Spent the night at Normanton CP. Quite a nice little park with a half size olympic pool! Absolutely bliss in this hot weather. And just over the road from the (in)famous Purple Pub.
Then on to Karumba the next day. We stayed at Karumba Point which is the perfect spot for viewing the incredible sunsets over the water, well the Karumba Sunset Tavern was anyway.
The Gulf is suffering from a locust plague at the moment. They’re everywhere. Giant brown grasshoppers. I’ve never seen anything like it and, of course, they’ve stripped the vegetation including the palm fronds.
We had been booked on a sunset cruise in the Gulf but got dumped for a busload of tourists. Not happy at all!!!!
While Karumba is pretty enough, if you don’t fish then there’s little all else there to do.
So back to Normanton for the night where we read about the largest croc ever killed and, might I ask, by whom? A woman of course!
Up early the next morning to catch the Gulflander train. It’s an historic narrow guage train that runs from Normanton to Croydon – a total of 95 miles which took a staggering (and very uncomfortable) 5.5 hours!! Shoot me now. The first hour was ok but after that it was pretty darned long and very very boring.
Seems like such a long time ago that I last wrote. So much has happened.
Gregory River has to be one of the best (free) camping spots I’ve been to.
We had a great time. Met lovely people, went for walks, swam in the river (with the freshies) 🐊
had beers with other campers at the pub
(and a couple of locals)
and watched the abundant bird life. We were lucky enough to be camped in front of a tree with two Whistling Kite nests. It was fantastic to watch the kites going back and forth feeding their babies.
We spent 3 wonderful days there including attending the Dawn Service in the Memorial Park. Different!
Then on to Lawn Hill. I’d heard various reports about the condition of the road from “it’s bloody terrible” to “take it easy, watch the dips and you’ll be ok”. Yes, I was a bit apprehensive but
it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I had anticipated. In fact, we had driven on a worse road from Hughenden to Torrens Creek. From Gregory through to the Century Mine turnoff was pretty good. From there to the national park it was ok but getting quite corrugated in parts and some ripper dips that needed lots of caution and a speed of around 20kph. The worst part was in the national park where it was very corrugated and very rocky. Our camping neighbours at Lawn Hill had shredded a tyre on the way in and were waiting on the guys at Adel’s Grove to get them another. I didn’t want that happening to us.
We had booked into the NP for 6 nights. The campsite was lovely, well set out with very clean amenities which included flushing toots and cold showers. The showers were bliss after all the heat and dust and, although cold, were more body temperature because of the heat.
Due to some heavy rain and flooding, there was only one big walk that was open as the bridge to the other walks had been damaged so off we went the next day to the Indarri waterfalls
and lookout
Ran into Greg Grainger and crew filming a Travel Oz special. They asked if it was me up top on the lookout. Think I may have a cameo!
I was keen to kayak on the Gorge, however, to do so meant driving in and out of Adel’s Grove which has now been given to, and is being very badly run by, the indigenous locals. That meant driving 10k each way on pretty bad rocky road (so 40k all up), paying $104 ($50 deposit and $54 charge) to get the paddles for a measly 2 hours of kayaking. And, truth be told, the water was pretty slimy and uninviting. We gave it a miss.
The sky at night was quite spectacular and we were lucky enough to have a full moon.
Having done all we could do at Lawn Hill we decided to cut our stay short and move on.
I had heard people rave about Lawn Hill (and Kirsty was one of them) but, to be frank, I was a little bit disappointed. It was certainly beautiful but I wouldn’t rate it in my top ten. Glad I went though.
So let’s head to Normanton. Along the way we saw horses just at the boundary to Lawn Hill station.
Spent the night back at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse where a beer and burger was a real treat. It’s a really good stopover with fuel and cafe and some shady sites for $10 a night, clean toilets and showers plus some super friendly dogs who insisted I throw sticks for them. The only negative was the mosquitoes. Billions of them!
Tried to get some washing done quickly this morning before leaving Burke and Wills Roadhouse. I got mine finished but poor Kirsty only got hers to the Rinse stage when the power went out in the whole homestead. We were told it could be an hour or could be all day. A good old wringing out by hand, plopped in a bucket, and off we swished to Gregory.
Along the way saw four magnificent wedge tailed eagles feasting on roadkill. Extraordinary birds.
Other travellers had told us to stop at Murray’s in Gregory for really delicious muffins and coffee. Well, how could we resist?
And, they weren’t wrong. Scrumptious! Murray is also a bit of a wag and loves a chat.
A fill up with petrol at the Gregory Downs pub
then on to the Gregory River to camp for a few days. What a fabulous spot. Fast flowing river with plenty of water holes to swim in, lots of birds and a few other travellers. There are meant to be freshwater 🐊 in the river but everyone is swimming and we’ll be joining them tomorrow.
To top it off, the tree in front of us has two nests of Whistling kites. Fabulous!
Set off on Tuesday, 13 April, 2021 for a far north Queensland adventure with my friend Kirsty.
And, as you know by now, all roads lead to Goomeri. However, after we set up camp for the night on the usual cattle farm there, we heard the extremely disappointing news that the bakery now opens only from Thursdays to Sundays and this was Tuesday. Blast!!!
So the next day we took off, cakeless, to a lovely free camp on the river at Moura stopping along the way to view the silo art at Three Moons.
After Moura, we headed to Lake Maraboon.
However, as we were going along, the strip along the front of the bonnet that holds the windscreen washer thingies, came loose. We stopped at the next town, and pulled into a little mechanics. I had had the bonnet resprayed before I left Bribie as the paint was sunburnt, and the mechanic told me that they had broken the clips on the panel and painted over the broken bits and didn’t bother trying to do anything about it. Was I fuming? You could say that. Anyway, he did a “patch up” and told me to get to a panel beater in Emerald to have it clipped properly.
Along the way we stopped at the park in Rolleston for coffee.
As far as Lake Maraboon goes – Nothing much to say about that and wouldn’t bother staying there again.
Went in to Emerald the next day to a lovely panel beater who, although he didn’t have the right clips, fixed the front for me as best he could. Took about 45 minutes or so and he didn’t want to charge me. Now that’s country service. I gave him a $50 to have a beer anyway. Great bloke!
Now with the car fixed, we continued on to Aramac to do the Sculpture Trail. Spent that night behind the fabulous Aramac pub and had a great steak, wine and chats with the locals.
The Sculpture Trail starts in Aramac and basically forms a triangle of roads roughly 220km long. The first 60 or so kilometres is sealed but its dirt and creek crossings for the rest of the way.
The sculptures were done by a local artist who was looking for a way to exhibit her work. The local cattle stations have allowed them to be displayed on their properties.
We had intended to spend the night along the way at Lake Dunn
but Kirsty had a really bad case of hay fever (diagnosed by Dr Lynne) and needed to get to a chemist quite quickly, so we kept going to Hughenden.
The last 38ks on the Aramac/Torrens Creek road were awful! Wash outs, corrugations, holes and we drove most of the way on the verge which, while not great, was at least ok.
Arrived in Hughenden on Saturday evening. Too late for the chemist and, of course, everything was shut on Sunday so we had a rest and another night in Hughenden.
Monday morning we ambled on to Porcupine Gorge.
We had booked a site in the national Park but it was covered in ants’ nests. We needed to change our booking online but – no range. The ranger told us to head back down the road a bit to try for reception. We drove and drove but – no reception. So – we just kept driving.
Stopped at Richmond for 2 nights and did …. nothing .. except talk to the Apostle birds. The Richmond CP is beside a lovely big lake and the bird life was prolific. It came over a bit cloudy and we asked the caretaker if it might rain. His reply, “The only thing that rains around here is cocky shit” and he was right. Ask Kirsty about her tent.
Spent the next night at wonderful Julia Creek
where it actually did rain .. thankfully not much cos I was parked on black soil.
And now tonight we’re staying behind the Burke and Will’s Roadhouse. Had a really lovely drive here. Lots of wildflowers out after the rain. Was beautiful.
Going for a drink now at the Roadhouse. Kirsty’s put lipstick on. Tart!!
The trip started well with coffee and cake at Golden Beach. However, I wasn’t as far as Gympie when the traffic came to a standstill with black smoke billowing up from the highway. Some poor trucker’s rig had caught on fire (how the heck does that happen?)
So, after about an hour or so of crossing my legs and wishing I’d gone to the loo before I left, the traffic finally slowly cruised through. What a mess the truck was!
And now my GPS decided to have a little hissy fit (and I’m not even at Gympie yet). Still, I continued on and stopped at Tiaro. The council have provided a very well maintained public camping area in the park in the town centre with clean toilets and (pre-Covid) hot showers so stayed the night next to another Delica.
In the morning, did a dash in to Maryborough to get the GPS looked at without resolution. Could be an interesting trip. Jane (my GPS) leads me astray even when she’s working so I’m bound to have some interesting “scenic” tours.
Left Maryborough and headed for Childers where Insane Caffeine is always a delicious place to stop.
After my healthy, low calorie morning tea, I drove on and stopped by the Boyne River. Beautiful spot.
Now, as you can see, there’s no one behind me. It’s a busy free camp which quickly filled up and by the evening I had a motorhome parked behind me, not surprising as by then there were about 30 other campers stopped.
It was a beautiful night with a glorious full moon.
A coffee and donuts van arrived in the morning just in time to cook my breakfast (c’mon, how could I resist)
As I’m walking back to Mitsy, I hear “Is that Lynne?”
Marg and Keith (old friends initially from UQ) are parked in the motorhome right behind me!
It seems the minute I hit the road, I catch up with people I know. There’s no running away for me!!!
Was great to see them and share travel stories before they headed south and I continued on north.
Had a look at a lovely camp on the Calliope River which I’ll bear in mind for next time.
Last night stayed at the Barracrab CP which is right on the water and a little off the highway. It would be fabulous in a less busy time, and I would have liked to stay longer, but it was chockers with families and screaming kids!!!
I left very early this morning and tiredly limped in to the Moana CP, which is not great, but I’ve had a rest and a hot shower so all is well in the world.
After Kakadu, there’s really only one way to go and that’s through one of my favourite places – the wonderful Mataranka.
Do we all remember reading Jeannie Gunn’s novel in high school?
Stayed at The Homestead CP this time. Kirsty and I had a very enjoyable stay here previously on our way to the Kimberly a few years ago.
It’s a bush camp. Lots of wild animals and birds
And an easy walk down to swim in the springs.
And past the beautiful Rainbow Pool
Plus, at night there’s a cafe and entertainment around the fire.
Had dinner with a group of “older” bikers from Townsville who were going to Darwin then down to Adelaide and back to Townsville. Averaging 750ks per day. Really? Why bother? They told me they stop about every 1.5 hours cos of “numb bums”. Yeah, great way to travel.
So, I headed off to Kakadu. Was told about a billabong down a dirt track and promised “lots of birds”
Lots of red dust was all I found and, the worst of it, I’d washed the car the previous day. Sheesh!
Anyway, on to Cahill’s Crossing which is the crossing over into Arnhem Land. Currently closed cos of Covid.
There’s a large sign
But, well, there’s “stupid” then there’s a whole other category
And right beside the memorial for the guy who was eaten.
I was standing next to a man and his son and we counted 19 crocs that we could see.
Then around the corner is Ubirr, renowned for its Aboriginal paintings. But, more to my liking, amazing rock formations.
The Yellow Waters cruise is famous and a “not to be missed” item on the Kakadu agenda so I headed on to Cooinda Lodge and booked for the sunrise (the best) tour.
Got up at 5.30am and breakfasted by the full moon and the magnificent sound of dingoes howling close by.
Then caught the bus down to the wharf.
And on to the boats. What a fabulous trip! Lots of crocs, birds, buffalo, wild cattle, wild pigs etc etc. Wonderful trip!
You may not appreciate the size of the wild boar, because they’re at a distance, but they are huge!
Am staying at the Darwin Free Spirit CP and I have a lovely grassy spot surrounded by a little hedge and not far from the toots and showers. My body is going “What the heck? Clean every day?”
I had to go to Office Works to get some printing/scanning done and, of course, was chatting with everyone within earshot. A lady there told me not to go into the city after 10am because “it is so busy”. I was actually a bit anxious about going especially knowing that the speed limit here Is 130kph and people tend to drive like they’re in the Montreal Grand Prix.
But …. I got a park easily in the city and could have crossed most streets with my eyes closed and been safe. Obviously her idea of busy and mine are quite different.
Walked my feet off around town (yes, looking at the sites but also trying on clothes and shoes). Pretty much like every other city but in small scale. People here are very friendly and sociable. The climate, at the moment, is a steady 18° to 32° or thereabouts with not much humidity. There are some good cafes and a chocolate shop. I could live here easily if it wasn’t so far from family and friends. It’s beautiful, relaxed and warm.
Did the tourist thing and visited Cullen Bay. Looked at the lovely homes and marina.
Then on to Mindil Beach
and Nightcliff.
Darwin’s easy to get around provided you drive fast. However, I have not heard a car horn the whole time here. They’re obviously fast but relaxed.
Moon over Mitsy
Went to the Mindil Beach night market. Only had a quick look because there were a lot of people and that’s a bit of a worry these days. It was mostly just food stalls and the usual rubbish you see at all markets. Not sure what I was expecting but definitely something different. I’ve been told it’s currently only about a third of the size it normally is.
Came back to the park for dinner and was joined by a friend.
The ranger at Litchfield told me about the Territory Wildlife Park at Berry Springs. Generally I avoid these places. However, he mentioned that it had expansive walk-through avaries (I do love birds) and a great nocturnal section.
So, off I went to Berry Springs. What a great job NT are doing there. If you must have animals in captivity, then this is the way to do it. I was impressed.
The park is so large that there’s a jump on/jump off train that takes you around the various sites. There’s also lots of walking to do in between. And, not all animals are in captivity I found, as a golden tree snake slithered up a palm beside the track.
Turkey Bush
I’m sorry to say that I was so enjoying it all that taking a photo didn’t even enter my head. Sorry – no pics. However if you’re in the NT, you should seriously consider visiting this place. All the animals, birds, fish, reptiles etc of the Territory in one place.
