc, and the lid of the pepper grinder had broken and peppercorns were everywhere. It was getting dark and we had little light to see things by- Adam was busy with the outdoor “boy” jobs and we’d been on the road all day. Plus, due to the recent rain the ground was wet and a bit muddy. So I wasn’t happy Jan. But we got through it and got things cleaned up!

Saturday July 15th

Sunny- yay!
Started the day with a visit to the World Heritage Listed Riversleigh Fossil Fields, which are in one section of Lawn Hill National park. One of the best fossil sites on the world, with the animals preserved in the limestone rock dating back about 25 million years. Fascinating, with evidence of carnivorous kangaroos…huge 2.5 metre tall birds etc

We had lunch at Adels Grove, sitting by the creek. The sun came totally out and it was a really lovely day.

After lunch we headed into Lawn Hill Gorge section of the park to do a few walks. Saw some more freshwater crocs and some lovely birds. We packed some dinner with us (our usual hiking fare of crackers and tuna, with a thermos of coffee, some choccie and muesli bars!) and did a walk recommended as a good sunset walk. It was really enjoyable…we climbed up onto a ridge and had a great view of the surrounding plains and hills and also the line of the gorge…a band of lush greenery in the midst of the very dry rugged land surrounding it. We ate our dinner and watched the sunset- a pretty one with lots of clouds to catch the colour.

Tomorrow we are planning to do some more walks and also canoe up the gorge and perhaps take lunch with us….looking forward to seeing the gorge from the water- it’s surrounding by towering red rock walls, and lined with palms and greenery.

We took a torch with us to walk back from this evenings walk (after the sun had set) and on the way driving back to our caravan, saw two owls. ..one right after the other, on the road.

Also- the days here are so much longer than they are at home in Port Macquarie right now! For example, we left our sunset viewing at 6.50pm! The sun actually set around 6.30pm and it’s the middle of winter! It would be pitch black at home by then and probably pretty cold. It’s quite mild here at the moment. When we got in tonight it was still about 21 degrees…although it was cool last night.

There are lots of kangaroos and wallabies around, cockatiels and other parrots we hadn’t seen before, wild pigs, lots of unusual little birds also, like different finches and flycatchers. My bird log is getting longer and longer!

Sunday July 16th

Another sunny day- a very cool morning. We drove back into lawn hill national park (only about 8ks from the caravan park) and did a couple of works, each about 3k return…saw some fabulous views over Lawn Hills Gorge…it really is an amazing place…the dry landscape giving way to a band of greenery rich in palms etc, lining the edges of the impressive looking gorge.
After lunch (yep tuna again) we were planning on renting a canoe to paddle down the various sections of the gorge. Lots of others had the same idea however, and all the canoes were out- so we came back to our campsite and instead decided to hire a canoe here and paddle along Lawn Hills Creek (which borders the caravan park and is just across from our van). It was a lovely afternoon- better than we expected. Lillies lined sections of the creek, while others had palms, and others had gumtrees. We saw a few freshwater crocs laying in the sun, some pretty-faced wallabies and a couple of wild pigs. Plus lots of birds, including the rare purple-crowned wren, which only lives in a few parts of Australia, plus some crimson finches, which were chirping throughout the leaves of the pandanus palms. We jumped in for a swim upstream- the water was warm. It’s also heavy in minerals and limestone. So a top day!

We gathered some wood from the bush around here and started up a fire as it got dark- it cooled off quickly so the fire was lovely to warm up next to- Adam made up a damper and we pulled out our camp oven for the first time this trip and put it on the hot coals and cooked our damper, which we ate with some soup…and later with some jam while we had coffee- it was steaming hot and tasted great!

Monday july 17th

Right now I am sitting in my fold up chair next to Lawn Hill Creek- right in front of me on a log is a tiny freshwater croc…he actually looks cute laying on his log, with his legs hanging off other side. He’s aware I’m here, and I keep waiting for him to plop into the water and swim away. It’s sunny again- not super hot considering how far north we are, about 22 degrees I guess, with quite a cool wind blowing.

It’s about 5pm and there is still plenty of daylight left- something we are still getting used to.

We had a great day today- did another bushwalk in the national park this morning and saw more good views- then we had our picnic lunch and went down to rent a canoe to paddle up the gorge. It was fantastic in the gorge- high red rock walls, and palms of various types lining the waters edge. Little birds darting about and a real sense of peace and tranquility. Knowing we are basically in the middle of nowhere right now adds to the sense of adventure and peace I think. We had a swim near some waterfalls on a section of the gorge which required us to lift the canoe out and carry it a bit further upstream. The water was quite warm- apparently it gets up to about 25 degrees.

While I type this Adam is busy preparing food for another campfire meal- tonight we are having some of the mackerel he caught in Karumba- wrapped in foil with spices like ginger and lemongrass etc- and we will put it in the hot coals once our fire has been going a while. I think Adam wants to make another damper too. We love having a fire going- sitting out under the stars- it’s great.

Tomorrow a big day of driving- we head off and plan going to a little town just west of mt Isa… we are a bit nervous as the road hading out that direction is quite rough dirt for about 150kms, before we get back onto the single laned sealed! We will pack the van down a bit tighter this time!

Tuesday July 18th

Finally have arrived at Camoweal…both tired. The van covered in red dust, inside and out! Another big clean up now taking place after 150kms of rough dirt road on the way here before we hit sealed road again…averaging 40-50kms an hour on the dirt, so it was a long day- on the road about 6 hours.. It was an adventure though! So much empty bush once again.. We are regrouping…cleaning out the van and the sheets again, and tidying up anything which has taken a spill during the trip- plus finally doing some washing (there was no laundry at the last place, and we decided to wait until we had a washing machine again). We also are pleased to have power again- we can recharge camera and computer batteries, and the running water here, to the van, is also a luxury after not having it for a little while.
Think we’ll have a drink at the pub once we are done- it’s a tiny town- should be interesting characters!

Tomorrow we’ll cross into the Northern Territory! We’ve also decided to make a big diversion off our planned route, and head into the red centre- to see The Rock, Kings Canyon, Alice Springs etc. We figured that when we hit the Three Ways Roadhouse tomorrow, near Tennant Creek, we are only about 500ks north of Alice….so we have actually cut a few days from other places, to make time to see those Aussie icons.

Love and hugs to everyone! Miss our friends and family and hope you are all well and happy. The travellers … Emma and Adam xoxo